NOVEL WEB Ch. 3
Chapter 3
Today is July 28, 2047 (Sunday).
During the summer of my first year of high school—the prime of my youth—I'm not heading out to a café with friends, not devoting myself to club activities, and certainly not chasing romance. Instead, I'm lying in bed with a full-dive headgear on to enter the cyber world.
"For now I'll just take a quick look and come back in about an hour. I've got to prep for tomorrow too."
I flip the power switch on the headgear. A system window appears in the space in front of me. At this stage it's no different from old-school VR goggles—my consciousness is still in the real world.
I operate the menu and launch the game my little sister gave me: "Infinite Space." Full-dive starts here.
My consciousness cuts out for an instant, and when I come to, my body is in cyberspace.
"Welcome to the world of Infinite Space. In this world you will operate as an android—Space Girl—suited for space."
I'm facing a message window inside what looks like a wormhole.
Infinite Space basically has no male players. Only women can join. Every player lives as a female-type robot called a Space Girl.
It's terrifying that a female-only game can stay at the top of the sales charts. By the way, male-only or female-only titles aren't unusual these days. Using full-dive tech has led to all kinds of problems—malicious sexual harassment, sex crimes, kidnapping cases—so more and more games split players by gender.
For me, a women-only lobby is a relief. I'm terrible at dealing with people regardless of gender, but the pain level is "men (terrible: extreme)" versus "women (terrible: moderate)." Ever since a certain male teacher tore into me, adult men have been unbearable...
"Please set a name first."
The message is read aloud in a woman's voice.
"Let's go with the usual..."
My family name is Furumiya. From that I'll take "Shiki." Since I'm going solo I'll hardly ever be called anything anyway, so a simple name is fine.
"Next, please design your android's appearance. Note: the farther it is from your real body, the harder it is to control."
This is true for every full-dive game: if you tweak your body too much, a gap between it and your real one makes you sluggish. You can build an ideal form and use it, but once you're used to it you'll feel out of place in your real body. Of course if you have a chronic illness, or your real build is too big or too small, it's better to make an ideal one.
I'll start with hair—something separate from the body.
(Whoa~. So many hairstyles, and the detail settings are crazy fine. I can set hair length down to a millimeter if I want!? Amazing...)
In reality I have nothing girly about me. Short hair, small chest... I'm often mistaken for a middle-school boy.
That's exactly why I want to live like a girl in the game.
(Long hair... maybe a two-tone color? Black and white. And mismatched eyes—red and blue. Yeah, yeah, cool!)
Next, body. Height I'll keep the same as in reality: 150 cm. Body type... same...
(No, wait. Maybe I can make my chest just a bit bigger than reality!? A little bigger is okay, right!? The three sizes can be boosted, right!?)
I press the + button and start inflating my chest like a balloon. A crushing wave of emptiness hits me.
(Stop... this is hollow... and big breasts would get in the way of sniping anyway...)
Reluctantly I let the air out of the balloon.
Clothes... how about an end-of-the-world look? End-of-the-world + guns is the best combo.
Black leather jacket, black leather pants... The jacket, let's show a bit of shoulder. Sunglasses too.
(Huh? Don't some comedians dress like this...? Making weird noises...)
A stylish belt and innerwear. Long sleeves for the jacket. And lose the sunglasses—wouldn't want to hide these cute eyes. There, the weird resemblance is gone.
Appearance set. Done.
"Please choose a role."
Role—like a job in an RPG. It seems to set your initial stats.
The stat list is [Armor], [Thruster Output], [Thruster Capacity], [Precision], [Radar], [Stealth], [EN Capacity]. Totally different from normal RPGs.
Role types: All-Rounder, Gunner, Sniper, Bomber, Attacker, Guardian, Scout... etc.
This game is set in space colonies. Space Girls blast space monsters or other Space Girls with laser guns and laser sabers. Put simply, it's robot action with androids.
Hence every role ends with "-type." Even though they're shaped like girls, they're still mechs—machines in the game.
Of course I go with—
"Sniper!"
Sniper stats: Armor E (20), Thruster Output D (40), Thruster Capacity B (80), Precision B (80), Radar A (100), Stealth C (60), EN Capacity C (60).
As a robot otaku I can kinda sorta guess what each stat does, but I'm not totally sure, so I'll look it up as I go.
"Please choose your initial weapons."
As a robot otaku I want to agonize over my loadout!
"Whoa! So many again...!"
Eight weapon slots in total. At this stage I can pick four.
There are thirty sniper rifles alone. Thirty choices just for starters. And weapons have stats too: [Power], [Range], [Gunshot], [Recoil], [Tracking], [Muzzle Velocity], [Ammo]!? Yabayabayabaya...! This is bad. If I overthink this I'll burn infinite hours...!
Guh...! No! If I get stuck I'll burn the whole day! It's more efficient to pick quickly and push the story forward! So—
"I'll choose by intuition..."
• RS-11 (sniper rifle) ×1
• GR-2 (handgun) ×2
• PT-8 (shield pieces) ×50
A mid-range handgun, and of course a sniper rifle as my main. Shield pieces next—they're hexagonal physical shields about fist-sized. You control them with brainwaves; you can cluster them into a circular barrier or spread them to block attacks from multiple directions. They were labeled "essential," so I grabbed fifty. Fifty count as one weapon slot. That fills all four slots.
I check the 3-D model with the weapons equipped.
"Ooh...!"
Handguns holstered at the hip, shield pieces hanging from the waist and thighs like a skirt. A sniper rifle in my hands... so cool!
Apparently you can freely take weapons from inventory, so you don't have to keep them all equipped, but still... heavy firepower is the dream. I want to fill every slot and take one photo with full gear.
All other settings are fine.
Every field has been filled.
"Well then, Lady Shiki, allow us to guide you to the infinite cosmos."
The wormhole fills with white light.
That excitement right before a game starts... it's always the best...!
――――――Afterword――――――
I'll explain the stats in the story eventually, but for the impatient, here are the two least obvious ones.
[Radar]... a stat tied to detection—your "attack power" in searching. If another unit enters your radar's search radius (within 250 m) and its stealth is lower than your radar value, an enemy icon appears on the map.
[Stealth]... your "defense" against detection. If your stealth is higher than the other unit's radar, you won't show up on their radar.
Not that I'd prioritize these if I ever played Infinite Space myself, but I'm sure some people swear by them.
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