“Ngggha!” I yelled as I ripped the portal open once more.

As expected, the Golden Woods lay on the other side. Nothing had changed.

“Alright…”

Even though I was overflowing with enthusiasm, part of me still worried the portal would randomly close behind me. Unlike the many manga and novels where the protagonist gets sent to another world with no way back, I would actually miss my friends and family if that were to happen. So even though it probably wouldn’t happen, I set up a contingency.

In RLO, while there were items and objects with set teleportation spots, there was also the so-called waypoint system. You could place a waypoint anywhere in the world and later teleport to it at any time. The way the devs balanced it was to limit waypoints to just three, and to have you consume an expensive item to both set one of them, and teleport to it.

I stared at the little red gem in my hands. It was called a ruby seed and was one of the three waypoint placers. The way to place the waypoint was to bury it underground. It gave an excuse for devs to disallow waypoints in certain places, such as indoors or boss arenas where the ground was too hard.

Now, unlike in the game, I could just bury the seed into a pot with soil in it… I’d had that idea yesterday but still didn’t know whether it would work.

Nevertheless, I approached my poor potted plant on the window sill, dug some soil out with my hand, placed the seed in there, and covered it up again.

Nothing happened.

Well, the game would give you a confirmation with a pop-up, but obviously, there was no UI in real life.

To test it, I had to actually use up another one of these expensive items.

I took the other ruby seed and stepped through the portal. As always, I kept my eye on it as I took a few steps in a random direction. Once I was a fair distance away, I put the ruby seed in my mouth and shattered it with my teeth.

The world spun around me as bright red flames entered my vision. I felt like screaming in horror… but then it all disappeared and I found myself back in my room… right next to the potted plant.

I blinked as I looked around.

It.

Worked.

“Yessssss…” I pumped my fist with a huge grin on my face.

Now the only question remaining was, would it work even if I closed the portal from the other side? Or if it spontaneously disappeared? I didn’t see a reason why it wouldn’t, but it still worried me.

Still, now I had a way to instantly get back to my room should anything happen on the other side. Sure, these seeds were expensive, but if it meant saving my life, I would gladly chomp down on as many seeds as I pleased.

With that said, I prepared my adventurer outfit for travels. My in-game character was mainly a swordswoman, but the real life me was nowhere near as strong as her, so I opted to go for a magic setup. And, well, magic was cool, and I wanted to try it. Who wouldn’t?

So, some budget hooded robes with basic resistances, simple shoes that increased movement speed, a staff with the runes for a couple of offensive and defensive spells, and a Phoenix Amulet, which could prevent death once before shattering. Not that I planned on dying, but one could never be too careful.

I also took my phone with me just to track time and make sure I returned home before Mom did. Sure, it ruined the fantasy feel of it all but… priorities.

With everything ready, I breathed in, breathed out, and stepped through the portal into another world.

I glanced around for people and found nobody. With that in mind, I turned to the portal again, grabbed the purple rims and squeezed it shut again. I didn’t want anyone or anything wandering inside my room while I was out here.

It also meant that I had no direct path back to Earth… which, even if I could easily reopen it, was still a little scary to think about.

Part of me felt horrified as I closed the portal, thinking it would disappear right then and there and leave me stranded. Luckily, it didn’t. The purple crack kept on crackling in mid-air like always. And even if it did disappear, I had my ruby seed. It wasn’t guaranteed to work but there was a limit to just how many precautions I could take.

Either way, once I healed my hands with a potion again, I set off.

I’d contemplated what exactly I would do here. Since I already knew this world inside out, or at least the parts where players could go, I had a good idea of where I could explore.

Other than runes and enchantments for items, RLO also featured certain skills you could learn. Usually from an NPC or by accomplishing a certain feat. They ranged from simple sword slashes with various effects, to literally transforming your own body. That was also why my avatar was a foxgirl, she was always transformed.

Would I be able to learn these skills as the real me? I was too curious to not try it. And since I was already in the Golden Woods, I decided to head to a certain skill-teaching NPC residing here.

I also couldn’t help but wonder… Were the NPCs actual people? Or were they robots like the player avatars? Either option left me feeling unnerved. If they were real people, had the devs somehow enslaved them to do their bidding? The more I thought about it, the more disturbing it got.

I shook away these thoughts. I would find out soon enough, after all.

To get to the NPC, I had to follow the road, and then find a hidden path through the bushes. Well, it wasn’t really hidden anymore thanks to the wiki, but still.

I made it to the path from the untraversable forest area, looked around to still find nobody, and then took a quick glance back at the portal, confirming that while I couldn’t see it on my computer screen, my real eyes could still see the purple portal rim.

“Alright, here we go!”

It felt so strange. I was used to seeing this place from the VR version of the game, but unlike the game, everything felt way more real. I could also smell the nature, I could feel the ground beneath me, and… there was no UI. No inventory, no status screen, nothing. I’d tried to summon it but concluded that it probably only existed for the player avatars.

Speaking of player avatars… I finally saw some people in the distance.

One of the reasons why I’d chosen a hooded robe was to hide my appearance… just in case someone recognized me from real life.

On top of that, I had no idea what I would appear as on their UIs. Would I be classified as an NPC? A player? Would it give them an error? I had no idea.

Either way… It was time to do my best impression of an unimportant character just passing through without drawing attention.