VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne

{Valerie?} A confused mutter through a synthetic voice box interrupted the pair as they stared silently at each other.

Valerie with a suspicious, slightly murderous look, and Mister Bloom with a smug, self assured smirk.

Valerie glanced to the side, finding one of the robotic workers staring at her with its blank, emotionless face. It flinched, touching its hand to its mouth as if it didn’t realise it had spoken, before bowing its head in apology.

Frowning for a moment, Valerie took in the mannerisms of the robot server for a moment before it finally clicked.

"Zhu Li? Zhu Li, is that you?"

{M-me? N-no Madam... I don’t know anyone by that name. I apologise for speaking where it is not my place. It will not happen again}

The bot quickly stuttered, before bowing deeper, which only made Valerie scoff.

"I knew it was you. Girl, you’re still doing that weird thing with your feet, and what have I told you about standing up straight? I bet you’re hunched over your desk, twenty D-fuels deep and have like ten empty noodle tubs sitting beside you."

{Wh-what?! I do not! I do sit straight, for your information! I already told you its just the way my spine curves! It’s not my fault!}

The bot immediately barked back, before letting out a sharp gasp as it covered its mouth in horror. It glanced at Mister Bloom, despite its blank face the horror it felt was palpable with the way it was trembling in fear.

Disclosing their identity, whilst not exactly against company rules, was frowned upon heavily. It was only really done with the good clients, like Percy. Otherwise you were supposed to just silently serve. The client was not even supposed to know different people were controlling the same bot over shifts.

But talking to a client like that? Never mind at a public event where reputation and respect was everything. Getting fired was the best outcome in Zhu Li’s mind at the moment.

However, contrary to everything she could have expected, the mystery mogul simply chuckled and shook his head softly.

"A friend of yours, I presume?"

"Yeah, from my old work. Hey, Zhu Li, Listen. Percy is here with some horrible woman. I need you to keep an eye on him for me, make sure she doesn’t do anything she shouldn’t do. And if you happen to overhear any of their conversations, it would be good to know what they are talking about."

{The full Tiffany treatment? Are you sure?} Zhu Li muttered, the glowing LED’s she had for eyes glancing nervously at Mister Bloom, who simply shrugged apathetically after a withering glare from Valerie.

With that, Zhu Li nodded and set off, but not before giving Valerie’s hand a soft squeeze and whispering.

{I’m glad to see you doing so well. It’s good one of us got out. I’ll do my best to make sure you can get your prince.} With that, she turned and hurried off, blending in with the collection of identical service bots in mere moments.

They were always wonderful at blending in to the scenery.

"Don’t think we are done with our conversation." Mister Bloom said with a smirk, planting his hand on Valerie’s shoulder.

"Why don’t we take it somewhere more private, so no one gives us the Tiffany treatment, hmm?"

Valerie nodded as Bloom suspiciously glared at all of the nearby service bots. Although he had not considered it before, Valerie was always roughly aware of where the bots were, even without feeling their metal bodies shifting through her bloodline.

She had been on the other end plenty, and given the Tiffany treatment enough, to know what they could overhear and when they were actually listening in. But for Mister Blooms comfort of mind, she allowed him to lead her out of the ballroom and into a corridor with a series of doors, Many of which were closed tight, with signs displayed asking for privacy.

Mister Bloom led her into one of the vacant rooms, which was occupied with a pair of very comfortable looking couches and a small, designer coffee table between them that was, of course, designed to look like a hand.

Designer stuff always looked like hands, or genitals. They were weird about that.

Mister Bloom gestured for Valerie to sit down, however she glanced at the door suspiciously, hearing the incredibly muffled sounds of the party outside.

It was very well sound proofed, but it was done so for the standard human senses and not to the level of someone enhanced like herself. That wasn’t even considering magical spying applications.

So Valerie ignored the chair, and instead reached into the small coin purse she had hidden in the chest of her dress. Naturally, it was enchanted to increase the size of its internal space, which also meant it could go completely flat and not ruin the shape of her outfit.

She clicked it open and rooted around inside, before pulling out a collection of chalk sticks, each one a different colour.

Muttering softly to herself, Valerie picked out the white chalk from amongst its colourful brethren, and placed the rest into her purse again.

With some difficulty, and under Mister Blooms curious gaze, Valerie drew a slightly wobbly circle around the two couches and made sure the circle was complete with no gaps.

Once she was done, she touched the chalk line gently and grit her teeth, straining for a few minutes before eventually letting out an irate sigh.

"Would you mind? I know you can do magic, I can sense it on you. Just a little mana into the circle, and try not to smudge the chalk when you do it. Please and thank you."

He silently raised a quizative eyebrow, the smirk not leaving his lips as he didn’t even bother to ask his questions.

Valerie simply sighed again, standing up as she held up the chalk for him to see.

"It’s pre-made magic. Take the ingredients for the spell, have a skill alchemist combine them according to a certain recipe, and then convert into ink or chalk with a few extra ingredients. It’s easy when you know how.

This one is a spell that will improve our privacy beyond what you have already done. Now, if you please. My mana is still out of whack from whatever that crazy bitch did to me."

Mister Bloom chuckled at her explanation, especially the finale of it, before nodding softly. He crouched down, placed his golden fingers against the chalk and channelled the small amount of mana he had into it.

It took longer than Valerie had expected, clearly his mana control was as clumsy as a toddler, but before long the circle glowed softly.

In that exact moment, all of the ambient noise and subtle sounds of the room ceased to exist. Not just that, but if anyone was spying on them through any forms of surveillance, then it would simply appear as if no one was in the room at all. As if the pair themselves had been the ones that had been erased from existence.

The light on the circle split where Mister Bloom had touched it, slowly dimming along the edge of the circle, like a fuse burning out.

"Alright, we’re on the clock." Valerie muttered, before taking her seat. She leaned back on the couch, crossing her legs and steepling her fingers.

"Ask your questions, and ask them fast. But let’s make one thing clear. I am not here to be blackmailed, nor coerced. If you want answers, you better be prepared to give them in return. This is, after all, a room for business meetings.

So Mister Bloom, let us do business."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!