After the Wing Tsun training, Flora still had the energy to spare and aggressions to express.

She decided to take the test for the Beginner-I course now.

Quest: Complete Beginner-I Wing Tsun

Rewards:

Advancement to Beginner-II Reputation with the Seven Masters Dojo Belt Button Bonus Melee XP

Penalty: none

Difficulty: C

First, she stood with the other pupils in five rows, and they performed the first section of the first form, Siu Lim Tao.

You gained 2 out of 2 points for the execution of Siu Lim Tao.

The coaches divided the students into 12 groups of 5 persons each — four groups with only females, one mixed group, and the rest all male.

The coach explained they implemented it due to cultural reasons. In some cultures, it was frowned upon for a man to hit a woman. Other traditions forbid bodily contact between the sexes before/after marriage and so on.

The first round consisted of a round-robin, everybody against everybody else in the same group. The two persons with the highest points advanced to the next phase and passed the examination.

The following elimination tournament started with the best one against the runner up of another group.

Flora got sorted into an all-female group. She recognized none of the women. Therefore she checked out their badges. 'We will see if the rating translates into fighting performance.'

Flora's first fight was against a tall blond woman. She looked athletic but didn't seem to take the competition seriously because she flirted with a boy from another group.

Nickname: Holysandre Savorista

Level: 6

Class: Pupil

Clan: Hunter's Hunger

Rating: B

They went through a portal together and arrived in a boxing ring.

While the countdown started, Flora bowed and centered herself.

Her opponent stood in the standard defensive posture with one arm extended and one arm closer to the body.

Wing Tsun focused on self-defense in the beginner courses. Therefore initiating aggression still felt strange to Flora. But someone had to start the fight, so Flora volunteered.

She ran towards Holysandre and kicked her in the front. The woman did what Wing Tsun taught them: She tried to parry it with her hands.

It changed the tractory of Flora's kick insignificantly. Power and momentum triumphed over technique.

Holy doubled over and even caught an elbow on the back of the head on the way down. Flora fixed her with the knee and rained chain punches on her.

The fight ended with Flora winning.

Her next opponent was a Mediterranean woman in her forties. She looked competent, had a high level, and even a class related to fighting.

Nick-name: Rubina Rubin

Level: 14

Class: Martial Artist

Rating: A

Immediately, Flora criticized herself for losing the battle in her head before it had even started.

"Statistics are the long game; having heart is the short game," one of Robby's trainers had once told Flora when she tried to console Robby about a lousy fight.

When the fight started, they approached each other and kicked at the same time. Rubina pivoted and absorbed the impact better than Flora, who stumbled backward. Quickly, she followed up with punches, but Flora managed to get her hands up and kneed Rubina in the side.

Immediately, her opponent smashed her heel on Flora's supporting leg's angle, which caused Flora to slip again.

'Dirty! I like it!'

This time Flora saved herself with a backroll. The acrobatics caught Rubina by surprise, and Flora managed to land a hefty uppercut.

They traded blows and kicks with relish. Rubina won the upper hand a few times more, but Flora toughed it out and dished out some hurt of her own.

Flora's health-bar was in the last quarter and sinking. Though she had no exact way to gauge Rubina's health, she looked battered as well.

Both had their hands in front of the body and tried to find holes in the defense. Suddenly, Rubina jumped back and kicked Flora's unprotected knee. Flora didn't survive her third stumble, falling under the woman's chained punches.

Her next adversary, a girl with bad posture and dull black hair, greeted Flora politely before they entered the ring.

Nick-name: Razorsharp Whirlwind

Level: 3

Rating: C

As soon as the battle started, Razorsharp's demeanor changed. Flora had the impression of facing a seasoned assassin instead of a moody teenager.

Razorsharp zigzagged to Flora's position and ducked under Flora's first kick. But Flora's second kick hit her head hard, and she went out.

After the fight, Flora had to wait for a bit for the other duels to finish. Now she felt the strains of the day. 'One more win and I finish the course. I just have to concentrate a bit more.'

Unicorny was a young black woman with her hair styled into a horn.

"If you hit me with this, I call foul!" Flora joked.

"No, worries. I only poke virgins." The girl countered.

Flora tried to remember when she had sex the last time. It had been so long ago there was a chance she had regrown her hymen in the meantime.

Nickname: Unicorny Festoon

Level: 11

Class: Driver

Clan: BoboBowerBangers

Rating: F

The fight started with them being evenly matched. Flora got a few good kicks in, but Unicorny hit her with a chain punches in the side after her concentration slipped. Overall, Flora felt, she fought her worst, but she didn't have the energy or adrenalin left to up her game.

They started a war of attrition, which Flora won thanks to her stats.

Flora got 2 points for each win in addition to the 2 points from the forms. This placed her second behind Rubina in her group. Not only did she pass the test, but she also advanced to the next round.

After all of today's tribulations, Flora had spent all her mental energy. She considered going to the coaches and quit or surrendering at the beginning of the next fight. There was always the option to toughen it out and hope for sudden enlightenment or second wind.

That was one of the situations Flora had encountered countless times in the past. She knew she was already past her limits. She knew she would regret the decision the next day, no matter which option she chose.

Suddenly she remembered she had a new choice: the auto-mode. 'Why not, nothing to lose.'

The coaches called Flora's name for the next round. At the same time, a window appeared in front of her eyes. Absentmindedly, she swiped it away.

In the next fight, the tournament matched her with a stocky Latina.

Nickname: Condessa DeFadas

Level: 9

Class: Soldier

Clan: Aluzquebraaescravidão

Rating: A

'Go, go, auto-mode! I'm rooting for you! Attack!'

Battling in auto-mode felt slower than a regular fight. Unfortunately, Flora had no resources left to compare the two in further detail. She just mentally yelled 'Attack' and sometimes 'Defend' and giggled now and then.

Before Flora realized it, the fight was over, and she had won.

'Alright, I can do this again!'

"Aidan, can we record this tussle as an experio?"

"Of course, Milady."

Flora lost the next fight but had fun yelling commands.

Congratulations! Your rating in Hand-to-Hand Combat rose to 'C'!

She took the shortest way home and from there straight to the coffin and in the bed.

The next morning she remembered for the first time since she slept in the virtual world, her dream. She had battled with Lady Mnoder using Wing Tsun in auto-mode.

"Auto-mode fighting feels like cheating, Aidan. I wonder why they didn't deactivate it, at least for the examination."

"Well, Milady. The Seven Masters Dojo has auto-mode deactivated in its whole compound".

This information took a while to wander from Flora's ear to the mind and the consciousness. There it took a dump and vanished.

"What?"

"My best explanation is you accessed the system subconsciously."

"What system? The auto-mode or the Cetviwos?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I'm sorry! This proverb is not appropriate. Of course, your guesses are better than mine, Milady!"

Flora snorted and decided to ask the boss.

"System, what happened last night with the auto-mode?"

"The activation of the auto-mode failed at 23:52:14, and I sent you a notification about it."

"And?"

"That is all the information I had about the auto-mode last night."

"Then what happened at the fight after the failed activation?"

"You have expended your daily limit of system requests. Please raise your limit in the Cetviwos-Shop."

"I forgot about that. Let's go on with our lives and forget about it again. Well, Aidan. Let's think about how to ace the Doom Moon scenario, or is there anything else on the agenda for today?"

Aidan reminded Flora she now qualified for the pupil class and her message log was soon at the limit, and her mailbox filled.

Flora left the workshop and balanced over the Doom Moon parts on the floor to her mailbox.

A shop called Racketfun showed interest in her Rainbow Intensity-Meter skin but suggested the color loss was too fast for tennis or squash in which you had to fetch the ball as part of the gameplay.

"Fair point, Aidan, remind me to look into it, Prio B-!"

Along with sales sheets from Huffgrin, Ricky's Runners, and the PirouetteFreaks (421.95 VirDos, 348 263 Credits), she found a summary of her royalties earned (196.55 VirDos, 37 851 Credits).

The marketplace and auction house sales came as single mail for every transaction. Flora ordered Aidan to sort it out. The 100 skins in the marketplace sold out, but some of the auctions were still running. Still, she made 659.3 VirDos.

Her big grin broadened when she read the next mail — a tax form from Clan Riverstones.

'I never had so much fun paying taxes! Maybe if Robby ran for office, I would feel more satisfaction paying regular taxes.'

Flora configured it to get deducted automatically and watched 30% of her newly earned money vanish.

'What a pity I can't attach a message: With love from Mommy XOXO.'

The next message was from CentralTank.

>>>

Dear Flora Fluss,

Welcome to the Cetviwos! [...]

We got notified you are engaging a long-term stay in our words. [...]

We appreciate our good business relationship in the past. [...]

For our brain studies, we would love to examine your brain waves on a deeper level. [...]

We offer a weekly pay of 5000 VirDos. [...]

'They want a daily scan of my brain!' Flora was at the same time bewildered and pleased. '100 bucks, this relates to the auto-mode malfunction yesterday!'

She wrote back their offer was attractive, but she was currently in a contract negotiation with CentralTank over trademark issues. This matter had to wait until the former was resolved.

For last, she saved the best mail.

>>>

Huhu Darling!

I'm in! Awesome stuff!

Let's meet. Warning: I'm even more handsome than before!

Love Eddie, now Shiny Frenemy

<<<

>>>

Huhu Eddie,

I'm on my way to the Cetviwos Academy for Newbie Infos. Do you want to join me? I don't own sunglasses, so I fear for my eyes, but I will risk meeting you!

Love Flo

With all mail answered, she was free to explore the Acadamy.

"I'll give Eddie five minutes to react to my letter. Is there any other way to contact him, Aidan?"

"Yes, Milady, via phone. You could send him a friend request via mail as well so you can communicate telepathically."

Simultaneously, Flora sent a friend request and called him. They agreed to meet at the Academy.

The building reminded her of countless libraries she had seen in Germany and northern Europe: red bricks intermixed with yellow bricks and masonry as decorative elements.

Flora entered a hall in warm earthen colors with a receptionist behind a carved wooden desk and the Loggy, the check-in pedestal, next to it.

A familiar silhouette chatted up the receptionist and made her blush and roll her eyes. If you did an image search for a librarian, you would get the kind of lady, except she was blue-skinned with icy hair, of course, in a bun.

"Good morning," Flora announced her existence.

Eddie whirled around and hugged her. "Great, we can start!"

"Just let me check in first."

After Flora swiped her badge, she tapped the quest-section first.

Daily-Quest: Jump 'n' Run! (Metaworld)

Description: Challenge a scenario in the category Jump 'n' Run.

Reward: Partial refund of the scenario

Penalty: None

Difficulty: E

Weekly-Quest: Experience the Stoneage! (History World)

Description: Visit the history world and choose a stone age instance.

Reward: Voucher for five visits to the history world.

Penalty: None

Difficulty: E

Quest: Ready to learn! (Metaworld)

Description: Take three courses for different abilities and walk the Trail of Worlds and watch the introductory movie.

Reward: Class Pupil.

Penalty: None.

Difficulty: D

Flora accepted the daily quest and the last quest. She wasn't interested in the stone ages. To her knowledge, they had no toasters.

"I'm here for the pupil quest, but do you have any additional pointers for Cetviwos Newcomers — especially people like Shiny and me who are not familiar with gaming?" Flora asked the receptionist.

"Speak for yourself. I'm fantastic at gaming." He gave them an easy smile. Then he winked. Flora groaned, and the receptionist rolled her eyes, but both giggled like schoolgirls.

"I might have a piece of advice! Come back to me after you finished the quest, and we'll speak again."

Flora nodded and bid her farewell.

"So, what do you say!" Eddie spread his arms and did a full turn so Flora could inspect him from 360 degrees.

"So handsome!" Flora fluttered her lashes. "But now I feel like your mother! You look younger than Robby!"

Eddie had always been good looking and vain about it. He still had his Errol Flynn mustache and grey temples, but his face was devoid of any age-related markings. Contrary to what Flora said, he looked more timeless than young. His 1940 style light plaid double-breasted suit accentuated this and his broad shoulders.

Aidan guided them to the entry of the Trail of Worlds.