'Would Morse code be sufficient?' Aiko thought of her only other option. Reaching over to her watch, she hastily typed out "I'm ready" and hoped that the AI would accept Morse code.

  [.. / .- -- / .-. . .- -.. -.--]

  "Acknowledged. Have a good dive." The AI responded, making Aiko celebrate in glee.

  'Thankfully that worked. These so-called "tech giants" have so many fws in their designs.' Aiko thought, annoyed at the oversight of Fauxtech, the company behind the VR headset, Kill Zone and the raffle that Aiko entered, as she felt her consciousness slip.

  Opening her eyes, she found herself in a blinding white pne of space, as if someone threw a fshbang before her.

  "Welcome to Kill Zone, Pyer." Aiko heard a masculine voice that echoed all around her. "Please accept this agreement."

  A blue screen with white writing appeared in front of Aiko.

  'Terms and conditions? Not responsible for guilt, trauma, PTSD or any other mental condition as a result of pying Kill Zone. How realistic is this game for something like this to be put in the terms and conditions?' Aiko thought. skimming the ToS, some points baffled her. 'Not responsible for any nausea, sickness or any other side effects that occur due to the 1:6 time dition. To be fair, that one makes sense.'

  Accepting the terms and conditions, Aiko heard the AI again.

  "Please swipe your hand and create your character."

  Swiping her hand, a character creation menu popped up in front of her.

  'Custom or Real Life Based.' Aiko read the two buttons.

  "Custom allows you to make a character from scratch. Real Life Based lets you create a character based upon your actual body. You are still able to customise a Real Life Based character, just without as much groundwork." The male AI expined as if reading Aiko's mind.

  Clicking Real Life Based, a replica of Aiko appeared in front of her.

  Fiddling around with the menu, Aiko turned her avatar's hair bck and her eyes purple.

  'Will I still be mute in game?' Aiko thought, hoping the AI could read her mind or something simir so she could crify.

  "Your exact physical structure will be copied into the game. Should you have any missing limbs, they will be restored in game." The AI crified with an even more vague answer.

  'So it doesn't repce missing internal systems?' Aiko deduced as worry filled her.

  "No." The AI curtly replied.

  'Including a missing voice box or rynx?' Aiko asked the daunting question in her mind.

  "No." The AI replied, just as swiftly as before.

  'Shit.' Aiko thought as she silently wept, 'I was so looking forward to finally speaking and hearing my voice too.'

  Not wanting to think about it anymore, Aiko clicked the next button, signalling her limited satisfaction with her avatar.

  "Please choose between Ceramic (Heavy Armour), Kevr (Medium Armour) and Nanotech (Light Armour) material for your armour." The text on her menu read.

  'And the difference between them is?' Aiko asked the AI.

  "Ceramic is heavy armour, which is heavy but offers a lot of protection. Kevr is Medium, which offers protection and is lighter than Ceramic. Nanotech is light armour, which is light but offers the least amount of protection. The perk of nanotech is that it can be equipped and unequipped in an instant."

  'Nanotech it is then.' Aiko thought, 'No need to lug around heavy armour, and it can be equipped instantly, which means the others require some time to equip.'

  "Please design your armour." The AI said. "You may use the Neutron Network* to search for temptes"

  Aiko chose a bck chest rig with three magazine pouches, two grenade pouches and a pouch for first aid. She chose some bck kneepads, a bck tactical helmet with slots for night vision goggles and a fshlight on either side and a bck tactical belt, with two slots to holster weapons, some magazine pouches and a pouch for individual bullets. She also chose some bck combat boots, a knife holster that went around her arm, a pair of bck, tactical gloves and a bck headset to protect her hearing.

  'The noise of the guns will probably be loud enough to cause my ears to bleed, considering how realistic this game is from what was in terms of service.' Aiko thought.

  "Please create an outfit." The AI read out for Aiko. "You may use the Neutron Network to search for temptes again."

  Aiko searched for a bck trenchcoat. Looking through the various types until she found one that went to her knee. She also found a white blouse to go with it. Choosing some bck, soft trousers and bck fingerless gloves to fit her attire. Before the glove, Aiko picked a bck, military-grade watch to wear on her left wrist.

  'I should still hide my face in case anyone recognises me in game.' Aiko thought as her beauty made her extremely recognisable to anyone that she was part of the Hartford Family, along with the various articles about being the victim of domestic abuse.

  Searching around for a mask, she found a bck, half-face gas mask.

  'A lot of bck in this outfit, but it'll do.' Aiko thought.

  Searching around for some sneakers, she came upon a pin white pair of sneakers. After confirming that she was satisfied with her outfit, Aiko clicked next.

  "Please choose what parts of the outfit to repce with your combat gear, when equipped."

  On the menu, Aiko chose to repce the trench coat with the chest rig, the kneepads would be directly equipped over the trousers, the knife holster equipped under her right blouse sleeve so the knife would be accessible at the flick of her wrist, the helmet would be equipped like normal, the bck combat boots would repce her sneakers, the belt would go around her trousers, under her chest rig, the tactical gloves would repce her fingerless gloves, with her watch just behind the glove on her left wrist.

  'Can I keep the knife holster on at all times?' Ataraxia asked.

  "Yes. Please press accept to move on."

  Clicking 'Accept', Aiko felt dizzy, before finding herself in the body of the avatar she created.

  "Please write your in-game name." The AI said.

  Aiko typed 'Ataraxia', her usual gamer tag, and clicked next.

  "I am generating you a knife. Please hold your hand out." The AI directed.

  Doing as the AI said, a Seal knife with a bck carbon fibre handle and Damascus steel bde fell into Aiko's hands.

  'Beautiful.' Aiko thought as she examined the ripples on the bde.

  "Take good care of Teresa. She is one of a kind." The AI said without emotion.

  "Press py to start the tutorial." The menu said.

  The st step. Ataraxia's heart beat with anticipation and excitement. Her finger twitched in suspense as she moved it to click the button.

  *PING*

  Ataraxia's vision of the white pne slowly disappeared as she started to feel faint.

  'I'll close my eyes, just for a second. This is probably part of the process to start pying.' Ataraxia thought as she felt sleepy.

  idontknowwhatimdoing