Chapter 1

For a being such as myself to enter into a virtual game was generally unheard of. Although filled with curious things, the virtual world was a flawed imitation. Other worlds exist that have far more fascinating places, people, and creatures. The reason I choose this imitation fantasy world over a real world was because this imitation world alone could be accessed by people from a boring world where there were few if any heroes.

Entering the world was not too difficult. In other worlds with advanced science and computers, I had turned myself into data and explored. Why? Because I was curious. I learned many things there.

This first thing I noticed upon entering the game was that this world too had a god, just like the outer world. Although upon further examination it seemed to be referred to as the goddess. The virtual god seemed be comprised of programming more advanced than any I had ever seen in that world. If the goddess caught onto my presence, it would try to remove me from the game. Without actually touching the programming, I examined the goddess’s code. It seemed that whoever programmed this intuitively knew a great deal about gods, for the rules around the goddess were similar to that of the gods who watched over a few of the worlds in the earthly realms.

In short, within the world the goddess did not interfere in small events, only guide the general balance of the world.

I have a great deal of experience disguising my actions so they cannot be discovered by the world’s gods. After looking through the virtual world’s code, I decided the best way to enter was to create a User character. The same as one created by any other human. Creating fake signals from the real world’s virtual world interface was simple enough. Through it I could actually enter the game and interact without the goddess paying it any mind.

—The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you wish to create a new account?

Not that I have an iris or vein, but manipulating the sensors within the interface device called a capsule was a simple thing. So was setting up a bank account with that world’s currency to pay for access.

“Yes”

— Select the name of your avat­ar.

“Curi.”

As a name it was as good as any, and it was short for curiosity.

— Select your gender from male, female or neutral.

At this point I should tell you that I have no gender. Gender is not a part of the soul, it is something one grows into, (or not into in some cases) as one grows older. When taking a human form I have appeared as both genders at one time or another. For this world, I decided to appear as a woman.

“Female.”

If it is convenient for you, you may think of me as a woman as well.

— Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary fifteen currently available.

“Elf.”

For what I had in mind, Elf was ideal.

— You may alter your appearance.

“As I am.” I already manipulated the capsule to perceive an appearance as I wanted. As for the details, I choose a four foot, seven inch tall woman with a slender figure, shoulder length jet black hair, and an appearance of beauty about twenty years old. Such an appearance is most useful when dealing with humans, men and women alike.

— Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road.

— Select a city and kingdom you want to start in.

“The Castle of Aean, Haven Kingdom.”

— Welcome to Royal­ Road.

At this point the data access had been opened and I could enter the virtual world as the chosen avatar without the goddess noticing.

The world formed around me and I saw it in a way that only I could see.

Let me explain a bit about game programs for those who don’t know. Most of the existences in a game are considered Objects. The Object data contains all of the information of interactions and behavior. Most objects are paired with at least one Sprite, or image data, that displays the visual side of the object. Everything one sees in a game is a sprite.

Now, if I were a normal User, I would also see the world like that. A world filled with only sprites. However, I exist on more than one plane of existence, and can see things others can’t. Sparing the details, lets just say that in addition to sprite data, when I look at an object in the game I can perceive its object data as well.

This means that every possible interaction and detail of every object can be read by me.

Yes, this is a cheat, but as far as the goddess is concerned, a legal one. I can observe the code due to my nature, it doesn’t raise any red flags for the goddess to notice. It is the equivalent of having a master guidebook while playing the game for the first time.

Of course this ability is not without limit. To see the object data I must be able to see the sprite. So I cannot see through walls or objects beyond my avatar’s eyesight limit.

Within the game, I was in the capital city of Hevan Kingdom. It was one of the most populous cities within the world.

According to my own avatar’s object data, it could not leave the borders of the city until a time of one week passed in the real world. A simple enough thing to get around, I can time travel. But there were a few things to do first.

I walked around the city observing the data of the various non player characters. When I looked at each, I saw how they would react to anything I said or did. Eventually I found one that seemed useful. It was an old man with a weakness for beautiful women. According to its data, it was once a great adventurer. If I said the right thing to him, he would give me a quest that would reward me with a Adventurer’s sword.

“Excuse me sir, do you know where a young adventurer may find work?”

The old man looked up at me, though stopped looking up when his eyes reached my chest. He smiled.

For the next three days I did odd jobs for the man.

When he ran out of things for me to do, he was disappointed, but also happy that he could help me by rewarding me with his novice adventurer sword.

Adventurer’s Sword.

Durability 40/40

Attack 10

A sword for novice adventurers.

Equips:

+3 AGI

+3 STR

Three days of work for a free sword at the novice level is not a bad deal in this game, but that is not why I wanted this sword.

Within the game, I still have a few abilities other than Data reading. I can alter the game’s data as well. But only things that the goddess would not noticed. If I altered too much, she would reset it back. If she found out I was capable of hacking her system, she would do all she could to block my access to her world. In case you are wondering, I cannot alter the data of the goddess herself. I will not say whether or not I am capable of such things, but it is against the rules. The artificial intelligence that makes up the goddess of this world is also the most advanced computer in the real world. Because it is the most advance, messing with it falls under major interference of the world.

Anyways, I can only alter data that the goddess would not notice. I will list my active abilities here to make it convenient for you.

-Complete Sprite Data Alteration.

Sprite data is independent of object data and interaction data. My Avatar’s sprite data is that of a beautiful woman, but NPCs treat me like a beautiful woman because the choosing of my sprite added Beauty to my object data. If I wanted to, I could change my appearance to that of an ugly monster, but every NPC would still treat me like a beautiful woman. Sprites exist solely for the sake of Users. So if I changed a sprite, a User would see it differently, but an NPC would not.

The only use such a skill has is tricking Users.

-Minor Object Data Alteration

As long as I do not exceed the maximum or minimum value of an object, I can change its data. An example of going over the maximum value would be adjusting the sword I have to have an attack of 10,000. It wouldn’t be noticed immediately, but if I attacked anything with it, the damage rating would be a major red flag. Also, I can only alter set values that are independent of other values. For example I can change the value for maximum durability of the sword, but I cannot increase my avatar’s maximum health because that attribute is linked to various stats.

-Random Chance control.

Many objects have a code that contains random number generation. These numbers can affect how the object will react to an event. For example, When releasing an arrow fired from a bow, the arrow has a chance of hitting or missing, depending on what random number is generated. The effect of the chance is lessened if the archer has sufficient skill of course. The engine that drives random number generation within Royal Road has few protections from interior manipulation. As long as it goes unnoticed, no additional protection will be implemented, allowing me to control anything that happens or doesn’t happen by chance. However, this ability can only be used in close proximity of the target object I wish to alter. A practical use of such is increasing the item drop rate of slain monster.

That’s about it. I have other abilities that I could possibly use within the game, but they would be risky so I’ll try to avoid them.

Back to the Adventurer’s sword. Unlike normal swords, the Adventurer’s sword is a Variant item. Variant items have higher ranges of possible stats, therefore I can make greater changes to the sword than a normal sword without it being noticed.

Adventurer’s Sword

Durability 80/80

Attack 25

A sword for novice adventurers strengthened by an other worldly presence.

Equips:

+7 AGI

+10 STR

In addition to the object’s stats, I also changed the objects sprite and flavor text. The flavor text was a simple signature that would go unnoticed by the system, but adventurers could read and appreciate it. The individual values adjusted for the sword was not the absolute limit of an Adventurer’s sword. But having every value at such a high range without the sword having a level or class requirement was generally impossible for the regular system to generate. However it was still within the limit of values so it would raise no read flags.

To be safe of course I had no intention of using it myself. I intended to sell it to a User.

It did not take me long to find a User run weapon shop to buy the sword. I acquired 137 gold for the Unique object. (A sword of that quality without a level requirement was far from common.) Even I did not know what the shop would sell it for. Such an item was one to be purchased by one party and given to another to aid the process of fighting monsters to strengthen one’s self.

I explored the city using the money in various ways, though most wasteful. My only use for money was sait my curiosity. Eventually I grew bored and decided it was time to strengthen my character. It was time to decide a class.

Chapter 2

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