In the Frozen Hearts franchise, combat was secondary to the overall experience of the virtual world and the visuals made for it. In the first game they created a setting that was a winter wondernd with snow themed bosses.

  In the sequel, Snowdrop Queen, they toned this down while refining the combat to attract more mmo pyers to the series. This didn't mean that comfort had been forgotten. Everyday when you logged on you were given a choice of five missions and a rge event.

  This event typically was combat based with a boss battle that was incredibly detailed and intricate. The missions were easy and simple with two or three being completely combat free.

  Nova pulled up his menu to look through these missions and found for today, there were only two to choose from. One was geo locked with it being avaible to American pyers. The other was for anyone but had a time limit before you were forced to start all over at a save point.

  Both had cons and he sat deep in thought over what to pick. In the end, he chose the geo locked option as all of them were currently in the United States and it had no set completion time.

  Meaning they could spend as much they needed wandering around, creating more ways he could avoid talking to his mother. He pnned to stay as long as he could to keep that confrontation from happening.

  He kept this reasoning to himself when he told the pair his decision. “It says only five thousand other pyers are participating so we should have plenty of privacy to do whatever we want.”

  Pying it off as wanting to rex and stroll around a new part of the game world was better than telling the truth. He didn't want them to know that his familial issues had grown toxic. The African American teenager also felt like a coward for hiding from his problems.

  It was a situation that he never thought he'd be in and he hated dealing with it. So, it was just better to bury it and swallow his tears until he could find some way to fix things at home.

  He was incredibly thankful that neither of the pyers could hear his thoughts as he stood there. His mind was on fire as he tried to push down the negativity boiling in his belly, threatening to break free.

  This wasn't the pce for that toxicity. Thankfully, the pair were too pumped for a mission to notice his inner turmoil. The three of them clicked on the option and arrived in a small waiting room.

  This was common when you were entering a less in depth event meant to be obviously a game level instead of real life. The developers did this to help stop new pyers from dissociating.

  Dissociation in virtual reality games was common as more games were released with new advancements. Each new take on the genre caused more people to dive in head first without properly taking the time to educate themselves.

  This led to health issues and emergencies occurring, with the worst being total derealization and mental decay. Which required hospitalization and treatment to overcome.

  A member of Snowdrop Queen's development team by the name of Eliana had first hand experience with this. From what Nova knew the woman took the time to pn out each waiting room and add in more safety features.

  She didn't want anyone to struggle with the realistic setting and enter a depression when they realized it was unreachable. Nova was grateful for the waiting room as it allowed him to rex and take a breather.

  The faceless team member had made it so the room was an actual room with furniture and game manuals set up. Eliana had made sure to state the rules and boundaries of the world.

  Her manuals were well written and the televisions in the room pyed a video created by a company vtuber. The vtuber was bright-eyed when they entered and began to repeat the manual’s contents. Pyers were encouraged to py for less than ten hours and to take breaks.

  You’d feel any attacks given by mobs but your real body was okay. There was more being said but Nova wasn't really paying attention. As the event was loading and the waiting room was vanishing into thin air.

  With the couch he was sitting on turning into a miss that went into the air and disappeared into nothing. The walls peeled away and the tile floor melted into the earth, leaving them in a completely new environment.

  This was a lush, breathtakingly gorgeous isnd that had pink sand and clear water. The brunette walked with his guild members on the beach with the smooth nd crunching beneath their feet. The salt in the air tickled his throat and the wind felt lukewarm against his skin.

  Lottie looked over at him, with her hair blowing in the air as she smiled at him. “This pce looks unreal.” She said in utter wonder.

  The woman opened her arms and let the window hit her full force. Her skin glistened under the sun as it beamed down on their bodies. Birds chirped in the air and the waves crashed loudly onto the beach with thick, white foam hitting their shoes.

  Nova had to agree with her as he had only seen a paradise like this in old history books. The real world had been overtaken by technology and most people stayed inside the cities that covered the country. He couldn't even recall the st time he had seen or smelled the ocean.

  [GREETINGS PLAYERS ☆ PLEASE HEAD TO YOUR MENU]

  “Oh?” Lottie hummed as screens filled their sight. “It's swimsuits.”

  Wanting to see what she was talking about, the brunette clicked onto the blue screen and was met with instructions. It told the teenager that he needed to choose an appropriate outfit to wear to gain full access to the isnd.

  With the outfit options being swim trunks and jean shorts. Right when he was about to choose a random option, he felt the air change and heard Lottie gasp.

  He turned to see that her clothing had vanished and been repced by a two piece. His throat tightened at the sight of the curvy woman in a pink bikini with her midriff showing.

  Her hair was let out of its ponytail and y neatly over her chest, with the sherbet curls covering any skin that managed to peek out. It was like the game's system knew he was trying to sneak a look and gave him the middle finger. He hurried to look away, feeling embarrassed.

  [PLAYER NOVA ☆ CHOSE SWIM TRUNKS FOUR]

  The dark-skinned man felt the air warp around his body and watched his clothing transform before his eyes. He was left breathless as he went from wearing his dark armor into swim trunks. This left his chest bare and his face was tinted pink as he saw the others look over.

  Brook was also wearing trunks and his fur covered chest was open to the world. Nova rolled his eyes as the man flexed and let his fake muscles bulge out. The man was showing off in a goofy sort of way. He saw the brunette and nodded at him, acknowledging his own chest.

  “I had no idea your avatar was so built!” Lottie excimed as she came over and without missing a beat rubbed her hands all over him.

  Brook chuckled as Nova became redder and redder as the woman touched all over him. “You've bulked up! Congratutions my friend.”

  The teenager grit his teeth and tried not to faint from all the sudden attention coming his way. Yes, originally he had crafted his avatar to be incredibly nky appearance wise. But with time he had changed his mind and added on some muscle that couldn't really be noticed.

  If he had known the others would be so shocked he'd have told them already. “Yeah. Yeah.” He muttered as Lottie moved back from him.

  She looked embarrassed herself as she flushed and rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry, that was weird of me to do without asking you first.”

  Before he could say anything, Brook came swooping in and pulled them into a group hug. “It's normal for kids your age to act this way!”

  Nova coughed as he was squeezed and said under his breath. “You're still a kid yourself, you're barely twenty five.” As the man rattled on.

  Thankfully, the teasing about his body ended as the trio embarked on what else was expined on the screens they had wiped away. They needed to wall across the entire beach and venture to a patch with a net. The net was for volleyball game with the instructions stating:

  [PLAYERS ☆ TO GAIN YOUR PRIZE BEAT YOUR OPPONENT]

  Nova was confused on who their opponent was until they came closer to the net. Standing in swimsuits were three NPCs who were waiting for them to hurry over. It became clear to the teenager that they would have to py against the trio to gain the prize that awaited them.

  “Look at the way that the NPC in the middle is gring at us.” Lottie commented as they stopped at the other side of the net.

  He was shocked by the intense way the NPC was scrutinizing them with her dark brown eyes. She was someone who resembled one of those dream girls you'd see in a 2000s romcom. Petite with bombshell blonde hair and pale highlights that matched her caramel skin.

  For anyone who was a teenage boy during that time you'd find her and her friends to be drop dead gorgeous. The NPC to her left was a redhead with a pixie cut and a one piece that fit her thick frame.

  The girl to her right was shorter, had puffy cheeks and kinky curls. Nova wondered what developer had used his old magazines to model them. He didn't have too long to think as the blonde threw the volleyball in the air and hit it with all her strength over the net.

  The group were too surprised to hit it back earning the blonde's team a point. These girls weren't pying around and had been coded with a cocky attitude. He gulped at the fire in her eyes and prepared for the game to truly begin.

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