“You do? The I guess you know of Planta?” I asked with a giggle.

“Player Planta, oh that super popular chick- Wait, don’t tell me…” Jenny opened her mouth wide open. “You’re Planta?! Makes sense you’re quitting then!”

“Yeah, hahaha. I’ll dedicate myself full time to making videos and sometimes streaming.” I said with a smile.

And of course, I’ll be selling magic items to SWORD secretly, or so goes my plan. Though I’ll have to see how that goes, it might be harder than I imagine.

“Huh, so playing virtual reality games and streaming makes so much money…” Jenifer said.

“It is interesting, yeah… But I doubt I’m made for that, it’s more for the younger people. I don’t really like video games.” Sighed another coworker, a bald guy named Hector.

“Hmm, I don’t think I have the money to afford that, haha…” Another laughed.

“I am also playing the game from time to time.” Mark said.

“Eh? You do?!”

“Well, maybe it is not that bad…”

“Huh…”

Their reaction was really crazy, I guess they’ve gotta act a bit like bootlickers if its Mark because he’s their boss and all…

“Anyways! I am currently Level 66 in the game!” Jenny said.

“What are you playing as?” Mark wondered.

“Me? Oh I wanted to experiment a lot with the races and all so I became a Slime, haha.” She laughed. “I recently evolved into a Poison Slime. My job’s Tamer, though I have yet to get to rank up this class… I think I’m playing pretty badly…”

“Ah, well, if you want to we can meet in-game. I’ve never seen a slime player before, it would be fun!” I said. “I could help you level up and get better quests, Jenny.”

“Wow! Really?! Okay, that’s a promise then!” She giggled greedily.

“Is this a good idea?” Mark wondered while whispering to me.

“Well, I like Jenny, so I guess it’s fine. The more friends we have the better, right?” I wondered.

“I guess.” Mark shrugged.

He didn’t had the best impressions of Jenny, after all she slept in her job, ate and drank the products and acted as if she didn’t. And was overall a bit of a mess, but was always available for any hour, even entire night shifts for various consecutive days, and she was also pretty reliable as she knew how to fight and often always fended off thieves.

Anyways, Jenny’s avatar name was “Slimey” funnily enough, though it is quite the name… We’ll call her just Jenny for now even in-game, well, most of the time.

The day went by and I stayed working in my last day with everybody just out of courtesy. The hour to meet Rose was rapidly approaching and we were already getting ready to get going with Mark.

I already messaged Rita and Lily, so we’ll meet there with Rose very soon. I hope everything goes well and we can reach some sort of stable conversation that could give away a friendship!

And also… I would love if that friendship could facilitate negotiations.

.

.

.

After over a whole week of a break, Elena was once more back to high school. She seemed slightly bored as usual, sitting in her desk while writing what the teacher said and paying attention. Even though she was a total game addict, her grades were actually really good.

One of the reasons why her mother spoiled her to the point of even buying her a VR Headset despite how expensive the are was… Because she was a very good student, so Elayne always felt the necessity to reward her daughter for her hard work, to incentivize her to continue studying diligently.

It was something that actual good parents did, which Elayne learned from her own parents, a reason why her grades were also really good when she was a high schooler. Often times, parents gave it for granted that their children must always have excellent grades as a “necessity” and as a “payment” for them raising them.

However, such behavior often creates an even bigger distance between parent and son, and as the child feels unrewarded for their constant efforts, their motivation to continue studying dwindle.

Not only Elene was a gorgeous looking girl, but her good manners, often expressionless and pretty face, and her black eyes, combined with her amazing grades and excellent behavior in classes made her someone that everyone admired.

Her mother wasn’t completely aware of this, however… Elayne knew the “other side” of her daughter after all, so she would never believe she was seen like this. Some students in her classroom sometimes even called her “majestic”!

Though, while there were those that shone and were admired such as her, there were also those students that were the complete opposite… In the all-girls school, there were all types of girls. Although it was the most expensive school around, there was always those more unfortunate, with less popularity and much worse grades.

And today, as the girls were back from their break and were discussing all their good times, professor Emily arrived bringing the “good” news.

“Hello girls! I’m sure you’re having a good time talking about your break but let’s begin classes right away, okay?” She asked. “Oh right, today I’ve got your first semester grades ready! Are you girls excited?!”

Emily, the brown-haired lady, which was around the same age as Elayne, looked as half of her classroom looked at her in horror… Days like these were where many girls would have a heart attack as they realized their efforts were just not good enough… and also days where girls that worked the hardest would feel rewarded the most.

“Anna… 75. You need to get better, study more and make sure to pay more attention.” Said the professor.

“A-Ah, yes.” Anna sighed; she had been studying with Elena diligently yet her grades were still quite low.

“Elisa… 92, excellent as always.” The professor said.

“Heh, couldn’t had expected less!” Elisa said cockily, many students glared at her…

“Elena! …100! As usual.” Said the professor. “Keep up the good work, dear.”

Elena nodded without saying a word.

“Monica… 47.” Said the professor. “We’ll need to talk after classes.”

All the class began talking rumors about this girl in specific, someone sitting at the end of the classroom, with long black hair with a slight shade of purple, big black eyes, and pale as snow skin.

Many called her a ghost.

“A-Ah… I-I failed again…” She muttered, trying to ignore the classroom talking about her.

They often called her a “ghost”, others called her the “shut-in”, and some always laughed at her social anxiety and bad looks.

However, as she was growing used to them, Monica glanced at Elena who was reading a book gracefully.

Although her expression seemed saddened, and she even looked like she was about to cry, within the depths of her heart, several emotions were swirling together.

“Hah… I wish I could be like her…”

“So perfect and amazing in everything…”

“She’s so pretty and beautiful too… I can’t believe she’s always sitting with that ugly Anna, she’s just as ugly as I am…”

She continued thinking these dark thoughts, as something much darker started swelling from within her heart, her aura slowly turned black, however, nobody in the classroom noticed.

But that wasn’t all.

Something else… was watching her.

“Heheh, would you look at that… A perfect vessel.”