(TL : AGWDOTSFITGW) Blue Star Install (Patreon)

--AN) Translated novel: Novel Name: A Girl Who Dreams Of The Sky, Flies In The Game World. This is a ML and human editing, so there might be some mistakes.--

It's mid-July, and outside, the cicadas are shrieking loudly in the summer heat.

Aoki Sora, who had just signed for a package from the delivery service, was overjoyed upon seeing the item's name and dashed into her room on the second floor of her home.

"Yay, it arrived exactly on the delivery date!"

Carefully peeling off the wrapping paper, her breathing quickened with excitement as she saw the package labeled "Blue Planet Online."

Blue Planet Online. It was the latest VRMMO, released today, on this very day.

"Right, I need to borrow the gaming console."

Even with the software, she couldn't play without the hardware. Sora burst out of her room and entered the room next door without even knocking.

"Tsubasa, lend me the console!"

"Whoa! Sis, at least knock or something."

"I got the game, so I'm going to play it. Ah, there it is. I'm borrowing this."

He was Aoki Tsubasa, Sora's younger brother, the boy who had led her to play Blue Planet Online.

Ignoring Tsubasa's flustered reaction, Sora grabbed the VR device placed in the room and dashed back to her own room with it.

"My outdoorsy sister getting this into a game is something else..."

Originally, Sora was the kind of girl who preferred going out to play with friends rather than staying indoors playing games. But now, her interest was completely captured by the newly arrived game, Blue Planet Online.

Back in her room, Sora connected the power and internet cables, and set up the software.

"All set. Now, just need to start!"

She donned the VR device on her head, lay down on her bed, and turned on the power. As the manufacturer's logo appeared on the headset's monitor, a sensation of floating enveloped her, and Sora's consciousness dived into the world of the game.

"Welcome to Blue Planet Online."

Opening her eyes, she saw these words displayed before her, and the same phrase was spoken by an audio guide. Looking around, she found herself standing in a white, boundless space, the epitome of a digital void.

"Wow, I've never played a VR game before, but this is what it's like."

This was Sora's first VR game. Although her brother Tsubasa had played several VR games, she had never been interested in them.

That is until Blue Planet Online, which captivated her like no other.

"Installing Blue Planet Online. Progress: 0%............100%"

"Setting up Blue Planet Online. Progress: 0%............100%"

"Setup of Blue Planet Online complete. Please proceed with initial setup and create your avatar."

"Wow, I get to make my own character."

A character model matching Sora's height and build appeared before her, slowly rotating. A window popped up next to it, listing options like name, race, skin color, gender, height, body type, and facial features, all defaulting to match the real-world Sora: human, standard color, female, etc.

"For the name... Asuka. Hmm, I don't particularly want to be a boy or an elf or a dwarf... Ah, but since I'm here, I might as well change the hairstyle a bit and make the limbs a little slimmer."

Standing at 155 cm with a slender build, typical Japanese black eyes, and black semi-long hair, Sora wasn't too interested in character customization, so she only slightly adjusted her appearance to her liking.

She chose light green for her hair, turning it into a long ponytail that reached her waist, and set her eyes to green before selecting confirm.

The character creation window closed, and her body shimmered lightly, transforming into the avatar she had just configured. A mirror appeared before her out of nowhere.

"Wow, is this me in the game? Yeah, this looks good."

Pleased with her well-made avatar, she selected confirm.

"Now, set up your exo armor. Please select your armor."

Once again, a full-body image of her avatar appeared, along with a window listing different armors.

Choosing armor somewhat randomly, her avatar was displayed wearing mechanical armor.

Indeed, Blue Planet Online is a game played with powered suits known as exo armor.

The armor now in front of Sora was classified as "Striker" – a close-combat type armor, known for its powerful thrusters that allow for quick engagement and specializing in close-range attacks, as explained in the accompanying description window.

"Hmm, there's a lot to choose from."

"Assault" armor for heavy assaults, "Soldier" armor for general use, "Sniper" armor for long-range, "Magic" armor for wide-range suppression, "Medic" armor for support, "Scout" armor for reconnaissance, and "Transport" armor for logistics.

Among the diverse armors, one in particular caught Sora's eye.

"...There it is."

"Flight" armor. It allows for free flight through the sky with its dedicated flight units.

Flight armor. That was the reason she wanted to play Blue Planet Online.

Sora and Tsubasa's father was an airline pilot, and their mother was a flight attendant for the same airline.

Named Sora, which means "sky" in Japanese, by her parents who cherished the vast blue sky, it seemed destined from before her birth that she would share her father's passion for the skies.

The family often attended air-related events on days off, and they had been to multiple air shows held by the Self-Defense Forces.

Since elementary school, Sora loved the sky so much that she even tried hang gliding and skydiving.

And as she grew, so did her dream: to fly freely through the sky.

While she considered following in her father's footsteps to become a pilot, that was still a far-off dream. Hang gliding and skydiving required both time and money, making them activities she couldn't frequently enjoy.

Then, her brother Tsubasa showed her a commercial for a game that caught her eye, despite her general disinterest in games. In one scene of the commercial, a person wearing mechanical armor with engine nozzles and main wings attached to their back was flying freely through the sky.

That scene matched the vision Sora had dreamed of.

"Sis, you want to fly, right? It might be impossible in the real world, but in the world of games, you can fly as much as you want."

"...Tsubasa."

"What?"

"What's the name of this game?"

"It's called Blue Planet Online, a full-dive VR game releasing this summer."

"Can I pre-order it?"

"I'm not sure. The beta test received high praise, and the initial production run isn't very large, so it might be a lottery. Wait, sis, are you going to buy it?"

"Can I reserve it at the electronics store near the station? I'm going to check it out."

"Wait, hold on! Sis!?"

Rushing out of the house, Sora sprinted to the electronics store and managed to secure her place in the initial production run through a lottery.

All for the sake of flying in that sky she saw in the commercial.

"Hehehehe..."

An eerie laughter escaped Sora's lips, overwhelmed with joy. For her, this game existed solely for the flight armor, and nothing else mattered.

With a grin still plastered on her face, she selected the flight armor.

"You will receive a point bonus. If you have a bonus coupon, please enter the code now."

"There's a point bonus? Oh right, there was a coupon with the initial production bonus."

Although she had no interest in anything but flying, she decided to use the coupon code that came with the package.

"Consulting the code... confirmed. An additional 300pts will be added. Your total points are now 1300pts. Please select your bonus from the list."

"What do we have here..."

In front of Sora, a window appeared, displaying the bonuses she could acquire with her points and their required points.

"Knight Saber 100pts, Buckler Shield 100pts, +50000 Gil 200pts... what's all this?"

These were starting bonuses, allowing players to acquire equipment, money, or skills with points. Sora, obsessed with flying and lacking prior knowledge, had no clue what any of it meant.

"Oh, right, Tsubasa told me to pick this as my first point bonus."

Knowing his sister cared more about flying in the game than its content, Tsubasa easily guessed her priorities. Having recommended the game, he wanted her to enjoy flying, so he researched compatible bonuses for the flight armor from the pre-released point list and informed her.

"I don't understand it well, so I'll just go with what he told me."

Following Tsubasa's advice, Sora chose the bonuses he had recommended.

Tsubasa had chosen skills, not items or equipment. The equipment and items available at the start are indeed powerful, but they become unnecessary as better weapons appear with game progress. Thus, skills that could be used throughout gameplay were deemed more useful.

Without Tsubasa's advice, she would have randomly chosen equipment or items and left it at that.

"Let's see, under the 'Skills' tab, 'MP Increase - Large' for 500pts, 'MP Auto-Recovery' for 500pts. Wait, I have 300pts left?"

Tsubasa had researched in advance and knew there would be 1000pts available, selecting the most efficient skills for maximizing those points. However, he missed one detail: the initial production coupon adding an extra 300pts.

"Hmm, he didn't tell me anything else... Is there anything else?"

Looking for something worth the remaining 300pts, Sora stumbled upon a skill after a few minutes of contemplation.

"What's this? 'Flight Armor Experience Gain Increase'... Will this help with flying? It's 300pts, so I'll go with this."

"'MP Increase - Large,' 'MP Auto-Recovery,' 'Flight Armor Experience Gain Increase' have been selected. Is this okay?"

After confirming the guidance, she nodded and selected confirm.

"Final confirmation."

The final confirmation screen displayed the selected avatar name, race, gender, chosen armor, and point bonuses, along with a confirmation icon. She reviewed everything to ensure there were no mistakes and selected the confirmation icon.

"Finalizing initial setup. Connecting to the server... connected. Logging in..."

As the login process began, the digital space around her was enveloped in light, and her vision brightened. Simultaneously, her heart raced with joy and anticipation.

"Please enjoy the world of Blue Planet Online."

"Now I can... fly!!!"