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A warm, yellow light bathed my body as I emerged in the virtual world. From an outsider's perspective, it would appear like pixels materializing out of thin air, becoming greater in mass and complexity until I popped into existence. I hopped a few times and wiggled my pseudopods in the air until I was comfortable with moving within the game. The level of reality was stunning. I could feel the solid ground as I moved around, all the way down to the slight air resistance when I punched a pseudopod forward.

All around me, the scenery was breathtaking. The starting zone was at the edge of a cliff looking at a vast mountain range with lush green forests and rushing waterfalls. Birds of all sorts flying through the skies and the sun bathing everything in a warm light. The sky was a bright azure that stretched far and wide, and the smell of fresh, natural air filled my slime nostrils.

The world I had entered was XXX, a highly complex magic-driven virtual reality system developed by an unknown genius said to live in a secret subdungeon within the Xylene dungeons. Rumors said that this subdungeon was home to a hidden Kingdom inhabited by robots built by the genius himself. It had been hundreds of years since he made his debut with a RPG-style console game called Last FantaXXXy. It was still popular to this day, particularly among the rich who could afford the system.

Just last week, XXX, which is said to be the unknown genius's greatest and final work, was leaked to information brokers around the dungeon. It didn't take long for the entirety of the dungeon to learn about the game and become enthralled. Unlike his previous system, XXX didn't require a console at all. Rather, the XXX network was accessible through a simple spell that didn't even require one to have developed a mana core. Just reciting the words would cause the mana in the surrounding atmosphere to connect the caster's consciousness to the net.

One of the biggest draws was that time flowed four times faster in the XXX world, allowing for all people to enjoy the game, regardless of what their professions were and how little free time they had. What was more, one could play the game in their sleep, and feel perfectly rested afterwards.

Of course, I was ecstatic as soon as I heard about it, and wanted to try it right away. However, mom made me promise to take Lily along, which I didn't mind at all. I was just worried that she'd screw up the incantation or whatnot, but it seemed like she was able to connect fine and dandy.

I walked up to the green blob that had materialized beside me. The name above the slime said .

'Hi Lily, how'd you--'

'Hey handsome <3.' A rough man's voice responded from the green slime. I kicked the slime off the cliff.

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...

You have leveled up!

+10 Health, +5 Stamina

Yay? I guess that was mean, but all's well that ends well. Right?

TacoBell Race Slime Gender Male Level 2 HP 20/20 Stamina 15/15

Ohhh, interesting. I wondered how the window would change once I got a class. I had heard about hidden and unique classes in the game, but the ways to unlock them were mysterious and unclear. It would be awesome to get one of them though. My thoughts were distracted by a rumble behind me.

Thump. Thump. THUMP. THUMP.

My body jiggled as something big and heavy approached me. I could feel hot air breathing down my back. Slowly, I turned around.

Snort.

Snot splattered over my face. Facing me was a bull's head with gigantic, curved horns and a spartan like blue glow emitting from the eyes. It adorned a golden nose ring and a hairy, ginger goatee. A chiseled body with a hardened eight pack and bulging thigh muscles comprised its physique, along with thick arms ending in two, furry human hands. The place where the p*nis should be was a brown mosaic, and above its head was the name .

"Bell!" It roared.

Ah.

Ahhhhhhhhh.

That green leaf on its forehead did seem familiar. 

I nodded. This was indeed Lily. The race and gender assignment was random, after all. Of all the possible names out there, why DemonicEnforcer, though? ^_^''

'H-heyyy L-Lily. Glad that you've made it through,' I stuttered. She was fucking terrifying. Each snort released a blast of hot air that caused my cheeks to wiggle. The minotaur model had an impressive level of detail, all the way down to the dirt underneath its nails.

"Yep, the process was really simple. Hurry, let's go!" She said excitedly. Grabbing me by the pseudopod, she dragged me away from the spawn zone towards the beginner's area: the training hall. There was literally nowhere else we could go, and all new players had to go through this location.

In the middle of a large courtyard surrounded by stone walls, rows upon rows of wooden dummies were set up. People of all races were hitting the dummies with wooden swords, testing out the basic combat system established in XXX.

From what I heard, damage was proportionate to the importance of the area hit. For example, a head blow was up to five times more vulnerable than hitting something like a leg or arm. However, the realistic nature of the game meant that limbs could be severed or broken, meaning that the lower HP loss wasn't the only important factor in a fight. A dual wielder whose arm was incapacitated had his combat ability cut in half. 

A brawny soldier man waved us over from a table near the entrance. The sign overhead said 'Training Registration'.

"Hey, is this your first time in XXX?" He smiled.

'Yes,' I replied.

"Great! Here's what you have to do. No matter what class you want to acquire later on, everyone has to go through basic training first. Grab one of these and attack one of those dummies over there until it reaches 0 hp. Most people finish within 15 minutes, depending on how quickly you catch on," he explained, handing each of us a wooden sword. 

The sword grew proportionally in size when it entered Lily's minotaur hands, and shrunk in my little pseudopods.

"Their effectiveness and damage output won't change even if their size does," he reassured me, seeing my disappointment. "All weapons and armors act this way. Every piece of equipment is tailored to the user's physical specifications."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I had imagined the ridiculous amount of pain and effort I would have to put into finding armors and weapons my size. This was awfully convenient. Almost as if an author was manipulating the world to make it easier on himself to write the story without going into the specifics.

Beside me, Lily was testing out the sword: swinging it back and forth, stabbing the air, and twirling in the air like a ballerina with the sword pointed upwards. I never thought I would see a minotaur twirl, nor did I want to. Now that it was said and done, I had seen all there was to see in life.

The two of us went to the back of the training hall where a relatively fewer number of players were hitting their dummies. We each approached a separate target and brandished our newly acquired wooden weapons.

Smack!

You have dealt -5 HP damage to Training Dummy.

The weight of the impact jarred my pseudopod as if I was hitting a solid object. Which was to be expected given the level of reality in the game, I supposed. I noticed a green bar appear above the dummy with a percentage on it. It read 99.5%. I understood this to be the dummy's HP. There was a long ways to go before we'd get out of this area.

It was then that I observed an elven boy near me struggle to hit the dummy. Everyone around him was avoiding him. It was like he couldn't tell where his target was. Almost as if...

I gasped. The boy's eyes were unfocused and pale. He was blind. Moreover, his title read

I smelt the beginnings of a quest.