Collide Gamer

John returned to the storeroom, still a bit confused and more than a bit concerned. The same site he used to buy Skillbooks was offering human beings. The Abyss Auction didn’t do the kidnapping itself, but…

‘What am I going to do about it?’ John thought. The answer, as of this moment, was nothing. How strong would he need to be to change this? ‘Seems like for all the fantastical gadgets the Abyss has, it hasn’t innovated much in moral technology… I suppose it is more difficult when equality between people is so obviously just a myth. In my life so far, the difference between mundane people wasn’t that big. Now there are people who can create a fireball and people who can submerge city blocks.’

John scratched the back of his head and sighed. He had only heard what the upper crust of the Abyss was like so far and Rave, for all her perks, was not a reliable narrator. He needed more intel. He wasn’t even sure what the max level was. Because if it was 100, he was racing to that point at frankly concerning speed. If it was 1000, then the gulf between most Abyssals and the absolute top was so vast that ‘might makes right’ became a very difficult principle to disprove.

To take his mind off the complicated aspects of life, John browsed the inventory. There was the new Dark Souls board game, which John was mildly intrigued by. He had his misgivings with parts of the design of the original (bosses were incredibly hit or miss on how fun they were), but he couldn’t deny the atmosphere. A poster for Hearthstone ‘Fireside Gatherings’ was hung up in the card game section. John passed it by, he hadn’t touched card games since Yugioh had introduced synchro summoning… and since he had run out of friends to play it with.

John inspected some of the figurines, wondering if he could eventually make something of this detail with Craft. Currently, what he imagined rarely came out correctly. The material was strained or details went missing, creating weird blobs if he wanted anything beyond a certain level of complexity. Levelling should fix that. Sadly, Craft was a costly Skill and not his priority. Gaining another Mana Regeneration bonus at Wisdom 75 was going to fix that, he hoped.

Eventually, his steps brought him around the walls. Outside, Travolta was smoking what must have been his fifth cigarette. “Might as well look at the cosplay section?” Carl suggested.

John instinctively wanted to deny him, then he remembered he had somehow acquired a girlfriend of the kinky variety. Cosplay probably wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. He nodded and was brought to another side room.

The cosplays on display were almost universally for women. John pictured Rave in his mind’s eye, wearing any and all of them. She would, without a doubt, love to try and he would, without a single shred of doubt, enjoy watching the spectacle. Even if he had no idea who all of these anime characters were. Still, if only he had a girl with him to try these outfits on right now…

“What’s your customer protection policy?” John asked, contemplating his options.

Carl formed a slow and awkward smile. “The Abyss Auction has a strict policy on not offering information on its customers. We maintain strict neutrality.”

“Great.” John reached into his inventory and pulled out Aclysia. It was a bit of a hassle. Aclysia was big enough to reach his chest now and primarily made out of steel that he had acquired by various means. While she was still in his inventory, that wasn’t an issue, but once her feet were out, he practically dropped her.

Aclysia remained frozen for about five seconds. The mental connection to her was a total void. Then the mind within stirred to consciousness. She shivered all over, as if placed next to a warm fire after spending time in the cold. Slowly, she got up, took stock of the situation, and then silently stood there.

There had been slight deviations from her figurine origins. The eyes were clearer, the shape of her face less clear cut, and her hair was not one solid block. A figurine she may have started as, but she appeared human. A human who was too small for her leggy figure, but human nonetheless. Only the way her exterior was designed, with the ‘exposed chassis’ aesthetic pointed at a lack of biological origin. Also the lingerie-esque appearance made it impossible to present her to the public. Touching her would have also revealed the lack of warmth or fleshy squishiness one would expect.

“Huh, normally when men ask that question, it’s because they want to try on the female outfits,” Carl confessed, scratching the parts of his head that still had hair. “I’m not complaining though. I see you created a golem on the basis of A2?”

“Yes,” John answered out loud. ‘Let’s go with that,’ he added quietly. No need to advertise that it was actually an Artificial Spirit. “I’m upgrading her in size as I have the opportunity,” a half lie, but good enough, “you wouldn’t happen to have an outfit her size? One that could grow with her maybe?”

“Not here.” His voice dropped several octaves again, becoming deep and gruff. Putting on his hood again, he gestured conspiratorially. “Follow me. I will show you to the inner chambers.”

Through the pulling of a hidden lever, an even more hidden hatch was revealed. Carl pulled it open all the way, then descended the ladder. John and Aclysia followed. Three metres down they went, before they emerged in another room. ‘How big is the underground network of this shop?’ John wondered.

It was a cosplay library, vastly more expansive than the display above. Sorted carefully and stretching wall to wall were racks upon racks of different outfits. “This is my pride,” Carl declared. Grabbing a tablet, he scrolled through a few programs. He tapped a button and a pedestal rose twenty centimetres from the floor. “Please put the little lady here.”

“Sure, Aclysia, you heard him,” John instructed.

“Affirmative,” Aclysia stated.

“She can talk?” Carl asked, astounded.

John just shrugged, trying to use his ignorance of many things Abyssal as his defence. It worked well enough, no further questions being asked. “The obvious thing to try on for her would be the 2B outfit,” John stated. To combine those two would feel simply correct.

Carl nodded and quickly found everything about the outfit that could be gathered. From the complicated, black main dress with the feathery sleeve decorations to the black and white leotard that was worn underneath. It even had the decorated boob window. Carl found proper gloves and stockings to go alongside it. All of it, however, was too large for Aclysia.

“Never doubt my products,” Carl assured him. “These will perfectly fit whoever wears them. See for yourself.”

John had Aclysia put on the clothes and sure enough they shrunk until they were a proper fit. Now little Aclysia was dressed in one of the most stylish and alluring outfits in videogame history. For reasons of John’s personal enjoyment, they skipped on the headband. For reasons of practicality they skipped on the blindfold.

“This is almost perfect!” Carl squeaked. To see a man in his forties nerding out was a bit odd, but John fully understood. It wasn’t often one could see a perfect replica of a videogame character. A2 in 2B’s dress was a scene many wanted anyway and Aclysia fulfilled it with clean skin, brushed hair, and a passive expression. She honestly looked more like a long haired 2B than A2 now. Only real difference between them and her, besides size, was the eye colour.

There was also a bit of awkwardness to the clothes because of the underlying lack of skin plates in certain areas. “You wouldn’t happen to have a few kilos of unneeded plastic sitting around, would you?” John asked. He wanted Aclysia to reach proper size already and material was as much of an issue there as levels. Metal was doing it, but plastic would be nicer to the touch. Eventually, he would have her eat silicone or whatever else was as close to the proper sensation of human skin as he could find.

“Well…” Carl hummed, then nodded to himself. He walked away for a moment, then returned with a couple of boxes. He opened one of them and revealed a bunch of wigs. “These are duplicates or pieces I couldn’t get right. I would be willing to part with them, for a price.”

“How much for these and the costume?” John asked. 

“They are all enchanted to resize. A cheap version of the enchantment, but an enchantment nonetheless. If you just want plastic-“

“No, I will take these,” John interrupted. Any magic he could pump into Aclysia would help him twice over. He wanted her to get as powerful as possible as quickly as possible. He withdrew the money from his inventory and handed it over. Carl quickly counted it and John pulled out his phone.

For once in his life, he looked up 2B porn not because he wanted to do something with it, but because he wanted a nude model for Aclysia to simulate. Once he had found one that both had the bodacious body type he wanted and had been shot from a satisfying number of angles, he showed them to Aclysia with the simple order to shift her appearance to match this. According to what he understood of Artificial Spirits, limited shapeshifting from their created form would be possible.

Aclysia said nothing to the contrary, neither did a window pop up to warn him about it. “Only keep your head as it currently is,” he finished the order.

“Affirmative, Creator John,” Aclysia signalled her understanding. With that, she began eating the wigs.

“JOOOOHN!” A voice made its way down from the hatch. “WHERE ARE YOU HIDING YOUR SCRAWNY ASS? REGAN SAYS WE CAN HEAD BACK IN.”

Bad but not the worst timing. Aclysia would need time to eat all of this and it was too much for John to load in his inventory. “Can I just… leave her here for a moment?” he asked.

“I’ll keep watch. Mostly to make sure she doesn’t touch anything else,” Carl confessed.

The selfish motive made it easier to believe he wouldn’t try anything undue. Not that John was sure he could do anything undue with Aclysia. The Artificial Spirit did have the superior Strength Stat and she was made out of metal. Very difficult to mess with. In terms of conversation, she wouldn’t offer much either. Aclysia only really reacted to his questions or statements.

With a nod, John headed back up the ladder.