Post by BlackDragonMartialArts711 9:24 AM April 2nd, 20XX

To all my students, despite this new predicament, we WILL be having classes tomorrow! Yesterday, I personally spoke with one of PPVS representatives who assured me that as long as we all come to the studio with the intention of learning there should be no problems. They have a special training room within their Violence Simulator’s menu system where you can be free to spar at full power without fear that you’ll hurt yourself and others. Look forward to it. It’s a wild experience!

Lore marched forward in long graceful, infuriated strides. Was it just me or was he even better looking now than when we started this whole thing?

“Hey, Lore,” I said in what I thought was a low sultry tone. My mind felt a little fuzzy so it was hard to tell. Was this from the charisma debuff?

A small shudder ran through him and his face morphed into an expression of pure disgust. He stopped and turned as if looking at me was the absolute worst. “Don’t. Don’t speak. Don’t say anything. Just... just follow me. But also, don’t approach me.”

I grinned. “Sure, you!”

He shuddered again. “No talking!”

I followed him till we reached the large cave where all of those rats had been partying. The entire room had been emptied out so I assumed Lore had exterminated them all. When he reached the pool of water he furiously pointed at it. “Get undressed. Bathe.”

Okay, this was the perfect chance to get under his skin! Because it was fun… and because he was too attractive. I really didn’t need to crush on him like I was. Couldn’t afford it. If I could trick him into feeling disgust toward me then it would be easier to stay away from him. That was how it worked — at least — according to my uncle. Not that I thought he was any kind of expert. But, taking my uncle’s advice just felt right at the moment.

So I said, “Why?” in the most childish, annoying way I could.

“Because If you don’t I’ll kill you.”

“Why?”

He looked back at me before rolling his eyes as if asking some higher power for the will to persevere. “Because, while killing you would technically cleanse you right away, it will take too much time to get rid of a death penalty and we don’t have any more time to waste here.”

“Why?”

“Mia! Get in the fucking water or I’ll throw you in there myself!”

“Fine. I’ll bathe!” I turned and grabbed the hem of my knit sweater. It hit me that this would be my first time seeing what my avatar’s naked body looked like.

When I tried to pull off my sweater a prompt appeared and asked me what clothing items I’d like to unequip. I chose them all and looked at my naked body. My stomach actually had defined muscles! So did my arms. My legs were well-rounded but had a hint of them too. I was fuckin’ ripped. Well, not like, girl on steroids ripped, just girl considering bodybuilding ripped.

Now that I looked at myself, I was a lot thinner than my real body. That might be a race thing since my proportions were also different. Like my legs and arms that were longer than the average human’s. And like my breasts. They were smaller… which made it easier to do dexterous things but... Wait, I was naked. I peeked over my shoulder to see if Lore was watching.

He was. Casually, like it wasn’t a big deal. I freaked out a bit and jumped into the lake.

“Hey, can you give me some privacy?”

His brow rose. “I’m keeping watch in case you’re attacked.”

A vein started to tick in my forehead. “That—“

“Besides, you’re currently censored so I can’t see anything anyway.”

“Why would the same game that introduced me to it with a naked elf dude now censor body parts?”

He pulled down his pants to show me a thick... black... rectangle. My mouth did an excellent fish impression.

“Weird.”

He sighed. “You can only see someone’s nude body if they consent to it. This is a violence simulator, not a sex simulator.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “Some races enjoy having intercourse and do have it here since it lacks the repercussions of reality.”

I had a brief random thought of Lore with some rando and jealousy hit me upside my head. It wasn’t like I was a virgin... Nor was I even considering getting together with some Love’em and Leave’em style, bard. But it still hurt. And it shouldn’t.

I took out my soap and started washing. Probably a bit more vigorously than I would have normally.

A complicated expression flashed across his face. He sighed.

“Hey, Lore! How much longer until we’re through with this dungeon?”

“Don’t forget to wash your clothes too.”

“Fine, fine.” I took the newbie gear out of my inventory and soaped them up in the water. “Now answer. How much more do we have left?”

“The rat dungeon usually has a breeding area at the quarter mark of the dungeon. Since we’ve been here three hours it will likely take us twelve more.”

“But we took so many breaks.”

“And we’ll take just as many going forward. Unlike some dungeons where you might be able to skip part of it, we’re here to exterminate all the rats. That means we need to scour the whole dungeon and make sure no rat survives. If you don’t take enough breaks between kills, it will get to your head. Granted the Passivity Precept does a good job of easing the stress of violence on a person’s mind, but that doesn’t mean it's not still there.”

A chill ran down my spine. “The Passivity Precept is in my head?”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course it’s in your head. It wants you to get your aggression and anger out here in this world so you can live a peaceful life in the real world. If that means it needs to ease your stressors here so you can keep fighting then it will.”

“But aren’t you a little creeped out that something not under your control is affecting your mind like that?”

“You mean, am I worried the fundamentally omniscient concept of peace given consciousness is messing with my head to make me different than how I would be otherwise? The same concept that’s turned countless societies filled with hate, lies, and dysfunction into working near-ideal societies? A concept that cannot be bribed, cannot harm, and cannot lie? No, despite my dislike for some of its practices, I’m not worried. Its meddling is likely the reason I’m still sane.”

Okay, the man had a point. But I also knew the paranoia of people. They would not be happy when they found out. And I also, was not happy that it was messing with my head. But could I do anything about it? No. So, anger was pointless.

Maybe if I was some hero in a novel, I’d fight against it and get some kind of cool amazing skill or something… but I wasn’t. I was just normal Grace playing a character named Mia, trying to find out what happened to my dad. Expecting me to fight against the concept of peace was stupid.