Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

2.10 Building a Training Facility - Construction

Flora sent a message to Lana about hiring the PVP team for tomorrow; a glance at the clock showed her it was already Monday Two−for today. She shook her head.

"Aidan, remind me to take a nap after lunch. The training hut is important, but not as important as my health." It had been a few years since Flora was last so overworked. She could do it maybe for a month, probably shorter. Humans are creatures of habit, and her retirement had made her soft. She yearned for a nice soak in her hot tub before falling into her bed.

After entering the workshop again, she looked at the simulation grounds, disappointed. There was no hot tub, no bed, and no unholy cliff, only the generators and lamps. Although the lamps still glowed, the loss of her usual sleeping place threw Flora off the loop. Of course, she could rest in the workshop as she did before acquiring the grounds but didn't felt like it. Aborting the test was another option, but Flora was too curious about the results.

"Aidan, what was the time dilation in the pyramid-scenario again?"

"Three times of the Metaworld, six times of the real world, Milady."

"Adjust the simulation grounds like that. I want to start early; maybe I can get enough sleep using the time dilation."

Flora imported the boxing Box and enough generators to power it, then entered the simulation. She arrived in a cloud of fire and staggered. Had she been running? Flora fell. Instinctively, she tucked her shoulder and rolled, but hit a wall. A black shadow pounced on her.

Flora screamed.

<Bless and Condemn>!

<Bless and Condemn>!

<Bless and Condemn>!

The golden sparkles of the prayer illuminated her surroundings. She was in a Treadmill Tunnel. Taking deep breaths, Flora prohibited her pounding heart from jumping out of her chest.

"Why? What?" She stuttered, her brain toasted.

"Milady, you had experimented with a mirror-you and the Treadmill Tunnel with the Fear and Projection features. When you cast your consciousness into the simulation, you inhabited her body."

"Oh, right." Flora felt foolish. "How did the test go? Was she−or I− able to sprint the whole time?"

"Yes, Milady and the mirror obtained the Projection affinity."

"Very good." Flora stood up. Slowly, she reclaimed her bearings.

"We can't be sure if I still would be able to get or train Projection if I log into a subspace. We'll test it tonight."

Flora modified the boxing Box, adding a the Spooky Shadow Scheme to the already implemented Unholy Scheme. After entering the box, she logged into the Riverstones Island.

"It works! I wasn't sure about it." Flora looked around the beach. Fine white sand led to the ocean. The moonlight fractured in the waves of the sea, and the beach seemed to glow in the darkness.

Flora shivered.

Mind-Controlled: Fear 1 x: Shivering: - 4 Physical Macro-Control; - 4 Physical Micro-Control. Remaining time: 10 sec.

"This is scary!" Flora exclaimed. Her voice seemed unnaturally loud in the nightly silence. "I don't mean the debuff, but look at the waves, Aidan! They don't behave right."

A picture of a stick figure throwing sand in the air appeared on her HUD. Aitoshuri had used cartoons before to suggest an approach to Flora, so she copied the actions. The sand sailed through the air, falling slower than normal.