"Hm... Not there... Not her... Not her either... hm..."
"What's your sister's username?"
"I forgot!"
*... Why did I agree to this?*
Jisha and her new "friend" were now supposed to search for an unknown player.
*Scratch that, she's not a friend. I'm just babysitting her at this point.*
The only clue she received from Abandoned Snow was the following:
"She's red like fire. I'm blue like ice!"
Somehow, Fae Sol's maroon hair looked similar enough to this "red like fire" they were searching for.
"Did you get any friend requests? If someone added you, it's probably your sister."
"Hm... nope."
"Do you think she logged in already?"
"Yep, we were supposed to log in at the same time. I made Sister's fire girl too!"
*Fire girl?*
Apparently, Abandoned Snow didn't know the word for avatar. She continued dragging Jisha by the arm while frantically searching through the crowd.
"Red like fire, red like fire, fire..."
*We're not going to get anywhere like this.*
"Snow, I'm pretty sure you picked the wrong spawn point."
"What?"
"We're not in the same town as your sister."
"Nooo!! She said it was "Uvan"! It's definitely here!"
*That doesn't even sound like "Uval". How could she get it this wrong?*
"Snow... do you know how to read?"
"What? Of course I do! I even know big words like 'abandoned'!"
*Well... Looks like we've found to source of this problem.*
Knowing this confirmed that Abandoned Snow was indeed a young child which brought its own fair share of questions.
"How did your parents let you play this game? How old are you?"
"Sister said I'm not supposed to tell strangers my age..."
She blatantly ignored the first part of the question.
"Haaaaa..."
Jisha scratched her head in frustration.
At this point, there was nothing else she wanted to do but leave. But every time she thought about it, Abandoned Snow followed her around like a duckling would its mother.
To make matters worse, the both of them were still level 0 which meant it was impossible for them to go hunt monsters.
All mobs in the wilderness were at least level 1, and the gap between level 0 and level 1 was massive. Level 0 was the closest thing Synergy had to a tutorial, but this "tutorial" only got people used to their bodies.
If someone hadn't played full-dive VR before, entering a new body would feel strange at best and nauseatingly dysphoric at worst.
A short person creating a tall avatar would cause their world to appear completely different to what they were used to. Having two different bodily proportions in two different worlds could even lead to balance issues in both.
Balance, space perception, depth perception, and many more factors would become poorly calibrated just by creating an avatar that was different form your own body.
Even avid VR divers would feel a difference - no game in the current market felt as realistic.
*Hopefully Abandoned Snow doesn't suffer from any adverse side effects... But it looks like she's doing fine.*
The young(?) girl continued to look around as if nothing affected her.
"Did you make yourself taller in the game, Snow?"
"Being tall is fun!"
"Hm..."
*"Fun", not "weird" or "uncomfortable". Maybe young people get used to it more quickly?*
"Well, if you're feeling alright, let's look for a way to level up so we can start hunting mobs."
"Sister told me not to go into the woods without her. It's scary..."
Jisha's eyebrow twitched in frustration. Sister this, sister that... Did this girl decide anything for herself?
"You sister isn't even here. We'll have to go outside if you want to find her."
"Nnnnn..."
Snow's wide eyes were still hesitant.
*How am I going to convince her? ... Do I really have to say this?*
To the Slykers, family came first.
Actually, family members were almost the only ones they were allowed to hold dear. Only several close friends were held in high regard, and the rest of their relationships were practically superficial.
Holding something close meant heartbreak once it was taken away.
And since Jisha had only held her immediate family and her one best friend close to her heart, she was spared from misery.
Almost.
It was why she would never lightly say the following line.
"I can be your big sister, too. There shouldn't be a problem now, right?"
"Hmmm.... Okay!"
*That was easier than expected.*
Jisha had no plans on getting close with this girl, but if this one sentence was all it took to be able to progress, it was worth it.
Right now, her XP bar was about half full and it was 15 minutes after midnight, or 30 minutes of in-game time.
In 30 more in-game minutes, they would automatically level up to 1. But instead of waiting for this to happen...
"Let's take a look around town and see if there are any mini quests we can do to level up."
"Okay."
Hopefully Lilliana's quest wasn't the only one around. In a starter hamlet, there were bound to be several other options. Usually, there were enough for almost everyone to try something, so the was no point in worrying if they would find one or not.
*Let's see... Where would be the best place right now?*
Currently, the two were in the center of the plaza where a small circular water fountain lay.
The only commercial buildings around them were the restaurant, a "frontier" shop, and a materials shop. The rest were likely residential.
*Let's try one of these houses.*
"Alright, Snow, follow me."
"Okaaay."
"House" was quite a generous word for these buildings. These residential homes were small stucco huts with few rooms.
The reason they'd likely be better for questing right now was that they were a bit removed from the clump of players visiting the shops. The shops weren't super crowded, but a lower player density meant more NPC interactions.
Any NPC could grant a quest - it was just a matter of if they wanted to give one out or not.
The residential area only had 9 similarly-designed huts.
They were all cream-colored stucco with thatch roofing. The windows contained no glass, and most of them didn't even have doors.
And though it was a residential "area", the reality was that these 9 homes were well-spaced and arranged in a circle that surrounded the commercial buildings in the center.
The two of them approached one of these circumferential huts and peeked inside. As the hut was small and its windows were emtpy, it was easy to confirm that nobody was inside.
However, sitting on a wooden chair behind this hut was a lazy-looking old man.
*>Name: Bourdois*
*>Level: 4*
"Hey, if you two aren't busy, can you help me out with something?"
The two girls looked at each other. They'd found something already? It was an opportunity that just dropped at their doorstep!
Jisha spoke up before Abandoned Snow could.
"Of course, sir, we'd love to help out. What would you like us to do?"
The old man's eyes lit up when he realized he was finally getting some help!
"Ah, you girls don't have to push yourselves too hard, but can you chop some of that wood for me?" The old man pointed at a small pile of wood next to an axe and a chopping block. "Back in my heyday I could do this for hours, but these days this type of wood's been giving me trouble."
*>System message: Quest received.*
*>Name: Bourdois' Woodcutting*
*>Description: Help this man with some manual labor he's to old to do!*
*>Rating: F*
"Ooh..."
Abandoned Snow was immediately captivated by the wood and the axe.
"Wooow..."
She ran her fingers over the rough texture of the axe's handle and the smoothness of the flat part of the blade.
"Never cut wood before, huh? Though it would actually be weird if you had..."
There was no need to cut wood in the modern age unless you lived in a remote village, and the Northeastern urban population was far greater than its rural one. Even if Abandoned Snow lived in one of these remote villages, she was (probably) a girl and wouldn't be tasked with manual labor.
"Alright, Snow, you've gotta do this quest too if you want to find your sister faster. Hold the handle like this..."
Jisha carefully placed Abandoned Snow's hands on the axe handle and verified it wouldn't accidentally slip out when she swung it.
"Okay now look at that piece of wood. Imagine a line through its center. Raise the axe like this..."
"Ohhhh, whoa!"
"Careful!"
The axe must have been unexpectedly heavy as Abandoned Snow nearly fell backwards as she brought it over her head. Jisha quickly caught her before she could stumble and steadied her back into position.
"Nnnn...."
"Don't get discouraged, you can do this. Keep your eyes on the target and swing down hard!"
Abandoned Snow's eyes filled with determination, and the axe whizzed through the air as her arms swung down. Jisha expected the axe to lodge itself in the wood, but...
*... Impressive.*
The piece of wood cleaved cleanly in two.
"Is this your first time trying this, Snow?"
"Heehee, yep," Abandoned Snow said as she non-verbally begged for praise.
"Great job, girl," Jisha said as she ruffled Abandoned Snow's hair. "Hm... Looks like there's four pieces, so do one more. I'll do the last two. The quest should give us the same amount of XP."
"Okaaaay."
Jisha took another piece of wood from the small stack and placed it squarely on the chopping block.
This time, Abandoned Snow consciously kept her balance while raising the axe over her head. After waiting for a second, she swung down and cut the second piece of wood with no problems.
"Okay, nice work! I'll do the others."
"Mm."
Abandoned Snow gave a satisfied nod as she handed the axe over to Jisha.
*Alright, let's get this over with.*
She placed the third piece of wood on the block and effortlessly cleaved through it like an experienced lumberjack.
But when she reached for the fourth piece...
"Ah, what?"
"Whaaa??"
It started rolling away on its own!
Bourdois' eyes widened for a brief moment before he resignedly sat back in his chair.
"Yup, that's why I can't do this anymore..." he said with a sigh.
*>Name: Living Wood*
*>Level: 1*
*Hm...*
The autonomous wood wasn't rolling very quickly, so it wouldn't have been difficult to chase it down. Even for a level 1 monster, it seemed incredibly weak.
But the former "Gun Swap Goddess" had her own way of doing things!
*This isn't even a throwing axe, but let's give it a shot.*
Her new body was far weaker than her old one. If even moving her limbs felt different, it didn't need to be said that throwing an axe was going to feel different as well. She wanted to use this opportunity to "calibrate" the new body she was piloting.
The axe's weight was significant enough to shift Jisha's center of gravity. This made it impossible to throw it like a tomahawk.
Instead...
*Two spins should work, I think.*
There was a sport called "hammer throw". The participant would pick up a heavy hammer, spin around, and use the centrifugal force to launch it into a field.
Though her current weapon was an axe, its center of mass was similar enough to that of a "hammer throw" hammer.
So, she spun once...
Twice...
*... Fly!*
The axe shot forwards as it spun towards the poor sentient(?) piece of wood. It was too slow to dodge, and it was too weak to handle the force of an axe many times its weight hurtling into it.
*Nice.*
The final piece of wood met the same fate as the other three: cleanly cut in half.
Jisha heard an impressed whistle behind her.
"That was impressive, missy," the old man said while slowly applauding.
When she turned around, Abandoned Snow was looking at her with her jaw dropped.
*...*
To Jisha, this wasn't a very impressive feat. But if the performance made these two's day better, it wasn't all bad.
"Teach me how to do that! Teach me!"
*... I gotta draw the line here.*
"Sorry, Snow. I wasn't lying when I said I was busy earlier. I'll help you find your sister, but that's all I can do for you, okay?"
"Aw..."
Abandoned Snow looked at the ground, dejected. Jisha couldn't help but smile bitterly for a brief moment.
*She seems like a good kid. Talented, too.*
Not many people could cut wood perfectly on their first try, so Jisha wasn't being overly generous with her praise here. Abandoned Snow was also a talented young artist; her skills were wunderkind-like. This, along with her hyperactive mannerisms that reminded Jisha of a certain someone that was (still) nuking her inbox, made her really start to feel like this girl's second big sister.
But Jisha suppressed those feelings as soon as they arose. After all, nothing good would come from being attached to a random person.
She rid her head of these nonsensical thoughts and spoke to the old man so they could claim their quest rewards.
"Alright, sir, did we meet your expectations?"
"You met and exceeded them, missy. I was planning on paying you two 5 Copper for your troubles, but I'm doubling that. Fun to watch, that was."
*>System message: Quest "Bourdois' Woodcutting" complete!*
*>+10 Copper*
*>System message: Level up!*
*>Name: Fae Sol*
*>Class: Ranged*
*Level: 0 -> 1 (+1)*
*>HP: x -> 100*
*>Atk: x -> 10*
*>Def: 0*
When these system notifications entered her mind, Jisha couldn't help but give a satisfied smile.
"Ohh!"
Abandoned Snow, who had run off to collect the escaping piece of wood, returned to receive the same notifications as well.
"Thank you, sir. Well then, we'll be off."
"Take care, missy."
With that, the two walked back towards the commercial center of the hamlet.
"Okay, Snow. We've gotta buy a couple things before heading out. We're one step closer!"
"Okay!" Abandoned Snow replied with a bright smile on her face.
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