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"Well, nothing's stopping me now," she mumbled to herself as she set up an account within the game.
With so much time on her hands, she supposed she could dedicate herself to something else—and given her personality, she always poured her heart and soul in whatever she did.
Her lips pursed as she released a tired sigh. Her thoughts brought her back to the piano—the fact that it was still her greatest love, yet at the same time it was becoming her biggest phobia.
She loved music. But now she hated the thought of people hearing it…and judging her.
And that was the root of all things. She was tired of being judged, of having every little action scrutinized and turned on its head.
For a moment she just wanted to be anyone but herself.
Not Noelle DeVille, but someone else. Someone…
Noelle stared at the screen as it asked her for her login information and preferred username. She'd chosen this particular game because it was a simulation of real life—a chance to become someone else.
Swallowing hard, she could feel excitement bubble inside of her as she brought her fingers to the keyboard to type.Curiouscat26—hernew username. She set a password and was then asked to create an avatar.
Hovering over the choices of dress, hair style and features, Noelle decided she might as well truly reinvent herself. As a level one, she had limited coin to adorn her character, but she managed to create a girly version of herself. She chose pink hair, a pink dress and even pink shoes. She might hate the color in real life, but in the game she decided to be the opposite of who she was.
After she was done designing her avatar, Noelle read through some of the game's guides that specified how to win challenges, make alliances and win more money so she could buy better clothes or weapons.
When she felt comfortable with the rules, she entered the game.
In the beginning everything felt so strange.
She'd played games before, but never an RPG with this level of graphics or real life simulation. Though it all happened in a fantastical setting, everything looked so real, from her human-like features of her avatar to the items present and the landscape. That in itself allowed her to quickly get immersed in the game, not noticing how time was passing by.
For the first few hours, she completed some elementary challenges that gave her some coins and a few basic accessories. But soon she realized the aim of the game wasn't to be a solo player, but to forge connections.
Almost everyone she could see around was in a group, completing the challenges together.
With her usual apprehension regarding interacting with others, even if this time it was under an avatar, Noelle didn't know where to start.
She spent some time sightseeing the realm and checking out the areas, keeping her eyes open to other solo travelers that she could befriend.
The first person she met was another girl, Ginny—or who she hoped it was a girl. If Noelle disguised herself online, anyone could very well do the same.
They quickly started chatting and she realized it was Ginny's first day in the game too. As they got a little more comfortable and got to know each other more, Ginny suggested they use the audio feature of the game—one that allowed the users to speak but with a filter on to maintain anonymity.
Noelle might have been a little reluctant at first, but as soon as she tried it and settled on a filter that could never reveal her real voice, she realized it wasn't so bad.
Certainly, it was easier than typing everything.
Although they spent some time getting to know each other, they didn't share too many details about their real lives, striving to keep that anonymity.
"Have you seen the other teams? They are all balanced with the number of girls and guys."
"We could have an all-girl team?" Noelle offered, though she could see the advantages of having some guys too.
The game was designed with a clear distinction between the genders and their roles in the society. As such, each had some exclusive perks. The men, in particular, had additional armor and weapon choices while the girls had more spells to choose from.
"We'd be struggling to keep up," Ginny sighed.
Luckily for them, as they explored more of the realm, they met another loner traveler going by the name of Tiger. He was relatively new to the game, too, but definitely more experienced than the girls.
"There is one player," Tiger started when he heard the idea of a team. "He's been solo from the beginning and has refused everyone who wanted to team up with him."
"And you think he's going to agree to join our team?" Noelle narrowed her eyes.
