BECOMING YOUR AVATAR

Chapter 3: Level Up !

The days that followed were not easy for Fiasca. And she had to forget, for the time being, her experimental projects to concentrate on her own life and on the immediate and concrete repercussions that her metamorphosis implied.

First, she resigned from her job, impossible of course to go to work under her new appearance. But with her newfound wealth, she could now live without ever having to work. With this money, she could soon invest and gain power and influence in society. She had already imagined buying an abandoned castle in the area to make it her new headquarters. Hidden from view, she would be able to experiment and indulge her most vile fantasies by making it the starting point of her cult.

She had also returned to the game, she wanted to check some things. When she got in touch with the members of her guild, she realized that no one had noticed any particular change and that no one had changed into their own avatar. The game had continued to function perfectly normally for everyone.

She had avoided asking the question directly for fear of looking like a fool, but apparently no player had experienced the same blessing as she had. Of course, they could be lying. In any case, no particular incidents involving supernatural beings or any weirdness had been reported.

The possibility that she was the only one blessed by the Universe further strengthened her ego.

By manipulating her avatar in the game, she had come to the conclusion that her evolution in the real world was not identical to that of her avatar. Apparently she had become an exact, frozen copy of what her character was at the time of the "phenomenon". And since she was at the maximum level, she probably couldn't gain any more levels.

The thought of not being able to become even more powerful could only disappoint her, but with the powers she already had, she knew that no one could challenge her.

As the days passed, the Archmistress realized that she still had to eat, drink and sleep. She remained human, despite her immense powers and abilities. Video game characters never sleep or eat, yet food and beds did exist in virtual worlds for the sake of realism and consistency. The reverse logic probably applied in the real world.

However, by using minor reinforcement spells on herself, Fiasca could easily get around this difficulty and go for days without wasting time sleeping. As for food, she was so skilled in the art of cooking that she didn't hesitate to gorge herself on her own dishes and enjoy every bite of her luxurious creations. Fortunately, she was not afraid of gaining weight because she understood that her body would remain the same forever, perfect.

She had to curb herself a bit on the food though because she couldn't afford to be distracted any further and waste time satisfying herself.

Fiasca had learned to better control her social skills and instinctively lower her overpowering charisma so she could continue to interact normally with others. She was making sure, for now, that she remained charismatic and attractive enough to maintain an undeniable advantage in any situation but without suffering the disadvantages of a personality too imposing for the average person. After all, it was more fun to play with her prey than to see the prey surrender without even fighting.

Besides, it allowed her to continue to analyze her environment and the implication of the rules of the game on reality. She had discovered that most people in her town had one or two classes and were on average level 20 with very few special or notable skills.

Now that all these details were taken care of, Fiasca could finally move on. She had asked her best friend Cassandra to join her at her house today. On the phone, she had explained the whole story to her without leaving anything out. At first, she didn't believe her, of course. But Fiasca had finally convinced her despite her understandable reluctance. But soon she would see it with her own eyes and would never doubt again.