From: Admin To: Emi (Item 930) Subject: Head’s up

Hey, I’m about to pull you into a void cuz typing would take too long.

Don’t freak out.

The Admin watched as the winner of Mika’s blacksmithing contest paused, swiping her hand through the air. He counted to fifteen, then pulled her into the Void.

The kobold clasped her hands against her chest, looking around. The Admin waved.

“Hey,” he said. “Congrats on winning the contest. I’ve just got a couple things you need to give opinions on.”

“O- ok,” she said, nodding.

He pulled up a screen, letting her see the back of it. “You ok with Emmy as a name?”

“Sure. It… was Emily, my friends called me Emmy,” she shrugged, looking off to her left.

He typed that in. “Hair color: white, pink or brown?”

Her hands dropped to her sides. “Can it be gold?”

The Admin paused. “I… honestly don’t know if the system would allow that.”

“Oh. I’ll go with… brown,” she decided.

“Ok.” He typed her choice in, then sent the character creation screen to her. “Race and color are locked in, adjust anything else you want. I’m copying the base blacksmith’s inventory into yours… Do you have a key?”

Emmy paused in scrolling through options to look at him. “No, sorry.”

“I’ll add keys to the blacksmith’s inventory. Do you want to be put on Floor 93 at cycle start, as soon as a player gets there, or at some point in between?”

She tapped her foot, thinking. “If I have a key… cycle start is fine.”

“Perfect.”

He was about to say something else when she hit “apply” on her screen. Gold magic shimmered around the kobold, turning her into a catgirl. Emmy twitched her ears, spinning slowly to look at her tail.

She was… beautiful. Even in default shorts and a t-shirt.

The Admin closed his mouth, forcing his focus back onto the screen. “You’ll…”

She turned her attention to him. Her faint smile and bright eyes made him forget what he was saying.

He cleared his throat, looking back at the screen. “Sorry. You’ll be put in one of the inn rooms, since I don’t know how Mika would feel about you taking over her house. Double-check with Nikki about cooking if you want to cook. I think that’s about it; any questions?”

“Yeah,” Emmy said, smiling. “What’s your name?”

He stared at her. No one had ever asked him that before. “I… A… Admin. I’m… Administrator 6.”

“You don’t have a name other than that?” she asked.

It was taboo. It was against the rules. It was forbidden.

But then everything about this conversation was forbidden. He was breaking at least three rules here. And refusing to give his name to a beautiful woman seemed… silly.

“Calvin,” he muttered, half-expecting the Void to turn red and the Director to appear.

“Calvin,” she repeated, memorizing it. “A good name.”

“Thanks,” he said awkwardly, dismissing the screens. “Anything else?”

Emmy tapped her foot again, thinking. “Not for now. I might have some questions after I move to Floor 93, but for now I’m good.” She grinned. “How do I look?”

He smiled. “If you have any problems, don’t hesitate to contact me.” With a flick of his wrist, she was back to being a kobold on Floor 97.