Chapter 1 - Chisaka Yuki
"Did you hear about that new vrmmo, Soul Fusion Online?"
"Yeah, I heard that you can make a killing off the game itself. I never thought you could easily make money off a game like that."
"Yeah, it almost makes me want to try it, but I am afraid I will end up not being able to make much money."
"Yeah, same here. But I still might try it out."
*Slurp!*
"So sick of ramen..." A young girl mumbled to herself. It was hard to tell if this was a girl or not unless you spotted the bun that was half stuffed inside the baseball cap that was pulled low to cover her face. The men's clothes she was wearing didn't help either. But this was one hundred percent a young lady. Eighteen years of age and currently a freshman at one of the second best colleges in the kingdom. It was a place she really did not belong, and it took her a lot of effort and hard work to get into this college. Fortune College is the second best college in the kingdom. A place where the lower nobles and outcasts of the higher noble lineages go in order to try to make something out of themselves.
Although Fortune College was second to Evergreen Royal Academy, it was still a reputable school. A place a poor person like this young girl truly did not belong. But even still, she went to college every day in order to hopefully change her life.
Chisaka Yuki, roughly translated to one thousand hills of snow. She came from what used to be a country called Japan, now known as the Deserted Island. Mainly because during the great war between the Evergreen family and the world powers at that time, Japan was hit with a gravity bomb that the Evergreen family created, flattening the land, creating an uninhabitable wasteland. Luckily at that time, her ancestors had already evacuated along with millions of other Japanese. Otherwise, there would be no Chisaka Yuki here today. Now she lives in the Burnsworth domain, a noble family with a knight's heritage that rules over what was once the northeastern part of the old United States.
The entire world was now under a monarchy and ruled by the Evergreen family. How this came to be was due to a genetic rewrite of their DNA that made them smarter and stronger than normal humans. You could say their ancestors were mad scientists who tested their research on their own family. This genetic rewrite was inherited by each generation after that. Their biggest distinct feature was their silver hair and green eyes. Because of their superhuman like abilities that could match up to the top A.I. at the time, they were able to make money easily and began buying up properties in every country, and soon after, they were able to hold the world ransom, and a war broke out due to this. As such, the smarter and more money one has, the more likely they will win and win they did by a landslide. It was called the shortest world war in history. It lasted five days.
After the war, there was a huge tech boom because now the world was fully united. New technologies quickly hit the streets, and now things like full dive vrmmo's were not something of science fiction.
But none of this mattered to Yuki. She was too concerned about her empty wallet and where her next meal would come from. She had no family left to speak of and lived in a rented room in a boarding house for women. She hated the place due to all the drugs that went in and out. There were a lot of strange people that came and went. But she had no choice but to live there. With the meager wage of a hundred and twenty crowns she got from her part time job every week, she was barely able to pay her weekly room rental and feed herself at the same time. The only thing she really had going for herself was the whole free college tuition, thanks to her studying her ass off in high school.
Yuki finished off her ramen noodles and gathered her trash together before getting up from the stool she was sitting on. She still had to head to her part time job and then get home and write a paper. She figured if she was lucky, she would get to bed around two am. Letting out a long sigh, Yuki tossed her trash away and left the store.
The days were cold as the steam from Yuki's mouth formed in the air in front of her. She looked up at the tall skyscraper in front of her but was not able to see much past the flying cars in the air. "I better get going, or I will be late."
Yuki walked down the street that was quite busy. Besides the lines of traffic both in the air and on the roads, the sidewalks were also full of people walking about. Luckily it was still daytime, or those of the nightlife would begin to appear. Only then did you really need to watch your back. Crimes of all kinds were a real problem nowadays. Because of this, since she was young, Yuki worked on learning martial arts. Of course, this was all self taught due to no money. But Yuki was able to make use of her naturally flexible body to form a style of martial arts that worked for her. She had no name for it, nor did she care to name it either. She only learned it and practiced it in order to protect herself. And it has come in handy on many occasions.
There was nothing really girly about Yuki. She never dressed up or put on makeup. She was a loner by choice due to not wanting to get involved with those around her, whether she was at home, or at college. College only because she was afraid of offending some nobles' sons or daughters. She could not afford the consequences.
Instead, she kept to herself and tried to blend into the background. She had a strong sense of justice as well, but she had no choice but to hold herself back and not get involved. In other words, if she saw trouble, she would look the other way even if she truly wanted to run over and help. She just did not have the confidence or backing to offend the other party since nowadays it was hard to tell who was connected to who.
People may say she was a walking contradiction when it came to this topic but to her, the number one thing she worried about most was herself. She had no family to rely on so she had no choice but to be this walking contradiction.