As the first player to become ridiculously close to royal NPCs, Ice first got a lot of envy.

Then he participated in a world quest that involved killing a flame wyvern and kind of… got very famous.

As it turned out, magic was even rarer than he thought. It wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t noticed because he had never checked, but his skills were truly much higher than anyone else’s.

Now he was famous enough to be featured in Haven’s advertisements.

Which was incredibly awkward, but it payed very well and meant that Ice didn’t have to leave his home to earn money or only rely on his parents.

In passing, the young elf glanced at newer players in beginner’s robes. Some of them carried staffs, but he knew that most would give up learning magic soon. It was too arduous.

First off, mana was bothersome to raise without equipment. Similar to luck, you’d start out having a certain amount based on who-knows-what. Many people didn’t even have a single point. The only way to raise it was to raise your intelligence by a point - which would give you 3 more mana each - buying some expensive and rare gear, or by practising.

A lot.

Seriously.

And raising a stat point took forever, too.

The next issue was that mages, due to this, were very weak at the start. It took forever to get anywhere. Sure, you could learn any spell at any time - but did you have the mana to use it? No? Well, sucks.

The last and most crucial point was using magic.

Using a sword meant learning how to wield it. Being an assassin meant learning how to sneak. Being a mage… meant memorizing the incantation. And having the time to say it in combat. It also meant having to remember how differences in pronunciation would have an effect on the spell.

When the first players had seen this kind of system, they had wondered if it wasn’t too imbalanced and unfair.

Over time, however, they noticed something: Magic was strong, but it was hard to learn, and so the class balanced itself out.

As for players being unable to learn magic even if they wanted to, they soon noticed that this was what differentiated Haven from many other VRMMORPGs¹Virtual Reality Massive-Multiplayer Online Roleplay Game. Basically, an online RPG that you play in VR, in this case, with a "VR capsule": In reality, not everyone could be everything. Haven prided itself for not being just like any other game, and after some grumbling, the players accepted it.

Magic stayed the annoying but powerful class that most people watched from afar.

Magic was a thing for people talented in languages. Sooner or later, you had to treat it as a completely new language, because at some point you had to create your own spells to get anywhere. And of course you had to learn how to calculate the mana it needed, especially if you were adjusting a spell’s strength, because mana could go into negative.

And negative mana wasn’t fun.

Negative manna gave you a breathing debuff that felt like being choked.

Ice thought magic was fun, though. Sure, his intelligence stat had helped increase his learning speed, but in reality he was the same.

Languages were great and he liked learning them. Lots of spells had blown up right in his face, some even killing him, but it was alright. He simply set his pain synchronisation levels to 0% any time he practised a new spell. The math part was interesting too, it reminded him of when he had had an advanced course in mathematics for his finance studies.

Bloody always laughed at him for liking it. That was embarrassing.

Remembering Bloody, Ice paused near the town’s gate and tapped the little blinking icon at the edge of his vision. The chat window opened up, displaying Bloody’s avatar in a chibi form next to the text he had spoken.

Ice’s lips twitched into half a smile reading it, while the little avatar joyfully jumped up and down according to the mood Bloody had selected for the message.

“Ice! Remember to take me along for the prince’s quest! I’m always ready, just give me a poke! I’m waiting!”

Ice selected a friendly emotion. The little avatar that showed his elven image looked a bit happier, though it wasn’t smiling brightly or anything - just like the actual Ice would. The words he spoke appeared in the chat by speech-to-text.

“Teleport to Windward Town. I’m at the east exit.”

Fifty seconds. That was how long it took before Bloody appeared outside of the gate, waving wildly and attracting attention that gave Ice a headache.

Bloody’s actual nickname was Bloodless Sunset, but that was so unfitting that similar to Ice’s actual nickname, no one used it.

Bloody’s character was a barbarian beastman, which was basically a weapon-less close combat fighter and a subcategory of the warrior class. The class was most suitable for beastmen due to their natural weapons; claws and teeth. It wasn’t a pretty way of fighting, but neither was magic if you used huge icicles to impale people.

The wolf beastman had a fluffy pair of ears and a wagging tail behind his back. He looked a bit scruffy with his hair being close to fur and very messy. It made people want to pet him. Similar to an actual wolf, his hair was several shades of brown and gray, while his eyes were a pale yellow.

Like all players, Bloody only had the tiny storage space and otherwise had to carry his items around. He had a knife at his hip just in case, and a larger bag strapped across his shoulder that was filled with dry food, money, useful items and potions.

The only items that were automatically within the common invisible inventory and that didn’t take up space were items that didn’t suit the game’s logic.

Teleportation scrolls for example were event or cash items that could only be used for certain cities. Other event items, like special drops or currencies, were also included within the Cash Inventory.

It wasn’t actually a Cash Inventory - you still had 5 spaces for any normal item, but that was basically nothing when things didn’t stack, so people called the invisible inventory the Cash Inventory.

Bloody was a person with enough money - advertisements for this game sure paid damn well - and didn’t mind using teleportation scrolls when it made sense. Anyway, he liked those better than the purely cosmetic dress-up items you could buy in the cash shop. The usual gear was enough.

The usual gear for beastman was basically leather armor, which was about as uninteresting as it could get, but hey! Bloody wasn’t playing this game to look good anyway.

Ice quickened his steps to get over to his companion. Bloodless Sunset was someone he had met only in the game, but they got along. They often did quests or dungeons together and for one reason or another, Bloody was quite attached to Ice. Most did not like Ice’s seemingly cold behaviour and would become uncomfortable sooner or later.

“Quest, quest, quest...” Bloody was humming happily, leaning his weight from one leg to another. He was a fidgety guy, although maybe his race was at fault. Beastmen were a fidgety species. “Ice! How are you? Slept well?”

Ice nodded. It was getting hotter with summer approaching, but he had bought a new air conditioner and could cool down his room.

“Awesome. Where’s that quest again? Beginners’ village, right? You’re so lucky to pick up all these quests all the time!” Bloody chattered away happily, missing the wry look on Ice’s face.

Of course Bloody wouldn’t pick up these kinds of quests. Bloody’s luck stat… was 6.

Which was the second most horrendous luck stat the game had ever seen, and the unluckiest one that had stayed. The other player had left the game.

Mana aside, Bloody’s stats were otherwise great. He wasn’t suited for being a mage, but beastmen simply weren’t, and his physical stats were higher than that of most players from the start.

He was unlucky, but he was tenacious. Ice admired people who didn’t give up easily, like him.

“By the way, have you decided on what to do about that new offer?”, Bloody mentioned in the course of the one-sided conversation.

Bloody and himself were within the top-area of the highscore, with Ice being the only mage in the top 25. The common highscore judged you based on level, which was simply easier for warriors to raise.

Both of them were handsome and recognizable, which was why the company behind Haven - Lusanna Corporation - often approached them for all kinds of offers. That included not only advertisements, but also beta tests for numerous features. Being a ranker meant that the company loved employing you for beta tests, similar to the recent one.

Originally, Haven did not have a system for player relationships. It had a friend list, but that was it.

You couldn’t touch anyone inappropriately, whether it was an NPC or player, and would get heavy penalties for trying repeatedly. Since your brainwaves were monitored, there was no lying about it being unintentional either. Accidents could happen and were tolerated to an extent.

Soon enough, after exploring a lot of the game, players had begun to wail. You could adjust your appearance to some extent, and most beautified themselves. Wasn’t it obvious that they wanted to marry?

Couldn’t they dream of a fated online romance that turned to reality?

And so, Haven had added a marriage option last year. There was only one temple for now, with another being worked on, but you could marry, if you fulfilled the bothersome preconditions.

Which was nice but didn’t do more than give you a title, a special teleportation option, and minor buffs if you played together.

That didn’t satisfy the players.

They continued to wail - loudly. They were demanding that this game, which was like reality, would actually allow contact like in reality!

And that had the company sweating.

There was no cheating the game about your age and gender. You could only register once you were a legal adult, and while it did allow transsexual players to change their character’s gender, that was only if you had a doctor’s confirmation.

In the first place, anyone could get a sex change in these times, as they were free once you got through an examination that confirmed you were not feeling well in your body.

It was a common surgery nowadays.

So - there were only adults, and you could only be your current biological gender, so you could say there was no cheating someone with your body or age. But the company had a much bigger worry: Consent.

If they wanted to give players what they asked for, they needed a consent system that protected players and NPCs so the game wouldn’t turn into a den for perverts.

The public did not know yet, but the company had worked on the system for the past year and was ready to let people test it. Bloody and Ice were invited to participate in the test, if they wanted to. They could also take another player along with whom to undergo the tests.

Ice tilted his head in confusion at Bloody’s question. “I’ve rejected it.”

To be exact, he had rejected it right after reading it. No time to think needed. There was no way Ice would feel comfortable with testing that particular feature. Not that he’d even know who to test it with.

“I expected that much. I did, too.” Bloody laughed, his eyes narrowing in amusement at the mage’s blank face.

People thought that the Ice Emperor was a cold person, but that was incorrect.

He was an anxious person.

Both of Jian Lin’s parents were models, currently taking a break. Their good looks were obvious even as they got older. Jian Lin had looked average as a child, which was okay, but then he entered puberty.

And got terrible acne.

The other children had been beyond cruel in their treatment. They joked he must have been adopted, that there was no way he was their child. Their bullying had destroyed absolutely any confidence in his heart before it could be built up.

Even after his acne was gone and Jian Lin had grown into what was a young version of his handsome father, the memory of that time affected him.

People were scary because they judged you based on looks.

People were scary because they would say things they didn’t mean.

People were scary because they’d twist your words to suit their needs.

Jian Lin was scared of people watching him. He liked staying indoors and avoiding interactions. The verdict: Social anxiety.

In a world where it was possible to order absolutely everything to your home, he wasn’t forced to go outside. He earned enough with the game to be independent. He could play this game, even with his stony face and missing social skills.

Only someone like Bloody, who could pull off a one-man-show, would stick with him and endure his silence.

He might have gotten better after getting treated, but he’d always be an awkward guy.

“I’ve listened around about the rumors, by the way. It seems there were some younger guys who were pissed that they can’t grope the pretty innkeeper’s daughter and started smashing stuff. Since it’s a beginners’ village, there was no one who dared to stop them.” Bloody folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the bright sky. The weather was good. “From what I heard, it’s not a regular occurrence but this one group causing trouble again and again. They’re stubborn.”

“If that’s the case, we will stop them.” Ice nodded. He was great at scaring people. Most mages had around 50 mana, and he had twice that. He had a third more than the other top mages. He could use some of it to scare noobs without too much trouble. It was only conjuring some icicles and Bloody would do the talking.

When they first met, Ice had found it uncomfortable to be around the other. Bloody was too talkative for him. But in time he had gotten used to it, and Bloody was willing to take over the task of talking for him in many cases.

They had gone from pairing up only for group dungeons, to sharing quests and finally exploring new areas together and even appearing in advertisements as a pair.

What Ice did not know was that the reason for their constant pair appearance was the very large following of their [tn content="CP"]A coupling, something like a ship.[/tn]. No one bothered to tell him, Bloodless Sunset did not want to make him awkward and the Ice Emperor himself did not watch his own advertisements. He didn’t find out, and so everyone was happy.

“About that world quest… No news yet?” After walking for several minutes in silence, Bloody couldn’t hold back anymore. Ice had told him about the quest to ask for his advice, but he had no idea what was going on either. He had asked his friend at the company about it, but gotten no details.

The thousands of small AIs that created every sentient being in this game weren’t static. The game’s program would form their wants and needs into quests for players, which meant you could always get more or less than you bargained for depending on how well you did.

This was only about common quests, though. World quests had a loose outline that the developers set, so it was a bit surprising that there was one like Misery.

If this quest ended up running into nowhere, it was simply Ice’s misfortune.

“Whether I find them or not will be up to luck”, Ice responded after a long pause. He raised his eyes up from the ground, looking over the vast meadows around the town.

No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t force the mysterious person to appear.

Owl

"Wow this sounds imbalanced-" Yep, and there's going to be more stuff that sounds weird, and it has story reasons. I'll get there QAQ
Anyway, the main story is going to start soon, but there are a couple of chapters mainly focused around explaining the game mechanics, the world and introducing some characters. I can't info-dump everything immediately, riiight??

Little Theater

Bloody: falls into a hole
Bloody: gets empty loot boxes
Bloody: runs into monster groups
Bloody: "Haha. This game sure is hard, huh?"
Unlucky guy number 1: "How are you still so happy"

EDIT: Since not everyone reads the comment section, here's an explanation on how the stats work etc as well as the fairness of the game. This is not a spoiler, it's just long.

Spoiler

Haven is, rather than common game, more set up to be a second world. Think of it as an isekai transmigration you do for fun, whenever you want.
During the character creation, your real body is taken into account to create the stats. Let's say you have a well-trained body. This is converted into a range for the strength stat, where a random pull determines the exact number. Race further influences this. Jian Lin, for example, does train a bit, but he's ultimately more slender and got unlucky during the stat setting, which was why both his agility and strength stats ended at the lower end of the range. Luck is something entirely else, but that's a spoiler so I will not touch upon in.
In general, Haven is strongly affected by yourself. A master chef in reality will have it much easier to create good dishes due to their experience. A hunter would be better at skinning from the start than a student.
It is not fair from the start. Lucky encounters, your race, your real body, everything will decide on how the game develops for you. It's not intended to have a universal experience for everyone, but just your own story. Not everyone turns into the Ice Emperor, but in return, the Ice Emperor is never going to explore the hidden cities of the dwarves that don't allow other races in. He might be friends with one prince, but in return he will never get along with those that don't like that prince.
The charm of this game is not "as a game", but "as a second life in a fantasy world". Those that feel uncomfortable with fighting are going to do lifestyle tasks, which are just as important and likewise allow you to travel, explore and experience the world.

[collapse]