VRMMO | Terris Story: Someone "Them"

02:A.Beginning, Terris

"May. . ." Lia groaned while holding her painful nose.

"That's, pain. . ?" asked Linnea with a flat face; which although it was hard to tell, there was a worried tone coming out of the girl's mouth.

In short, Lia wanted to surprise the girl and managed to do it perfectly. It's just that, the book throw is the price that must be paid by him, right in advance and without installments.

But finding Linnea worried for her, Lia became anxious for the girl. Moreover, looking at the stiff face he had, the face of a flat doll. Who inevitably forced the psychologist's instinct to pull the girl's cheek, and forced her to smile widely.

"At least let out your expression!"

"Muurray. . ! Hwentikwan. . !" linnea protested, who then attempted to save her cheeks with great difficulty.

Recalling Linnea who was already sitting in the twelfth grade, Lia's treatment clearly upset her. However, her height is below average makes anyone see her as a little girl, not least Lia.

However, an object shaped like a cat's ear bando attached to the girl's head finally showed her identity; a brainwave interpreter tool made by Lia, specifically for Alice.

". . . Lolicon." said Alice in a tone filled with disgust.

"Bukaann—"

"—Sane people." cut Alice down mercilessly in the slightest.

Lia was speechless with a one-step crushing defeat.

Every time Alice spoke, the sentences came out happily without having to bother thinking about anything. An honest girl with a mouth like Carolina Pepper. And every time that too, Lia was always overwhelmed to respond.

Far contrary to Linnea which can be said to be very quiet. Unless necessary, Linnea seemed to be turning into a puppet, instead, where this makes Lia can only smile blankly to see it because she herself understands if it still takes a while to make Linnea recover from the trauma.

. . . Even so, his condition was already much better than when Lia first saw him.

After a while and finding the atmosphere melting and seeing Linnea who was quite happy, Lia finally started talking about what she wanted to show them.

"Alice, Linnea, what do you think of the game?" tanyakanya.

". . . A game?" Linnea slightly frowned hearing that sudden question.

"Nolife." said Alice, and the air around the library room turned awkward.

. . .

Ignoring Alice, Linnea was stunned at Lia's question.

Not because he never played a game, but because the memories that had sunk deep in the memory base began to reappear to the surface.

. . . The moment he chose to isolate himself from the outside world.

At that moment, Linnea became a person who did not want to get out of her room. He hates interaction with others; which is one of the main reasons behind him who prefers private schools where he gets minimal interaction without 'classmates'.

The days that he passed were filled only by looking at the computer screen, day or night.

Indeed, it was not a good experience in his own opinion, although it was actually pleasant.

It was just that, due to the coercion of his parents as well as the good name of the family that had to be taken care of, Linnea finally left all that behind.

Lia herself would know if the girl had ever become a person who locked herself up and spent her time playing games. Therefore, he deliberately made her replay the memory.

"Um, pretty exciting. . . maybe?" linnea replied hesitantly, with a face that had difficulty answering.

"Hmn, I don't deny it, it was quite a pleasant time." Alice added.

Getting a positive answer, Lia let out a thin smile and thoughtlessly took out a piece of paper from behind her suit and then showed it to the girl. "Then, what about this?"

Linnea also easily found a news story taken from the internet about a game whose title;

Terris: Limitless

Reading the paper in his hand, Linnea gradually showed an increasingly strong curiosity.

A new game with VRMMO Open World RPG genre held by Sekai Shard company, which is the result of a giant collaboration of several game developers from around the world and many famous experts from various fields.

. . .

The Sekai Shard company is also rumored to be collaborating with a young inventor, Lia Devina in the development of more advanced Virtual Reality tools.

The girl's eyes glanced at the glance of the person in front of her who was showing a smile full of pride, before re-reading the news in her hands.

Not knowing what to say, Linnea asked in confusion. "Um. . , So?"

As a genius, Linnea's IQ was certainly superior to the majority. But instead, his EQ ended up under ordinary people where this made it often difficult to read the feelings of others — which became one of his obstacles to interact with others.

And in accordance with the reality of it, Linnea ended up making Lia's expression fall instantly, descending towards the depths of the gloomy and dark Mariana Trench; while Alice inevitably made a loud laugh.

". . . Um, Doctor?" call Linnea who is getting confused with her behavior. "Is there a. . wrong?"

Lia who regained her senses finally immediately continued, although with a slightly lethargic face. "Well, what if you try it. I mean, play VR?"

Hearing him, Linnea immediately showed a difficult expression on her face. "This. . kinda, hard. . ." she said.

Although Linnea felt interested, she did not want to do so. Simple, there are several factors that make him doubtful. Therefore, Linnea finally turned to Alice.

"Num. . , Alice?"

"That's your choice. . ." tanked Alice easily, which made Linnea pout a little.

"Maou. . ."

Lia who had expected everything to be like this from the beginning then began to try to convince the two; which was not difficult for him, considering he was a psychologist who studied human mentality.

Lia herself also thought it was time to get this girl back to interact with others. Not just with her or someone close like her little sister, but widely. And the solution that Lia chose was Virtual Reality.

Given the sophistication of Virtual Reality that approached the original reality, Lia decided to take advantage of Terris NPCs that looked like humans in general. He thought about getting the girl to interact with the NPCs. 

Because of the trauma that Linnea experienced, the girl had built a self-defense mechanism that automatically shunned 'humans' and, or 'others' unconsciously.

And the understanding of NPCs that are indirectly limited to 'simulation' or 'real imitation' is a therapy that is suitable for him; where the self-defense mechanism he has becomes loose.

On the other hand, Lia thought that the Virtual World could be a place where Linnea could make herself feel recognized, without having to bind Amaryllis' name by using an artificial avatar character.

Because in reality, one of the things that could erode the trauma of the girl was just a simple word like 'thank you' as an appreciation of her hard work; even if it was spoken by an NPC, it was a simple word like 'thank you' as an appreciation of her hard work; even if it was spoken by an NPC, just to complete a truly trivial Quest.

. . . This method had actually been thought of for a long time by Lia, and he could have used this method from the beginning. However, it had to be delayed seeing that the mental burden binding the girl was extremely heavy. If Linnea was still her old self, this way would only backfire worsening her mental state.

But now, there was no time left to delay anymore. The girl would quite be said to have fully grown up half a year from now; after graduating from her school.

—Yeah, although in some ways there are parts that cannot be said to be mature.

After some not-so-long explanations, Linnea finally intended to try out the Virtual Reality that Lia meant. And because of that, Alice also just needs to make sure of a thing. "Doctor, it's been adapted to us, isn't it?"

Lia smiled widely while raising her thumb. "Clearly!"

". . . I'll try." Linnea finally cleared away the lingering doubt in her mind.

"Sip! The game was released next week exactly on your school holiday so it's worth the preparation. The tools you need to get here in a moment as well as a little set up. Might want to put it in your room, how?"

Hearing the last sentence, Linnea instantly stared silently with her eyes wide open —as if she had seen Medusa.

". . . Room, me?" he asked then, with a cold sweat that started to come out.

"Yes? What's up?" Lia asked back with raised eyebrows.

"Doctor. . , please prepare your mentality" said Alice politely — which caused Lia to be surprised by the change, but also grew more confused.

". . . ? ?"

A few minutes later, in front of the door of his room made of Nano Carbon. Linnea trembled with a cold sweaty flat face, while holding the key to the room that felt like a messenger to young death. While behind the girl, Lia stood up with a mind full of question marks. And Alice, who speaks a thousand languages, yet puts up a wide grin in her heart.

Until the door is finally opened slowly, uncovering a secret that even the world peace council member, Amaryllis Nova Reiner, did not know about. And on that day, Lia finally got enlightenment about the meaning of the term 'holy room'.

. . . No. gabe.

That. . , was a room that even the Demon King himself did not dare to enter.