Half an hour before the meeting time, Flora beamed to the Tricky Temple. She wore her new mech-suit over pink sports attire (+ 3 OV Physical Regeneration) but left the helmet in her inventory. In new territories, vision was necessary.

The massive building reminded Flora of the Centre Pompidou with its rails and pipes enwrapping every visible surface. A steady stream of young people in colorful clothes, mostly what Flora called the "nighty style", swaggered from the port circle to the gate. The nighty style consisted of an oversized long-shirt and leggings. Exactly the ensemble Flora wore as pajamas.

As Flora entered the building through a shimmering gate, she received the message that Ali Hawks had invited her and covered her entrance fee.

Zone Information

Name: Tricky Temple

Color: Yellow

Enemies

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 2h

Drop: 0%

Neutral

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 5min

Drop: 0%

Friends

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 30sec

Drop: 0%

Automated Reputation Losses

Crashing into other people: - 5 Rep

Littering: - 1 Rep

Adult speech: - 1 Rep

Adult activities: - 5 Rep

Automated Reputation Gains

Entrance: + 1 Rep

Quests: + 1 per Quest

On the way to her seat, Flora bought some fried ant-sticks with avocado-dip and a mango soda. Her place was on section A, tribune 15, row 43, seat 24. After she failed to locate even section A with all the people, colors, noise, and especially snacks distracting her, she delegated the job to Aidan. He projected arrows on Flora's HUD, and she only had to concentrate on dodging teenies and not spilling her soda.

The stairs up to row 43 looked daunting. Flora snickered, her assessment was still in old woman mode. The mech-suit didn't make it easy to climb the stairs, but there was less pain and wheezing than in real life. After reaching her row, Flora turned around and proclaimed to the aisle: "I conquered you!"

"The *bleep," you did!"

"Don't block the way, granny!"

Flora shook her head. 'Those young people don't know what they have and won't appreciate it until it's gone.'

Eventually, Flora found her seat and looked at the competition below. At least, she guessed it was the competition, though what she saw didn't fit with her concept of skateboarding. She couldn't even determine if all the people used skateboards. To her untrained eyes, they moved like them, but they sure as burned toast didn't look like boards.

A pink-haired girl stood on a dragon, a scruffy-looking boy on a washboard, a princess on a chocolate bar, and a ghost on a shell. Other boards conformed roughly to the expected shape, but you couldn't say for sure, because the pyrotechnical effects concealed them.

As the pink-haired girl dipped her dragon on a rail and the front paws sank into the guardrail, Flora figured it out: holographic animations superimposed onto the skateboards.

First, Flora enjoyed the spectacle, the colors, and the changing forms, then she admired the aesthetics, like the unfolded wings of dragons when the skateboard was in the air. At last, she started to see the craftsmanship and was less impressed.

When the pink-haired girl landed near a wall, the wings retracted too slow and reached into the obstacle. Flora winced. The maneuver would have resulted in a clipped wing if the dragon had been real. Another guy with a phoenix board performed a nose slide smashing the head of his bird into the concrete. 'Cruelty to animals! Where is PETA when you need them!'

The board shaped animations fared better, but the ones with big effects had problems as well. A person in a peafowl costume rode a board that left a rainbow trail. The trail tended to sink into walls, which was a missed chance for awesomeness, in Flora's book. With light, you could model fancy reflections.

A guy in the funniest outfit Flora had ever seen outside a carnival approached her. He wore a long-shirt with a pinstriped suit vest and red fly printed on it, pinstriped black leggings and shiny patent leather sneakers in Chicago gangster style. A fedora and a mustache like a ringmaster completed the outfit.

Nickname: Ali Hawks

Level: 250

Class: Skater

Clan: Huffgrin

Rating: S

"Hello, Flora," Ali said, smiling. "You look great, I can't believe 30 years passed since we have last met."

After Flora and Ali exchanged some niceties, he got to the point.

"Do you see the phoenix board of that black guy? What do you think of it?"

"Nice looking bird," Flora said nonchalantly.

"It's from a rival company." He smirked.

"What an ugly chicken!" Flora exclaimed, laughing but then got serious. "It is pretty, but the animation falls short."

"You got it!" Ali smiled ruefully. "Huffgrin demands the highest standards of animated skins. The artist offered this phoenix to us, but we rejected it."

Furthermore, he explained how easy it was to offer them animations, the quality of the testing tools the artists could access, and the favorable conditions they gave their contributors. Flora nodded well-behaved.

"Any specific designs you want?"

"Please don't laugh, but we are honestly looking for a water-animation. Specifically, a longboard design resembling a surfboard that cuts through the water."

Despite Ali's plea, Flora chuckled. Water-animations were a step every animator took in his career. Guitarists played 'Lady in Black', carpenters built a chair, software developers programmed a library application, and animators modeled water.

"Aside from specific designs, I desperately need an animation template to make it easier for other designers to create skins." He glanced at Flora. "The tools the Cetviwos system gave to us to avoid collisions are awful. I would pay good money for a guide or a template allowing the creators to design without getting burdened by the technology."

"I'll see what I can do."

When Ali was gone, Flora instructed Aidan to remember the conversation verbatim. He agreed and suggested turning on the camera in the future.

'I have a camera?' Immediately, Flora turned it on. It filmed everything from her perspective and had one additional camera focusing on herself, but she could position it to her liking.

"A vast community exists, which loves experiencing activities from the perspective of experts. Crafting is a popular genre." Aidan added.

"Put it on the remind-me-later-list, dear!" Flora said while filming the best and the worst examples of animated skins.

After Flora finished her industry espionage, she navigated to the exit. On the way, she saw a portal labeled "Tricky Beach".

'Maybe I can film some waves or even surfers for inspiration there?'

Zone Information

Name: Tricky Beach

Color: Yellow

Enemies

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 2h

Drop: 0%

Neutral

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 15min

Drop: 0%

Friends

Defeat: Defeat

Cornered: 5min

Drop: 0%

Automated Reputation Losses

Crashing into other people: - 5 Rep

Littering: - 1 Rep

Adult speech: - 1 Rep

Adult activities: - 5 Rep

Automated Reputation Gains

Consumption: + 1 Rep per 10 VirDos

Quests: + 1 Rep per Quest

Flora entered a wide street bordered by multistoried buildings. In the middle of the road was a channel. Instead of water, skaters and bikers streamed through it. Rails, pipes, ramps, and pillars were everywhere, even on the top of the buildings.

A wiry guy jumped off a ramp and hit a black angled plane, which turned out to be a trampoline and catapulted to a rail spanning the street. He caught it with his fingertips and whirled around it before hoisting himself up. After running over the banner "Welcome to Tricky Beach", he jumped to the roof of a nearby building.

"Wouldn't it be nice to be young again?" Flora caught herself thinking. However, age wasn't a problem in the Cetviwos. Her body wasn't the issue; her mind was. She still treated physical challenges as if she consisted of glass. That was reasonable in the real world where, at her age, a simple fall could easily lead to broken bones.

'Just go for it, old girl!'

She took up speed, jumped from the ramp, even managed to hit the trampoline, but missed the rail by a wide margin.

Her last thought was: "Well, the street is approaching fast!"

You are defeated!

The black screen vanished, and Flora found herself in an open-air cafe. Chairs, tables, and a food-stall surrounded by a transparent orange-tinged barrier invited the defeated to enjoy their forced break.

Though she died, Flora was still satisfied with her attempt. For her, it was part of learning nothing lasting happened to her when she failed in the virtual world. Besides, getting defeated in this zone seemed to be trendy. Crowds of talking and laughing people loitered around the food stall. Flora scanned the menu.

>>> Dishes

Losers' Break Fast: Eggs, beans, bacon.

Losers' Lunge (Missed): Chicken burger and fries.

Losers' Dienner: Steak with potatoes and beans.

Although the lunch's name perfectly fit Flora's situation, she decided against eating and for clearing her notifications.

First, she checked her debuffs.

Metal-Handicap: 6 OV

Defeat-Penalty: Cornered; Time remaining: 13 min, 12 sec.

She even had a buff:

Food: Fried Ant-Sticks with Avocado-Dip: + 1.5x carrying capacity. Time remaining: 7 min, 34 sec.

Then she read through the notifications.

Physical Power + 6 Level

Physical Micro-Control + 1 Level

Physical Vigor + 12 Level

Physical Defense + 15 Level

Magical Power + 1 Level

Magical Macro-Control + 2 Level

Magical Vigor + 7 Level

Magical Regeneration + 7 Level

Magical Defense + 15 Level

Magical Perception + 1 Level

"That's what I call progression!" Flora exclaimed to Aidan. "The vigors and defenses grew nicely, even the magical. Especially the growth in Magical Defense puzzles me. I would have categorized electroshocks as physical damage."

"The tasers produce lightning damage, Milady. All elements act on the physical as well as magical planes of existence."

"My training didn't affect the controls, perceptions, and Magical Power. I understand why, but we have to think of a solution."

You gained the affinity/resistance: Lightning + 12 Levels You gained the affinity/Resistance: Tempering + 5 Levels

"What's tempering, and from where did I get it?"

"Tempering: conditioning your body to resist and exert bruising. That is the explanation you get when you concentrate on the word, Milady." Aidan explained. "It is used when determining how much damage you are receiving when hitting a hard object and how easy you bruise when hit by crushing damage. You gained the affinity from getting rattled in the training-coffin."

"Very good!" Flora nodded.

She went over a few more notifications, but nothing stood out particularly except a new skill "Use Built-In Skill" with whopping +31 levels.

Now, she wanted to see how all her stats looked currently. Flora immersed herself in the numbers.

Stat-Tables

Level Value Mods Modded LV Operative Value Mods Equip

ment Modded OV Power 42 0 46.2 20.4 0 0 20 Macro-Control 56 0 61.6 23.5 0 0 24 Micro-Control 50 0 55 22.2 0 0 22 Vigor 25 0 27.5 15.7 1 0 17 Regeneration 78 0 85.8 27.8 0 3 31 Defense 27 0 29.7 16.3 2 0 18 Perception 31 0 34.1 17.5 0 0 18 Magical Attributes Level Value Mods Modded LV Operative Value Mods Equip

ment Modded OV Power 19 0 19 13.1 0 0 13 Macro-Control 23 0 23 14.4 0 0 14 Micro-Control 25 0 27.5 15.7 0 0 16 Vigor 35 0 38.5 18.6 0 0 19 Regeneration 35 0 38.5 18.6 0 0 19 Defense 26 0 28.6 16 2 0 18 Perception 14 0 14 11.2 0 0 11 Pools OV Mods Equipment Modded OV Health 170 0 0 170 Stamina 460 0 0 460 Mana-Pool 190 0 0 190 Concentration 300 0 0

300

Affinities and Resistances Rating LV OV Mod Modded OV Psychokinesis SSS 28 17.5 5 23 Transformation SSS 28 17.5 5 23 Bloodmagic SSS 1 3 1 4 Metal F 10 9.5 0 10 Lightning F 12 10.4 0 10 Tempering F 5 6.7 0 7 Mana-Skills Category Rating LV OV Mod Modded OV Telekinesis Magic, Psychokinesis U SSS 52 23.8 0 24 Magical Push Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 28 17.5 0 18 Magical Pull Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 27 17.1 0 17 Transform Organics Magic, Transformation U SSS 53 24 0 24 Transform Inorganics Magic, Transformation U SSS 25 16.5 0 17 Clean Magic, Conjuration U SSS 3 5.2 0 5 Use Built-In Skill Technology, Command B SSS 31 18.4 0 18 Abilities Category Rating LV OV Mod Modded OV Mechanics Crafting S 27 17.1 0 17 Athletics Physical C 47 22.6 0 23 Modeling and Design Crafting SSS 45 22.1 0 22 Medical Science Science C 31 18.4 0 18 Negotiation Social B 3 5.2 0 5 Melee Combat F 1 3 0 3 Electronics Crafting S 5 6.7 0 7