The moment she had arrived home, her husband's reply to her telepathic message was worrying. While she took pride in setting up a strong future foundation for her daughter from such a young age, this was still her baby girl.
"Have I ever told you I got this scar?" She asks Tara, rising onto her feet. Tara's sight flickers to her mother's right eye. The light is faded thanks to a jagged cut. Tara feels as if she always wondered but never asked.
"During my first outing, I foolishly separated from the group. How could I not? All my life I was placed underneath my grandmother's shadow. I may be the second strongest member of our family now but then I was just a dumb child. The beast I ran into took my eye and almost took my life."
Tara pales as she hears this. She has only ever seen her mother as an invincible mountain.
"With my sight impaired and pride wounded, instead of healing the wounds, I chose to keep them and used that pain to grow. Then, my outings later granted me with a wonderful and strong husband and a sweet, daring child." Her mother ruffles Tara's head, Tara warming with affection. "One who wishes to see the dangers beyond our home. If that's what you wish then-"
Tara's mother steps away, into the center of the room, before turning back to face her.
"--You will have to move me from this spot. I won't suppress my power like when we spar or I'm teaching you moves."
Tara's eyes are wide with shock. She was going to have to make her mother, the renowned Hufang Di, take a step back. It's clear to Tara that in the past, Di had already lowered her own abilities to that of a regular person. Now Tara had to struggle against the full might of a low tier Billowing Muscle.
Most children would be frightened by this prospect but Tara was certain to take this chance and face Di's full strength. With that, Tara would be able to gauge her own abilities truthfully. Tara wastes no time meeting Di, moving faster than she had earlier fighting Tej, delivering a kick from her right. Knowing it was going to be blocked, she quickly spun the second she made contact, backhanding with her left fist.
This pattern continues for several moves. Tara wrinkles her nose as she hops back. Her mother's reflexes were lightning quick and yet she felt Di was hardly serious. Tara pouts with crossed arms before stomping her right foot.
"Take me seriously!" She demands.
Di yawns, stretching. "Then stop probing me and use everything you have."
Tara drops her hands to her sides and closes her eyes to focus her breathing. Tara revolves the aural energies within her body as much as she can. In her mind, she imagines what it's like to have an aura over her body, the sign she had truly become an aurator.
She has seen her father slice a rock in half once with his sword but also seen her mother do the same with her index finger. If she could just-!
Di watches her daughter concentrate, able to feel Tara focusing her power as much as possible. Di knew just how talented Tara was from the moment she started crawling at the six months. And though Di was certain Tara could last against most lowtier Skin Igniting Novices, the gap was too much to overcome to between mother and child.
Then, something amazing happened. Di, for only a second, saw a white energy spark over Tara's fists before disappearing. Tara runs forwards, giving a lion-like roar, with a surprising amount of strength leaving a tiny dent in the hardwood floor as she pushes off. Di adjusts her footing without thinking and thrust out a palm, her own clear blue aura exuding the feeling of a cool river.
With every aura comes its own color and feel. Though Di's aura was overwhelming to Tara's wisp, like a lit candle in the ocean, Tara still senses warmth. Tara's smiling even though her attack had been blocked and she probably didn't even know that her mother had seen her aura.
"Ha! I did it! I can go on the expedition." The young girl cheers, starting to hop around the room. Di looks down, her feet in a different position than when she started. Subconsciously, she had moved to fully defend herself. Di sighs, for a promise made, had to be kept.
"Okay, you can go. Firstly, I need to lay down some rules: 1) Do not go farther away from your father and I than my senses allow. 2) You will have a partner while adventuring. 3) If things get dangerous for any reason do not try to take care of it yourself instead I want you to hide and wait." As Di tells Tara this, she gently pulls her daughter closer and slips a necklace with a clear pendant around Tara's neck.
"Secondly, your father and I shall handle your instruction for the next few days. To further your mind, in the morning, he will handle teaching what beasts are common, plant life to avoid, and the best places to run to for safe haven, the Heavens forbid and the Hells allow, if something happens."
"Grandma Shuyren has heard you not only outclass your cousins but helped teach them. To enhance your soul, you'll continue sharing your knowledge in the afternoon. Also, you will start teaching your sister as well. In the evening, to temper your body, we will start weapon training. While our family is known for our twin hooked swords, they aren't the path for everyone."
Tara enjoys the later part of the week. She's like a sponge when it comes to the information her father gave her and eagerly brought Zewan with her to practice with her other cousins. Truly the hardest part for her was weapon training. This was because nothing seemed to be working. Swords felt too heavy in her hands, staves felt too long, and even something like mother's chain scythe felt unwieldy and unnatural to her. In the end, she decides to go weapon-less.
As she goes to bed on final night, Tara opens her eyes to find it was the next morning in the physical reality. The servers were going down so her first session in virtual reality had come to an end. Only three more virtual weeks or three physical days until the exploration.
"How was it?" Karuna asks her out of her concern as she helps remove the helmet. Tara couldn't help but notice the curiosity in her mother's voice. She was, after all, one of the head designers of the whole project among other roles.
"It was amazing! I almost forgot it wasn't real in some parts." Tara earnestly admits. The affection she felt towards her NPC family still lingered with her.
"Even though a week has passed within the game, I still feel like I can't control my body too well. Are you sure you can't tell me my character stats?"
"Even though you are my daughter, I can't tell you that type of information. I'm sorry."
With a variety of industries and companies having a hand in Renovel's creation even Blueriver was barred from knowing the value of their stats should they choose Story mode.
"I can tell you to check the site's forums later. I'm certain someone will post about it. Now before your mother takes you away for your morning run, tell me about the place that was chosen for your Story." Luckily it was Saturday and Tara's homework could easily be done.
"It's a place where people use physical, psychic , and spiritual energy. When they use all three at the same time, it makes an aura, which is like a forcefield I think? Almost like something out of an anime, honestly. In my Story, I'm an adopted child of the Hufangs." Tara stretches to find that she's not as tired as she had been expecting. Good because with it being her Spring Break, Xia was basically going to train her for a marathon while Karuna was going to test her every day outside of her homework.
Karuna's writing down notes on her tablet. "That's fascinating! You didn't feel any restrictions on your movement or problems with your vision?"
"No, not I noticed. Though I was there for a week, my body's having a hard time gauging my strength." Tara did a few practice movements
"That's to be expected since it's your first time playing a game like this. You'll become more comfortable as time goes on. Now go get changed, your mother is almost done with her morning warm-ups."
When Tara returns later that morning after her run with Xia, taps her desk to which a blue semi-translucent screen appears before her. She checks the forums and finds that millions of players have already joined Renovel.
Those like her that had picked Story mode were in the clear minority. Later, she would learn that most Story mode players were all Captains of powerful Guilds or Workshops, including her Aunt Tanisha. They did so in order to challenge themselves and train their second in command at the same time.
There's already many threads even this early in the morning. Some were posted by moderators, pinned at the top to help out beginners, while others were made by the players themselves.
Someone had even started compiling the playable clans and classes they had witnessed in the first Adventure session alone!
Tara doesn't take a peek despite being curious as the post's reply number flips to a new number every second. Instead, she takes a look at a moderator's post concerning a player's statistics.
Besides Story mode players not being able to know their stats, Adventure players all started off with the same value initially before taking their tribal or clan bonuses into account. The eight stats were given a different color:
Though most of them were pretty straightforward, such as Attack or Defense, Tara makes sure to memorize what each stat was for and their descriptions. Vitality was associated with white while Spirit was associated with black, instead of the classic green and blue.
Tara couldn't help but wonder what her stats had ended up being. She had hoped that there was a loophole in having matches with Adventure players, but both sides' information would be blocked outside of character name and class. When they fought they'd share a balanced set of stats to keep a somewhat equal footing