Logging into The Novus is pretty straightforward. The ship's staff and drones send you into the Cryo Chambers, which are separated by gender... Which is very outdated, eh, freaking captain! …Fine, I won't bitch about it. It's either following their 'protocols' or getting stuck on Earth… Once inside, you're put into some sort of coffin and enter cryo-sleep, where our asses will be glued to for who knows how long.

Whatever, waiting in line with other men didn't bother me, as long as they weren't staring at my petite, more fragile body when compared to them. Like the muscle-bound guy in front of me. By the way, nice arms, pal. I wouldn't mind you giving me a tight bear hug.

I'm also into girls, you know, but I have never been in a relationship with one. Not for lack of trying, mind you. Things simply haven't worked out for me. It didn't help either that the jerks from Alvearium Enterprise specifically told me that I couldn't use makeup or fancy clothes inside their facilities. Bastards. Before stepping into their headquarters, I looked like an average-looking girl, and now that I finally boarded the Santa María's ship, I'm nothing more than a short, sickly boy.

I hope they keep their promise and the so-called Novus is actually fun and lets us have all the freedom our youth has always wanted.

Come on, hurry! I want to enter the system and change my avatar already!

* * *

++++ Welcome to The Novus, the World of Opportunities. You can be whoever and do whatever your heart desires. A book detailing User Conduct and Restrictions inside the system has been added to your inventory. ++++

"W-wait! I haven't changed my avatar yet!"

++++ Let your adventure begin! +++++

I reached out my hand and looked at a rock ceiling. My hand looked exactly like my real one, so I continued to inspect the rest of my body. I even had the same birthmark close to my left flat nipple.

"Oh… no… I'm… still me! This has to be a mistake!" I cried, hearing my disgustingly male-ish voice. As I looked at my surroundings, a notification took my attention. I made a hand gesture as the Video Tutorial had taught us, and my User Interface materialized in front of me.

++++ New Quest! Find a way out and visit Unus Town - Reward: 100 gold++++

"Great, just great." I pulled my hair and suppressed a scream. "Don't panic, it's not your fault…"

I lay down again and sighed.

And stood there. Like an idiot.

"I might... Make it work, somehow... Like back in real life. I'll get some new clothes, some makeup, and try again… 'Be whoever and do whatever you want' my ass!"

As I remained quiet, the sound of distant voices came to my ears. There were other people nearby, but their sound was muffled. I crawled out and glanced outside. The place had a series of individual caves. I suppose everyone spawned in each one of them.

The voices were now closer. I peeked inside my neighboring cave and found a pair of ass-cheeks right in front of me! "What the--!"

I shut my mouth with both hands. Did they hear me? Apparently not, since the girl inside was loudly moaning. I peered again and realized what was happening.

"This is amazing!" a guy was grunting while pushing his hips furiously against her.

"Yeah! It feels just like in the real world!" the girl cried, and by the tone of her voice, she sounded more than pleased.

They've just respawned, and the first thing they do is check if they can have sex inside the system? Sure, why not? I felt a little envious, actually. But I doubted that guy would let me join them. Maybe if I looked more girly like in my previous… Wait… Are those their clothes?

The girl's dress was there on the ground for anyone to take. I swallowed before crawling to get there. I reached out to grab the clothes and… Gotcha!

I returned to my cave and dressed up, while the guy grunted: "I'm cumming!"

I glanced at my body and nodded approvingly. While wearing this white-sleeved cotton dress, and thanks to my medium-length hair, I at least looked androgynous. Now, to get out of there.

* * *

What were the developers thinking? This body, face, and voice were a replica of my real one. The capsule thingy I got into must have scanned my naked body, and the reason the computer asked me so many questions was to record my voice. Bah! Being the real me sucks. Did you know that, developers?!

After walking through a series of rocky corridors, I got into a more spacious cavern where other players were already slaying their first monsters. A translucent, small creature. "Slime," I said aloud after a name appeared above one of them. I observed the others, who used their feet and fists to kill them.

That was lame.

One got close to me, and the first thing that came into my mind was how cute and soft it looked.

"Aww! Come here, little fella!" I beamed, and the monster rushed to tackle me. "In your dreams, asshole!"

I stomped on it and made it explode, leaving my leather boot and leg stained with jelly. Yuck…

"Nice move!" A guy said, giving me a thumbs up. "What's your name?"

For a moment I wondered if my real name was displayed above my head like with these slimes, so I didn't think of hiding it. "Taylor…" I blurted out. "You?"

"I'm Steve. Do you want to team up? There's a secret quest that I discovered after killing five of them. If you kill 30, you'll get 200 gold. We could split the reward."

Was it my imagination, or was this guy being too nice to me? The stolen dress and years of faking my voice were working! He was dark-skinned, tall, with short hair and a fit body, so my answer was an absolute yes!

"Sure," I said shyly, turning my voice more girly.

"I also figured out how to create a temporary party. That way, the system will split the gold for us. It's a pretty neat function. We don't need to be added as friends to start a team."

A notification got into my field of vision.

++++ Steve Riggs wants to start a Battle Party! +++++

"Did you get it?" he asked, showing me what a perfect smile looked like.

"Yes, Steve Riggs. Your last name has a good ring to it."

"Thank you! So, are you ready?"

"Yes, I bet I can kill more than you!"

He laughed out loud. "We'll see!"

Minutes later, when I had killed my ninth Slime, I saw the couple from before walking out of the respawning caves. The girl was wearing the guy's shirt, looking embarrassed, while he looked around, shirtless, like trying to discern who had screwed them over. There were like 20 people around, he would never find out.

"Air kick!" a blonde girl cried out loud 50 feet away from us, and a current of air manifested from her feet and cut a Slime in half. "Did you see that, Alan?! It worked!"

"It sure did! H-how did you do it?" her partner asked.

"Did that girl figure out a special technique out of nowhere?" Steve asked, half-smiling.

"Who knows?" I said bitterly, after noticing that he was staring at her.

That blonde was pretty as hell! She was stacked, had a tiny waist and a big, round butt... She was everything I wanted to be. Of course I would get mad when the first 'friend' I've got in this freaking place started drooling over her.

"Hey, we're almost done," I said, not even trying to hide my resentment.

Steve turned to me and gave me an apologetic smile. "Yes, let's finish this!"

"Whatever," I muttered, stomping over the two last ones, which prompted a notification to appear immediately inside my head.

++++ Hidden Hunting Quest Completed! You and your teammate have received 100 gold each! +++++

"We did it, partner!" he beamed and raised his hand so I could shake it. But I was not in the mood for that.

"Steve? Come here for a second, please?"

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked, frowning. "Is something wrong? Are you hurt?"

When he got close enough for me to grab him by the collar of his shirt, I pulled him down to whisper in his ear. "If you give me your 100 gold, I'll suck you off."