Level 001

Three months earlier…

“Come on, Jessie, move over a bit, I can’t see the screen!”

“Why don’t you watch it in your room?! You have your own screen, you know!”

I perched precariously on the arm of Jessie’s chair, leaning in close enough to see the livestream starting on her laptop. My sister groaned, resigned to her fate, and shuffled aside to make more room for me.

“Thank you~!” I sang sweetly, bumping into her arm.

“It’s too hot for this,” Jessie grumbled, tugging at her shirt. I agreed — it was a sweltering start to summer vacation, after all — but there was no way I was going to miss a Beryl livestream over such a little thing.

“Why do you even care so much about this? Seriously, it’s not like you even play CraftQuest. What was the last game you even managed to get past the tutorial?”

“Hey, shut up, I’m not that bad!”

I tugged on Jessie’s braid until she yelped in submission. She might like to run her mouth off at me, but I was still the big sister, which meant I knew exactly how to win any argument. Namely, resorting to violence. A tried and true method for siblings since the dawn of the ages.

“And besides, you know exactly why I care about this!”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s your ‘one true love’. God, who’d have thought I’d have a total weeb for an older sister. You do realise how embarrassing you look, right? You’d better not wear that shirt out of the house.”

“What’s wrong with my tee?!”

I looked down at my limited edition Beryl Idol (Summer Edition) t-shirt, which I’d spent most of my birthday money on to acquire from overseas. The shirt prominently featured CraftQuest’s star idol — Beryl — in an adorable chibi format, complete with her signature blue-and-green hair, throwing out a cute little ‘peace’ sign.

It was far from the only Beryl-branded merch I owned — there was my phone case, the posters on my wall, the crocheted Etsy plushies, and a handful of figurines I’d spent the past three years collecting. My bedroom was something of a shrine to my digital crush, and I spent most of my spare time gathering more merch or watching these precious livestreams and interviews.

Beryl was — for my poor, uninitiated brethren — the main face and personality of CraftQuest, an immensely popular VRMMO. That’s a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online video game, for short. Essentially, it’s like the MMOs of yesteryear, except instead of being glued to a keyboard and mouse, the player straps into a VR headset and experiences the world as if they’re actually inhabiting it. That means real players are inhabiting their digital avatars, creating players that look and sound just like their online selves — including the gorgeous, pro-level gamer known simply as ‘Beryl’.

Jessie groaned and interrupted my train of thought.

“You have a really abnormal infatuation with this girl—”

“Shhh, it’s starting!!”

My sister rolled her eyes as I turned up the volume. The livestream began and Beryl filled the screen. She smiled wide, her eyes sparkling with joy (both metaphorically and literally, thanks to a digital filter).

“Hello and happy Summer Vacation to all my CraftQuesters! There’s a busy new season of content ahead of us, including new recipes, limited time costumes, and an all-new interior decoration kit…”

“Ah…she’s just so beautiful…”

I clutched my hands to my chest like a lovestruck girl at her first concert.

Okay, I admit it — I’m hardly the model picture of a mature second-year high school girl. At school, all my friends had posters taped to the inside of their lockers — the usual Hollywood heartthrobs, a few rockstars, K-Pop girl bands. 

I was the lone outsider with a shrine to a Virtual Reality pro-gamer and idol.

“Do you think she really looks that beautiful in real life?”

Jessie gave me a sidelong look that I was all too familiar with. This thing again?

Was my infatuation with a digital superstar the healthiest thing in the world? Probably not, especially given I didn’t even play the game she was the starlet for. But hell, sue me. I’m a sixteen-year-old girl with a burning crush, and just like every other girl, I can have my fantasies. 

I didn’t know if Beryl’s real-world person was even interested in dating girls like I was. But all the logic in the world couldn’t stop that rising flame in my chest every time I heard her voice or saw her face.

“I’ve told you before,” Jessie said, “VRMMO kits use cameras to scan your face and body shape before creating your digital avatar. It’s supposed to be safer than allowing people to choose how they look — you know, keep out creepy pedos who pretend to be cute girls online. So, yeah, like, Beryl probably looks mostly like that IRL — I bet she can’t get her hair that colour, though.”

On-screen, Beryl’s blue-green locks drifted around with a life of their own.

“And now for the big announcement — the prize for this year’s Summer Tournament! As usual, the winning team will receive thirty thousand Alchemy Gems each, along with a random selection of Legendary items from the new Version 3.1 drop — but this year, there’s an even better prize to go along with it! A super-exclusive, one-on-one VR chat with yours truly — that’s right, a private meet and greet with me!”

I fell off the chair and landed with a crash.

“Rem?!”

“A MEET AND GREET?!”

I flew upright, blood pouring from my nose. I was a little dizzy, possibly concussed, but screw that — the winners of CraftQuest’s summer tournament got to meet Beryl herself?!

“What the hell, Rem? You’re freaking weird sometimes. Hey — what — let go of me!” 

“JES! I COULD MEET BERYL!! BERYL!!”

“I — know — who — she — is — just — stop — shaking me!!!”

In my ecstasy, I had grabbed onto my younger sister and started shaking her shoulders vigorously. I quickly released her before she could cry bloody murder to our Mom. She sagged back into the chair, massaging her temples. I leaned over her comatose body to get within a few inches of the screen, my mouth hanging open in awe.

“That’s right folks, CraftQuest management and I are partnering for an exclusive opportunity to meet me, talk about whatever you want, and have your ideas for the next update of CQ put to the developers! It’s the chance of a lifetime, so if you’re interested, you had better sign up to the Summer Tournament before the end of the week!”

“Get off meeeeee, I can’t breatheeeee…”

Jessie weakly shoved at my chest, and I pulled away, allowing her to cough and splutter for air.

“God — sis — those boobs are a weapon.”

I glanced down at my chest, more fixated on the chibi-Beryl design than anything else, but I supposed there was a certain airbag-like quality to my chest. 

“You’re just jealous, ironing board,” I retorted.

“… Okay, that’s it. You’re banned from watching CQ stuff in my room again.”

“Noooo please, I’m only joking! I swear you’ll probably develop soon! You’re only fourteen, it’s not over yet!!”

Jessie grabbed a soft plushy from her desk and walloped me over the head with it as I prostrated myself on the ground in apology. The real reason I always came into Jessie’s room to get my much-needed fill of Beryl content was because the computer in my room was about a decade old, and I could practically see the pixels. If I wanted to see my crush, I wanted to see her in ultra-high-quality real-life resolution, and failing that, 4K sounded pretty good to me.

Wait. Real life resolution?

An idea started to form in the back of my (shamefully) horny brain, and my last two surviving brain cells began the happy dance that meant a thought was finally taking shape somewhere among the mush of my grey matter.

It might not be as good as real life but…

“Jessie! I need your help!”

The conviction in my voice surprised my sister, and she momentarily paused her merciless plush-Paimon-assault. 

“What…? I know that tone — nothing good ever comes from it. I told you, I’m two grades below you, I can’t keep helping you cheat on your math homework anymore!”

“Not that! Okay, well, also a little bit that, but that’s not what I need your help with right now!”

I stared at my sister and placed my hands together in supplication.

She looked at me, her dark eyes narrowing.

“Oh no.”

“Yes.”

“No, no, no.”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“Nonononononono—”

“Yesyesyesyesyesyes—”

“I am not teaching you to play CraftQuest!” Jessie yelled, standing up and leaping onto her bed, as if the floor had turned to lava, and I was some kind of end-game boss come to melt my way through her shields. “Don’t you remember the last time I tried to teach you how to play a game?! I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you are literally the worst gamer ever! I don’t even know what you’re doing when you play, it’s like you’re purposefully trying to break things!”

“Maybe I’d make a really good beta tester?” I suggested, giving it a momentary thought.

“Only if someone wanted to find out what happens if you play the game as poorly as possible!”

“Wahhhhh don’t say such mean things!!” I pouted like a child and folded my arms over my chest. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“No way in hell. Ask Keith.”

“Keith is too busy playing Swords & Arts Online or whatever. He’ll just shoot me down without even looking up from his screen. C’mon Jessie, do it for me? Do it for your sister?”

Jessie’s eyebrows narrowed even further.

“Half your allowance for the rest of summer break.”

“Half?! A third — and only until this tournament thing starts.”

“Half…and until the tournament is over. Final offer.”

I winced. Damn, she knew how to drive a hard bargain. I’d be impressed if she wasn’t screwing her own sister out of cold, hard cash. I didn’t have the time to work part-time jobs and still keep up with my almost-failing grades. Technically, I didn’t have time to spend all summer messing around in a VRMMO game either, but that wouldn’t matter when I became Beryl’s wife, and we were showered with money from CraftQuest micro-transactions.

Ahh. Such a glorious future—

“Are you even listening to me?!”

Plushy Paimon nailed me right in the face and I keeled over backwards, causing my nosebleed to resume in earnest. I hastily shoved some tissues up my nostril and turned back to my devious little sister.

“Fine, we have a deal. Teach me to play CraftQuest so I can meet Beryl and confess my undying love for her!”

My sister groaned and slumped onto the bed.

“This is going to be a looooong summer…”