Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

30. The Trail of Worlds

The entry to the trail of worlds resided on the second floor of the academy building. On the way, Flora crammed as much knowledge as she could into the grinning Eddie.

"I summarize: Stats are great, get higher ones. Don't level until I know what to do, and AIs are my friends?"

"You got it, dear!"

"Weren't we of the opinion that they take over the world and enslave humanity?"

"Shush! AIs are our friends."

"But I spend all my money on my lair! There's nothing left for an artificial friend to curb my loneliness! This daily limit is gruesome. We are old and rich. We should be allowed to waste the inheritance of our children!"

Flora tried to remit him 5000 VirDos, but the System only allowed her to transfer 1000.

"Thanks, I pay you back with RL Money!" Eddie paused. "The blue window says no. Oh well, back to the good old times where I'm a kept innocent boy getting spoiled by old women!"

"Nice! Follow me, Boy Toy!" Smirking, Flora swaggered away.

After entering together through a portal, Flora found herself alone in a circular room.

Before she had even time to get confused, a window popped up.

"Do you want to join Shiny Frenemy's party?"

After confirming, Eddie appeared next to her.

The lights dimmed. Stars and the sun started to appear. Then, behind the sun, a blue planet rotated into view.

Flora shuddered. Experiencing the space through the shuttle window wasn't that different than watching 2001 space odyssey on TV, but standing in the middle of a lot of nothing surrounded by glowing objects left an impression.

"Awesome!" Eddie whispered.

Next, the floor under her feet vanished. Flora felt herself moving into the direction of the planet. Of course, there was no wind or gravity, but still, she felt a pull from the planet.

Flora took deep breaths and slowly exhaled.

"Stop the flight, please. I need a moment to adjust."

"What? The fun just began!"

The pulling sensation stopped. The inertia carried her along, but Flora noticed that she could control her flight with her willpower or maybe magic.

"And why can you regulate this experience?"

"Because the AIs are my friends." Then Flora ignored Eddie and assessed the situation. "I can breathe. That's good. I'm not freezing. Great! I'm flying through space, which doesn't fit together with the first two observations, but I'm not complaining about not dying."

"Don't think, just feel!" Eddie somersaulted in slow motion.

The planet still moved in her direction, and Flora realized what had put her knickers in a twist: It was too fast, and it had no moon. While she was fighting to get a grip on herself, a quarter of a year had passed, at least according to the movement of the planet.

Now that she knew why her instincts screamed 'something is wrong' she was able to relax and look around.

Flora saw even fewer stars than at night, maybe because of light pollution of the sun, nor other planets.

Of course, she related her observations to Eddie, who chuckled. If he let overly detailed comments spoil his mood, he wouldn't be friends with Flora.

"Thank you. We can resume the journey."

Orchestral music did its best to create a majestic mood but was wasted on Flora, who started to get impatient.