AUTHOR'S NOTE: My husband and I are authors considering writing a full novel of the story that starts below. Please comment with your thoughts. Literotica does not LitRPG formatting, so please excuse the hackjob on stats and card descriptions.
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"HOLY FUCK!" Renji screamed, nearly tripping over someone else's boots as a horde of aggressively voluptuous monster waifus erupted from the colosseum floor. Elves, spirits, elementals, fairies--
WHOOMPH.
Someone faster on the uptake slammed into him in a sudden movement toward the nearest arched exit portal, but Renji wasn't far behind. He spun and threw himself into the crowd of other players as they surged away from the colosseum's epicenter. Tens of thousands filled the colosseum as the armed monster girls pushed outward.
Even jostled and elbowed from all sides, Renji was one of the first to reach a swirling gateway on the colosseum's perimeter. Holding his breath in anticipation, Renji threw himself into the portal.
Congratulations! You have escaped [Initiation]!
Reward: 1x Starter Deck, 1x Class Pack, 3x Ability Draws
After a brief flash of light, Renji found himself stumbling onto the grassy outskirts of the game's starting city. Even though the health bar on his UI was full, Renji felt faint. It had actually happened. After decades of assurances from governments across the globe and guarantees from every VRMMO gaming company, Renji's ass had just been Sword-Art-Onlined into a death game.
"Alright. Don't panic," Renji said to himself, taking stock of the virtual world around him. Outside of his UI and the medieval city far behind him, UwU Online's virtual reality was indistinguishable from... well, reality. He could feel the sun's warmth on his skin, hear birds in the treetops of the beginner's forest that ringed the city's plains, and, now that he paused, he was even a bit peckish.
Renji paced into the gentle shade of the beginner's forest to slow his still panicked heartbeat.
"This is exactly what I should have expected from a cheap ecchi MMO," Renji grumbled to himself.
He had played the pre-release demo of UwU Online, and nothing had rubbed him the wrong way. The premise was simple enough. You defeat mildly erotic monster girls, add cards to your starter deck, and keep going up dimensional floors until you either die or beat the game.
Renji sighed and plopped down on a sizable rock. When the game's on-release orientation started, its creator had appeared and given all the players what Renji thought was a Sword Art Online parody speech--until his options menu and logout button vanished. If you die, you die in real life. If someone beats the game, everyone goes free. Classic.
"This is so fucking dumb," Renji groaned, dragging his hands down his face. He had work in the morning. Then, authorities were sure to go collect all the affected players. Renji blushed and thought about his body back home. He hadn't worn a shred of clothing before going into stasis.
Hint: Open your starter deck to begin!
Renji growled and moved to waive the notification out of his vision, but hesitated before dismissing it. If he really was in an SAO-style death game, he needed to play along to survive. The thought spurred him to glance around suspiciously for monster waifus, but the forest seemed normal.
"Well, let's start with abilities..." Renji said to himself, pulling up the card menu. He was far from a deck-building novice. From retro games like Slay the Spire and Monster Train to the newest AI-generated open worlds, Renji had done it all.
A spectral card pack glowing with power materialized before him. Renji nodded to give his assent. VRMMOs tapped into a player's neurons to operate an avatar, so sifting through UI options was just a matter of intent.
Cracks formed along the card pack's face, then it exploded in a golden globe of light that sent a small shockwave over Renji. Three card backs settled to float in a line at his eye-level.
Renji reached out and tapped the first ability.
Ability - Berserker's Body
RARE
You feel no pain while in a high emotional state.
"Nice!" Renji exclaimed. To be honest, his least favorite part about VRMMOS was the uncomfortable tingle of taking damage. And if the stray elbows he caught in the colosseum were any indicator, the pain limiter for UwU Online must've been disabled when the orientation took a turn.
Renji tapped the next one.
Ability - Disruptive
EPIC
50% chance to distract a target when a skill you play against it has no effect.
"Now that's an ability," Renji said, suddenly eager to flip the last ability card. A blanket ability like Disruptive would increase his survivability against enemies that countered his cards. As he raised his hand to the last card, Renji sent a quick prayer to RNJesus for a healing-centric ability.
Ability - Lover's Mercy
UNIQUE
Sufficiently aroused foes may spare your life.
Renji's mouth fell open in disappointment. "Uh. What the fuck?"
Ability Draw Complete. Opening Starter Deck.
Another card pack spun into existence before him, but Renji's eyes darted to the side at a slow movement from deeper in the forest. He stood quickly and started backing away. The sound of shaking branches grew louder as something approached from above.
Renji swallowed and frantically tapped the glowing card pack. "Come on. I need some combat skills," he whispered, turning to press his back into the bark of the oaktrea he had been sitting udner.
A gust of wind blew past either side of Renji's tree, then a feminine giggle followed.
Renji's breathing quickened as the card pack burst apart. He leaned cautiously to peek around the tree as the pack's animation played out. Renji saw the monster's nametag before it came fully into view: Air Sylph.
The little blue woman who looked more elemental than human giggled as she shot out of the treetops to land gracefully on the forest floor. She had long blue hair composed of the same bulbous blue substance as her body and wore a skimpy white bandeau to match her frilled white skirt. The Sylph's nipples showed through the white band that compressed her small breasts, but Renji's eyes were promptly drawn to the two wooden flails the girl carried in either hand.
"Come on... Come on..." Renji whispered as the first starter deck exploded.
The Sylph's head snapped toward the small explosion of power and her pretty, white-freckled face twisted into a hungry grin. Renji let out an involuntary yelp and scrambled back toward the plains as he frantically tapped the set five cards floating in front of him.
Attack - Feeble Strike x2
CURSE
Deal 1 damage to a target within melee range.
~
Skill - Dodge x 2
COMMON
Gain 5 evade until next turn.
~
Skill - Feeble Block x1
CURSE
Gain 1 block until next turn.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE!" Renji swore, sprinting away from the forest at full speed as the Sylph chased after him. Outside of Dodge, his cards were absolute garbage. They were so bad that the game registered them as curses! With the Sylph dashing up behind him, Renji selected the class pack and reached out to tear it open manually. The animation hastened marginally, but it still took its time.
Renji's heart fell when two new nametags rose from the rolling plains ahead of him. Grass Sylph. Rock Sylph.
Fuck.
Renji took a sharp right, which gave him a glance of the Air Sylph gaining on him. Even with her alluring breasts bouncing beneath her bandeau, her stale blue eyes betrayed a total lack of humanity.
Heading toward the forest again, Renji's chest tightened as the class pack blasted apart. He slapped at the five cards desperately.
Skill - Compliment x2
COMMON
Raise target's heat by 2.
~
Skill - Degrade x1
UNCOMMON
Raise masochistic target's heat by 4.
~
Skill - Strip x1
UNCOMMON
Deal 10 damage to melee target's block and raise its heat by 3 if it is wearing armor.
~
Attack - Fondle x1
COMMON
Raise melee target's heat by 2 if armored, or by 4 if unarmored. Target must have at least 15% heat.
A sinking feeling struck Renji as he reentered the forest. One of UwU Online's gimmicks was the claim that playing it would fix your deepest flaws. During the demo, the game had given Renji the ninja class and a ton of cards that enhanced his balance, dexterity, and hand-eye coordination because he was a massive clutz in real life. Distracted, Renji tripped on a root--
Time slowed to a crawl as the Sylph grew close enough to enter combat. Renji twisted his falling form to face the blue girl as she closed in. When she was close enough that he could see the sweat coating her lithe form, a status block appeared to her right.