Even though Flora had finished the Hero's Entrance and her quest to visit Evailyn's church, it was only early in the afternoon. Enough time to take some martial arts lessons and a bit of free-running, before the banquet started.

Back in her lair, she designed a simple dress with a submarine neck, tight sleeves, a bit fabric on the front and back of her legs, and deep slits on the flanks for movement. Then she decorated the green material with colorful pictures of her favorite toasters.

Name: Toaster Gown

Type: Dress

Description: There is no accounting for taste.

Slots: Torso, Legs

Effects: + 1 OV Physical Micro-Control

+ 1 OV Magical Power

Tier: 1

Rating: C

Flora left a jack in her mech-suit before putting it in her inventory. A simple would ready her for combat.

"Who would have thought I would have to consider my combat readiness before a banquet?"

"Beep." Aito's octopussy showed arrows pointing at itself.

"Me too, Milady. It is pretty common, I would assume."

Flora chuckled. "I have acclimated too fast."

The compound of Clan Riverstones shone in soft colors. Glowing stones hang in the sky, and wave-shaped blue clouds flowed between them.

People mingled on the lawn. Flora hadn't need to bother designing a casual dress. Most wore their fantasy gowns or techno attire or a mix out of both.

Flora located Robby, who was talking to a couple of samurai.

When she joined his group, he introduced her to them. They were Asian customers and vying for a spot on the H3I leaderboard.

Flora left them after a bit of small talk. She had spotted Eddie talking to either sheiks or mages according to their clothing ( mage robes or middle eastern burnous).

In the shadowy border area, Flora spotted Mia and Frogger. The teens looked bored and uncomfortable. Mia eyed the salad buffet like it was a battlefield. It wasn't open yet, but Flora would bet, Mia had it all staked out.

"Hello dears, how are you?"

"Hey, Auntie. Congrats on your Hero's Entrance. It must have been something big. The clan ranking jumped quite a bit because of it. Tell us everything."

"Sure, but there is a lot of garbage involved." Flora spared nothing, especially not the mix up with the bonus quests and her subsequently wrong evaluation of the Alchemist. The teens hadn't known about the issue with multiple bonus quests because they were rare but promised to keep an eye on it.

Finally, Robby fetched the attention of everyone and raised his glass.

"The clan Riverstones entered the top 10 000 leaderboard. We have six new employees getting ready for the fourth server opening." He introduced squad 4-1 and Frogger. "They worked hard and brought new skills and opportunities in the clan."

Flora caught Eddie's eye, and he winked at her. Flora didn't know why and raised her eyebrows questionary.

"And finally, I want to introduce you to my mother." A spotlight flashed to Flora. "If you bully me, I will hide behind her S-rated robots and let her deal with you."

The crowd laughed, and Flora waved and nodded.

The buffet got opened, and Flora filled her plate with sausage, pretzels, and salad. There were fancier choices, but she had been spoiled the whole week and welcomed the German barbeque classics.

Flora located Ressa's table with Aidan's help and sat next to her.

"Bon Appetite!"

A blond woman who seemed familiar and two guys Flora hadn't meet before completed the table.

Flora glanced over their badges but forgot everything in the urge to find a topic to make small-talk with Ressa. Waiters in clan Riverstones jackets brought the main courses, which served as a welcome subject.

After chatting about the food turned stale, Flora tried the next approach. "I just finished my Hero-Entrance today. What did you encounter when entering the Cradle?"

"A jungle adventure, rescuing a baboon colony. I love animals very much." Ressa answered.

Flora was relieved. You could easily fill a whole evening with animal talk, and they did just that.

Ressa had the Fire Shot Class, which Flora needed to connect her Marksperson class to the rest of her active tree, but she didn't ask for it. She feared Ressa would make it difficult, and her opinion of the girl would plummet again.

Keeping the conversation light and superficial exhausted Flora, but the banquet went well.

The band consisted of percussionists, guitar players, and a female singer who was unfortunately too lovely to gag and hang at a tree. Flora lamented missing the crown jewel of a successful banquet but enjoyed the atmosphere. She even danced a bit with Robby and Eddie and the other Riverstones.

Flora and Robby swayed on the dancefloor, a chessboard out of stone near the Clubhouse.

"And what do you say about the gaming prowess of your senile old mother?" Flora whispered to Robby.

"So, you finally admit you are senile?" Robby grinned, raising his arm to lead Flora into a spin.

"Terrible son!" She considered "accidentally" stepping on his foot, but rejected the idea as beneath her. "I proved to you and allowedly, myself that I still can bloom on my own. Convinced?"

"You are only level 1, Ma. Yes, you achieved some good things according to your rating, but …"

"But what?"

"But nothing, forget it. What do you want to do? Do you want to go back into Real Life?" Unconsciously, Robby pulled Flora closer.

"No, I kind of like it here." Flora leaned her head on his shoulder.

"And I like you being here, Ma."

They gently moved to the beats of the music and their hearts.

Flora sank into the hot tub on the unholy cliff. With her toe, she pushed a pirate rubber ducky away while taking deep breaths.

The last days have been wild.

Virtual Reality was strange. It felt so real and, at the same time, unreal and sometimes even larger than reality.

In the 71 years, she has been on earth, she had thought she knew nothing much, but at least herself a bit. Now, she was even discovering new sides of herself.

"I think I might like it here." Flora leaned back and smirked. "And don't forget the endless possibility VR offers for making toast, creating toasters, and even eating toast! Aidan, write MORE TOAST on the to-do list. We haven't even started yet."

Flora cackled.