Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

Flora decided to conquer the Tutorial Tower in time dilation. Starting scenarios from her simulation grounds prevented her from collecting loot. Although Aidan had told her that the opponents sometimes dropped goodies, the time constraints of this last day of level 1 bonus hunting were too tight to be greedy.

After starting the scenario, Flora and her crew found themselves in a basement. Musty air permeated the room. The light of the torches reflected from moist stone walls. The space was empty, and a corkscrew staircase provided the only exit.

Quest: The Tower Climb I

Description: Conquer the first level and advance to the top.

Rewards: + 1 OV Bonus to an attribute of your choice.

Penalty: None. Except when you die, then the scenario ends.

Difficulty: A

Flora looked at the winding stairs, then at the three-meter-long Mover, then back at the stairs. With a width of 1.5 meters, they offered plenty of space for a human, not for an oversized flying robot. "We might have a problem."

The Mover consisted of two passenger cabins. They were 1.5 meters long and 1.2 meters thick. Each had two propeller pairs and two guns on the sides. Gaccu, shaped like an accordion below, connected them.

The problem was the mounting of its appendices. It raised the Mover's width close to the staircase's. Therefore the two Tollys took the front and Flora the rear end. They turned the Mover 90 degrees, so that the slimmer area faced the walls and hauled it upwards. While it was a good strategy to let the shorter person take the top, it wasn't in this (stair-)case because the Mover's length demanded that they vertically extended to take the curve.

"I thought I had to climb a tower and not climb a Mover in a tower!" Flora mumbled while she crawled over the staircase-blocking robot to change positions.

The team pushed, pulled, and groaned but conquered the flight of stairs.

A door with "Level I" carved into it awaited them while a semi-transparent barrier blocked the way up. They pushed the Mover through it.

Flora entered with her back to the room, which was in hindsight not the smartest way to approach hostile territories.

Three monsters dashed to Flora, growling.

"One moment, dears. Let me get the Mover through the door first." Flora said to the violet ball of fur and horns that bit her calve.

When they were finally through the door, and clear of the stairway, Aito and Gaccu had already killed the monsters.

Flora looked at the brightly colored remains with regret. "You are too cute to face!" She put on her sensory-depravation mask. Admittingly, she would have done the same if the monsters were ugly. She needed to train her Magical Perception. To her astonishment, she still saw the pool bars of herself and her companions as well as all the other HUD displays like her status bar.

"Aidan, you should be able to steer the Mover through the door into the next room. Try to imitate a caterpillar on a tightrope. We will follow you. Aito, mark the targets. Golems, attack Aito's mark but mind your aggro. Gaccu, you'll heal yourself. Divine Radiance will spread it. Nocks-Tolly, you will go last, and I'll use you as a guide. I can't feel the Octopussy's location, so please stay away from Nocks-Tolly to avoid accidents. Any questions or suggestions?"

"No, Milady."

*beep beep*

Flora heard her AI's without any problems despite the earplugs because they spoke through her nocks to her. She received a vague feeling of No from Gaccu and the Nocks-Tolly. The potato-sacky mind of the Dive Golly transmitted nothing.

"Alright, next room!"

Her companions filed out. Flora had to concentrate on following Nocks-Tolly but managed, although she did bump into the door frame. In the next room, she felt nothing but her companions… and they seemed idle?

"I don't think this method works… I'm sensing absolutely no fighting."

"The two mobs were long dead before you entered the room, Milady."

"Oh." Flora cleared her throat. "Well, carry on."

Without knowing the location of the next door, it was even more challenging to follow the Tolly. Flora carefully entered another static room.

"Dead again?"

"Yes, Milady."

"Next!"

"In front of the B-rated monster is enough room that I don't have to trigger the fight immediately. Should I wait until you are here, Milady?"

"No, we'll wait with fancy tactics until they are necessary. Attack at will."

This time, the energies in the room were lively. Flora couldn't distinguish all the spells but felt them converging to a single point, hopefully, the monster.

<Frostbolt>

"Did I hit something?" Flora asked. She felt insecure in her method.

"Yes, Milady!" Aidan said, and Flora cheered up. "The wall. The monster crumbled before the might of your spell."

Flora's elation vanished. "Next!"

A wave of heat washed over the room when it was Flora's turn to enter. She saw her companions' HP drop and Fire debuffs on their status bars. Until now, she hadn't even noticed that she could see their debuffs!

(Left Hand, Wavering Wave-Ring): <Holy Beam>: Hopefully, the monster.

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet): <Reconfirm>

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet): <Bolster Holy System>

And the monster was dead.

"Great, next! Send the achievement to Robby. It should be easy to obtain it with smell, taste, and hearing disabled." Flora ordered, swishing the message away.

"We cleared the first floor, Milady," Aidan said just as the popup appeared.

Flora smiled wrily. "We did spend more time on the staircase than on the floor. Show me my current bonuses, please."

Physical Attributes: Bonus OV Mods

Power: 1

Macro-Control: 3

Micro-Control: 3

Vigor: 4

Regeneration: 2

Defense: 5

Perception: 1

Magical Attributes: Bonus OV Mods

Power: 5

Macro-Control: 5

Micro-Control: 4

Vigor: 5

Regeneration: 5

Defense: 4

Perception: 2

"Five is the maximum, Milady. If we get more, they'll get converted into marbles. Considering we are aiming for the + 1 OV in everything achievement, I wouldn't recommend the bonus for the attributes with four points."

"System, give me power!" Flora said in her best "villain-voice", balling her fist into the air and expecting the sound of ominous thunder. Nothing happened, so she clarified in her usual tone: "I mean the Physical Power OV bonus."

"No, snark at all?" Flora said, half-mocking and half disappointed.

Flora took off her blindfold. "For the real challenge of this tower, the staircase, I'll need my sight."

The second staircase challenge went better than the first. Flora still pulled the first group, but they were E-rated trash mobs, so she didn't care.

The two D-rated mobs in the next room fell too soon for Flora to sense, but the C-rated monster in the third room survived until she approached it. She couldn't feel it, only the mana flows of the Tollys' spells and Gaccu, who was probably next to it because the Mover fought with its propeller blenders.

"Aidan, notify me when an opponent casts a skill 2 seconds after it. I want to know if I can perceive it. Please, also announce whether my skills hit or miss."

Meanwhile, the C-rated monster disappeared, and they advanced into the next room.

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet): <Holy Beam>

"Miss, Milady."

Flora moved her hand more towards the right.

"Partial Hit, Milady."

Although it was only a very vague feeling, Flora half sensed and half imagined a part of the stream continuing towards the wall and a part getting stopped by something. She adjusted the direction again.

"Hit, Milady."

"I think I'm getting the hang out of it. It just takes too long."

Over the next few floors, Flora had the opportunity to finetune her senses. The opponents lived longer, which helped immensely. When they conquered the fifth-floor boss, Aidan estimated that it had 11k HP. Gaccu had some problems healing all its damage, but with Flora's support, everybody still had more than half their HP.

After floor three, the quest rose to S and now it reached SS for the sixth level. While the group conquered the E-C-rated rooms like usual, the B-rated monster had a new trick. A room-wide damaging effect disturbed Flora's perception. Maybe the difference could be likened to going from dawn to a glaring noon sun. Everything was light, and it hurt the eyes, but at the same time, you could see better if you could get used to the dazzle. The effect smelled like a spring meadow, and Negative Wood effects appeared on the Tollies' status bars.

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet): <Reconfirm>

(Left Hand, Wavering Wave-Ring): <Bolster Immune System>

Divine Radiance spread the cleansing effects from Flora to the group. The fifteen-second fight was too short to hurt the group even without her measures.

"Your Magical Perception rose to level 99, Milady. We are a faster than my calculated timeframe thanks to your blindfold."

This time, the endboss was heavily armored but didn't hit very hard, nor did he show the damaging field. With the stacking elemental debuffs of the team, it was one of the easier encounters.

Floor VII had a boring B-rated monster but a stinky boss. The smell of rot and decay hit Flora hard.

Death Domain Suppression: -1 OV Domain Handicap. – 2 HP per minute.

Biting Minus Death Tier 1: 1 x (- 2 OV Physical Reg, - 2 OV Magical Regeneration). 1 x – 2 HP every 2 seconds. Remaining Time: 10 seconds.

And that was only the atmosphere in the room. The boss itself spread area effects with even more debuffs.

(Left Hand, Wavering Wave-Ring, channeled): <Holy Healing Rain>

"Can my companions get deactivated if my mana-reg falls too low? And what's up with the boss?"

"No, Milady. Your mana-pool buffers the mana-reg deficit. The companions will fall when your mana hits zero and your mana-reg is still debuffed. The boss is undead and might look aesthetically unpleasing to a human eye."

Grinning, Flora cast a second spell. She was a bit tempted to lower her blindfold and find out what Aidan meant with "aesthetically unpleasing".

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet): <Holy Beam>

The robots had no status effects, so Flora and Gaccu were able to counter its damage output. Flora raised her eyebrows, imagining what the boss would do to a living tank. She felt its location clearly. Maybe because an undead was a magical creature?

After the boss went down, Flora distributed the quest-reward into Physical Perception. Her bonuses were looking good!

Physical Attributes: Bonus OV Mods

Power: 3

Macro-Control: 4

Micro-Control: 4

Vigor: 4

Regeneration: 4

Defense: 5

Perception: 2

Magical Attributes: Bonus OV Mods

Power: 5

Macro-Control: 5

Micro-Control: 4

Vigor: 5

Regeneration: 5

Defense: 4

Perception: 2