To get straight to the point, Chris does have two bodies.
"Oh my gosh."
[Onmyoji 'Chris-Too' (Online)]
- "Rain, you're at Palman's place, right? Just wait a bit! I'll be there soon!"
"What kind of nickname is that..."
I was left speechless by Chris’s horrible naming sense.
Her alternate character is named 'Chris-Too' because it’s her second character?
And another Onmyoji too?
"Uweh!"
"Oh, sorry."
I started soothing Igrain, who had begun to fuss in my arms.
Rocking her gently.
"Kyahaha!"
The baby, smiling as she nestled against my chest, was absolutely adorable.
"What do I do..."
I gazed down at Igrain’s face, feeling dazed.
I love babies so much.
"Looks like our child really likes Rain."
"Does she? Haha... she's too cute."
"Rain is cute too... right?"
"Huh?"
The elf woman, who had been talking to herself for a moment, gave me a teasing smile.
She was Rachel, Palman’s wife, and she was half-sitting up in bed where I was seated.
"Since she’s the child of Rachel and Palman, she’s going to grow up to be absolutely stunning."
Palman, the captain of the elf guard, seemed busy lately. He was in the meeting hall, dealing with players while his wife rested at home after childbirth.
Recently, players had been taking on Palman’s quests to deal with the remnants of the demons or defend the elf forest.
"Reputation grinding, huh."
One of the prerequisites for entering *The Abyss Tree* dungeon was to increase reputation with the Elf Kingdom. Although the vanguard players had already cleared the way, regular players were now finally starting to enter the Elf Forest in earnest.
Since the *Abyss Tree* had been cleared, the elf forest was fully open to players. Of course, some troublemakers showed up now and then, but they were quickly dealt with.
If you have a hostile relationship with the elves, you can’t even get quests for the *Abyss Tree*. But maintaining a good relationship with the elves will reward you with consumables and new gear parts like belts that can help in the raid.
The initial clear of *The Abyss Tree*, the first raid dungeon in *Astria Online*, was finally over. It took two full weeks, and three raid teams had the honor of having their names recorded in the Hall of Glory.
The NoName Raid, the Crimson-White Raid, and the Skada Raid.
These teams laid the groundwork for strategies, and streaming sites were now filled with video guides.
However.
I smirked slightly.
"It’s not that easy."
No other teams had managed to clear it yet.
Looking back, I used a bit of a cheat with my abilities, and the Crimson-White team had Chris, an extraordinary leader. The Skada Raid, however, had cleared it without access to any insider information or special players, making them truly impressive.
"Oh, the hero is here."
"Hello."
I pushed aside the leaf curtain hanging over the doorway and bowed my head slightly to the white-haired elf man who entered.
Palman smiled at me.
"It’s nice to see the hero getting along so well with our little princess."
I scratched my face.
Right now, Palman was the only one in this world who still called me "hero." Every time I heard it from him, it gave me a strange feeling.
I handed the now-sleeping Igrain back to Rachel and stood up.
"My friend should be arriving soon."
"You’ll come by often, right?"
"Yes, probably at least once a week."
Even if the next expansion pack opens up and I start new adventures in another region, I’ll still need to come back here once a week to clear the weekly raid dungeon, *The Abyss Tree*.
I gently poked Igrain’s chubby cheek as she slept in Rachel’s arms.
"Little Rain, be good for your mom and dad, okay? Big Rain-sis has to go to work."
---
After leaving Palman’s house, I heard footsteps approaching.
Thud, thud.
"Hmm?"
Small footsteps.
They quickly came closer to me.
Who could it be?
I was supposed to meet up with Chris.
I turned in the direction the footsteps had stopped.
Chris is tall, standing around 170cm, making her taller than the average woman.
As for me? I’m over 30cm shorter than Chris. I usually have to look up to see her.
Normally, when I turn my head to look up, I’d see Chris’s face.
"Huh?"
But when I looked up this time, there was no one there.
Instead, I saw a strand of red hair swaying gently.
I lowered my gaze.
"Gasp."
"Rain!"
An all-too-familiar voice.
A confident smile.
Bright red hair.
It’s definitely Chris.
But...
A smaller frame?
A slightly shorter height than mine?
A cute face?
"Gasp..."
I took a step back.
Who are you?
"It’s me! Chris-sis!"
The girl’s face contorted in confusion as she spoke in a voice that was familiar but a little younger.
"...Chris-sis?"
"Sniff, sniff, Rain didn’t recognize me!"
The red-haired girl made a pouting face—the same pout Chris always made.
But with that face making that expression...
Thump.
"Ah!?"
I clutched my chest.
So cute!
Sure, I love the cool and dependable Chris.
But this? This is something else.
My hand moved on its own.
And I grabbed a lock of the red hair swaying above the little Chris’s head.
"Rain?"
Chris’s face filled with confusion.
Tug, tug.
Is this... one of those silly strands of hair that stand up?
I fiddled with the hair for a moment, then pulled little Chris into my arms.
Poof.
"Eep!?"
She struggled for a moment, but soon settled down.
In a daze, I gently patted her head.
"You're adorable, sis."
Chris mumbled, her face turning bright red.
"...They said I could benefit from this character model, and it turns out they were right."
---
As we headed to *The Abyss Tree* with Chris’s alternate character, ‘Chris-Too,’ I asked her about the thing that had been bugging me.
Why had Chris turned into little Chris?
"What about your synchronization rate?"
Changing your body shape that much would drop the sync rate drastically.
Little Chris puffed out her chest.
"Remember that new capsule we tested at the last meetup? This is part of the practical synchronization rate test."
"Oh."
The capsule that can drastically improve sensory feedback. If it were made available to the public, players could enjoy a far more immersive gaming experience.
Currently, *Astria Online* limits the synchronization rate to 20%. But with that capsule, even if the body shape changes and the sync rate drops, it would still hover around 20%.
Her voice sounded slightly younger, but it was still undeniably Chris’s voice. No matter how much you customize a character’s appearance, you can’t change the underlying voice. The younger character model just made her voice sound a bit more youthful, probably because of the smaller body.
"Obviously, this model is based on my own body. Though it’s from ten years ago. Beimerung’s handiwork. Pretty cool, right?"
"Wow, really?"
Pat, pat.
"...But why do you keep patting my head?"
"Ah, sorry."
I quickly lowered my hand from little Chris’s head. Instead, I grabbed her small hand.
Chris must have been super cute when she was younger.
Now I understood how she felt when she couldn’t stop patting my head. Is this what they call empathy?
Thud, thud.
Thud, thud.
When we arrived at *The Abyss Tree*, I saw some familiar faces.
"Oh, Chris, Rain... gasp!"
"Hehe, didn’t I tell you? I said you’d be surprised."
"Chris-senpai, you’re incredible. You said you liked cute things, but now you’ve become cute yourself."
"Hmph. I’ll only log in like this for weekly raids with Rain."
Sseopseop, a member of the Crimson-White Guild and a Spirit Master with a pink-haired Onmyoji avatar, gasped. Cherni, a swordsman, and Beimerung snickered.
"Sseopseop’s alt is a Spirit Master, Cherni is a swordsman, and Beimerung... is an Onmyoji?"
"Yup. How do I look?"
Beimerung twirled on the spot, her Onmyoji orbs swirling around her.
Even though it was her alt, her face didn’t look all that different. The same went for Chris, although now she was a smaller, cuter version of herself.
"An alt, huh."
I fell into deep thought for a moment.
With an alternate character, you can do weekly raids and daily quests multiple times using multiple characters.
I hadn’t seriously considered it before, but...
"It feels a bit too... unreal."
At this point, I fully understood that this world was just a game. But still, the idea of there being two of me felt... off. Besides, who knows how the buggy synchronization rate of my character would behave with an alt?
Chris strutted over to Sseopseop and glared at him, grumbling.
"What are you looking at? Your raid leader’s always so grumpy."
"Ah, well... ahem, you’re... adorable."
"You want me to kick you from the party?"
"Gah, sorry!"
Sseopseop, who had been staring in fascination at little Chris, immediately backed down.
"Me, Rain, Beimer
ung, Goseung-woo, Sseopseop, and Cherni. There, we’re all here. Six other people from another raid team will be joining us."
The Crimson-White raid team members in front of *The Abyss Tree* totaled six. It seemed like not everyone in the raid team had an alternate character.
"What about Deathmaster?"
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"He’s busy. He’s leveling an alt, but it’s still low-level."
"What’s his nickname?"
"Dark in the Darkness."
After chatting idly for a bit, we spotted another party approaching.
At the center of the group was a tall woman with light brown hair.
I gasped as I looked at her.
"Wow, she’s pretty."
"Eep."
The silly strand of hair on little Chris’s head stood on end. Was she going into alert mode?
The tall beauty approaching us smiled brightly and introduced herself.
"We’re the newly formed second raid team. Nice to meet you. Hehe, I’m Skada, the raid leader of the Skada Raid."
"Oh."
So that’s the leader of the Skada Raid, the third team to clear *The Abyss Tree*.
Skada’s eyes sparkled as she glanced between me and Chris.
"This must be Rain? You’re as cute as I’ve heard... And Chris’s alt? My, my, Chris, really now."
Huff.
Little Chris stepped in front of me.
And growled.
"Grrrr!"