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/20 minutes later…/

/Munch munch…/

"And that was what I pretty much did." Said Dale to his mother as he ate his meat curry

After finishing his short story, he ate one last bite of his curry and burped.

"... Didn't you pretty much just do hard labor for the entire day?" Asked his mother with an inquisitive glance as she stored the groceries in the fridge

"Well… Yeah? Hum... No?"

"How come you do it in a video game but hate doing it in real life? Like fishing, your brother hates fishing but he does it every time in VR with his friends..."

"That is a question I can't answer you, I simply do not know… Perhaps the feeling the numbers rise or the danger-free scenario gives him a different feeling?" Replied Dale with an awkward smile

"Same thing for your dad, he hates going to work but every time I check on him he is playing that office game on his capsule… Figures."

"..."

'Mom... I truly cannot explain why it feels fun to do some of these things..,'

Finishing his food, Dale brought his plate to the sink and left to brush his teeth, his mother shook her head as she gazed at him.

She was never a fan of these games and mainly used the pod to watch movies and relax. She was one of the people who would use VR technology to sleep longer...

…

/A few minutes later in the pod room…/

"I took a shower, ate, and now I just need to wait for the remaining hours to pass…"

'I slept around 1 Am in the game, and the first quest starts at around 6 Am, that is 5 hours of time and under the 3-hour time difference, it's exactly 1 hour and forty minutes from then.'

(5 hours is 300 minutes and 1 hour, 40 min is 100 minutes)

"This means I have some time for myself…"

As he said that, Dale went out of the room and into his bedroom, sitting down in front of a Pc.

He immediately launched the only Social App he and his friends use and sent a message to the one and only… Jelly.

Also known as…

/DING DING DING!/

The moment he sent the message, Jelly immediately started calling him.

"What? That was oddly fast…" Said Dale as he initiated the voice call

"Whats up Ermin?" Asked Dale

"..."

"Ermin?"

"Are you out of the game?" Asked Ermin suddenly in a low tone

"Yeah, I just left… Why?"

"Oh nothing, it was just that I had to log out as well to call you… Besides… DUDE?! That guy on the trailer was you, right?" Screamed Ermin on the microphone

"... I... Bruh."

"DON'T BRUH ME MAN! There is no use denying it, I saw your online status before the game servers opened, and you were online! For 10 whole minutes! You may have changed your appearance, but I can recognize your 'air' by a mile!"

"My… What?"

"Man, I only have a single question… How did you do it?"

Dale smiled and replied:

"Well… Entering the game earlier was part of my rewards for reaching Level 100… I couldn't say much about it because I was under a contract, but it became void the moment the game started so…"

"OHH! That makes more sense now… Does that mean you can now tell me what happened after you reached Level 100?..."

"... If you wish to I..."

"NO! I don't want to hear it, I'll find out about it on my own."

"..."

"Besides, I'll bet you being able to jump 10M high at the start of the trailer was also due to your 'rewards'?"

"Hum...Yup… You can say so."

"Cool… So tell me, tell me. How much did you gain with that swoop of yours in the market some time ago?"

"Are you talking about the auctions? About a couple thousand Zulls of Iron, this is already counting everything I spent, so in total, I would've made at least one or two Zulls of Copper."

"Wow… You're way too rich… In my case, I only managed to do a few of the things we discussed a few days ago…"

Ermin went over several strategies and things they had discussed beforehand, and from time to time, Dale would intervene and give him his opinion, and in the end, Ermin said:

"Although we prepared a lot, I was rather lucky. My tutorial lobby was filled with newbies that didn't know any better, so it made it easy for me to exploit some things like you since I didn't have competition…"

"Although I wasn't able to acquire all of the Sigils and I have yet to finish some of the rituals and quests I had in mind..."

"I'll probably spend another full day in the tutorial and then leave…"

"Hum, the only major ritual I did was fusing the Sigil's the other ones aren't really that meaningful to do it as they either give you temporary buffs or items, and most of them are only useful early game." Said Dale

But Ermin smiled slightly.

"Man, not everyone can be like you and get those high-Class items… I don't even know how you got the Vault items… Did you raid it through the special routes? No… That is impossible. How did you beat the Boss?"

Dale chuckled and said:

"I did go through the special route since there wasn't any Boss."

"???? What? What happened to the Boss?"

"Dude, I used an alternate secret path to get in the tutorial before it started, so all of the mechanisms in the tutorial were deactivated, this means…"

Ermin suddenly said:

"OH MY FUCKING… Jesus… I understand now, my mind has been enlightened."

"Well… Thank you for sharing this now useless information, it is pretty interesting nonetheless."

Dale smiled and asked:

"So? You said you would leave in a day or so, do you want any advice? I would recommend my place but… It isn't a very pleasant place to be in right now."

"Hm… To be honest, I would agree, but this isn't my sole choice anymore…"

"Huh? Explain."

"Well… You see… I'm playing with my older sister… And my younger sister… I'll just go wherever they want me to go…"

"You sound tired." Said Dale

"The life of being the sole male child in a big family… So I'm sorry Dale, we won't be able to play together for a while… And for that, I have a favor to ask."

"Sure. Although there isn't much I can do with my game character since I'm already in the Continent…"

"Nah, it's rather simple… Can you pass us some money? My sisters are too crazy and they need items every time and our finances are running low… My finances..."

"My sisters treat me pretty poorly and most of the time, the one who supports the team is me... But that is done through my own pocket."

"Seems like slave work..."

"It's hard already since I'm trying to move around sneakily to get the Sigils and some of the other items, but I also have to give them items else they won't stop being stones in my shoes…"

"If they learn about the Sigils or any of those special items… I am sure they will split it between themselves and leave nothing to me."

"... You truly are a pathetic guy." Said Dale with pity

"There is nothing I can do! I swear! I tried to retaliate against them many times but our parents were always on their side! And…"

"Just live in your house or ignore them?"

"Leavin my house isn't an option, and if I ignore them I am probably going to be banned from using the pod by my parents... They are very naive... And after years and years of manipulation, they are already on the palms of my sisters' hands..."

"Okay okay, I understand… Tell me the amount and I'll send it to you. If you need any particular items tell me as well, just make sure to do it in one go since sending items through the Trade Market costs a lot where I'm from…"

"How much?"

"31 Zulls of Iron."

"DAMN!"

"Yeah… It's quite a sum of money but it isn't really much if I only use it once or twice…"

"... Thanks man, my game is saved thanks to you."

"I'll send you a list later, and don't worry about your identity, I'll keep it a secret for now… Especially since my two sisters are fans of you, I can't even begin to imagine the horrors of my life if they found out I know you…"

"They are?! Are they pretty?"

"FUCK OFF!"

"Come on! Give your bro a hand! I've been single for 19 years!"

"HA! If you have the courage after everything I said, go and take them on!"

"My older sister is an alcoholic and has violent tendencies due to her past as a school punk, and my younger sister is a HardCore BL fan while also being extremely well versed in martial arts due to growing up under her older sister's care!

"And coupled with their passive-aggressive personalities, I am sure they will treat you well… Who knows, maybe you'll do well as their butler?"

"Forget what I said then…"

Crazy bitches... You know what they say, don't stick your D in crazy...

"HAHAHA!"

"In any case, I'll send you a list of what I need, don't worry, I'll repay you several times over later."

"I know, and in case you have the opportunity to choose, give me a call and I'll invite you to my humble starting point."

It would be very good to have a trustworthy helping hand, especially one as talented and knowledgeable as him.

"I bet this is going to happen though…" Said Ermin in a depressive tone

The two talked for a little longer before Ermin had to leave due to being called… By his sisters of course.

"... That guy never told me much about his family… And I now understand why."

'I thought he had a girlfriend due to a few instances, but it seems it was only his sisters dragging him around…'

Shaking his head, Dale started to go over the web, and he soon found out that his existence had already been overshadowed by many other posts and interesting facts on the internet.

Forums discussing the differences between game modes and initial Classes…

Forums discussing the many items and areas in the tutorial…

How to Level up fast… How to make money fast… What were the best weapons and starting Class…

And even a rough sketch of the world map that is constantly being updated, this has been done since the game automatically deletes the image if you take a photo of the map.

"People sure are fast and many players just jumped from the tutorial to the game itself… And as expected, they aren't having a pleasant time."

'Being low level at the start of the game is making them pass through Hell because they can't do higher Level quests that involve hunting and they are pretty much being forced to hard labor through the start as I did...'

'But my case is better than theirs...'

"What is the best starting Village? And what is the best place for players with these stats and so on… It's interesting to see their opinions and reactions about the world."

"Especially the opinions of the people in regards to some of the higher Level starting points such as the Capital and… Resko."

"But it's good to hear that so far, no one has tried to go to Resko, but many players have tried going to harder areas and they immediately regretted it, thanks to this I probably won't have a big influx of players anytime soon."

'The players almost always instantly die and if they do, because they don't have a set spawn point, they are just going to spawn in some random place and probably die again.'

"It also gives me an insight into what happens if a HardCore player dies… They just lose their accounts, not even a Game over screen…"

"Hum… No, that isn't totally accurate, they say you'll be sent into a black world and you can leave at any time but if you do you can't come back…"

'There are many arguments for why this is so but one of the players already figure out.'

"If they stay in this black world and wait, they can be resurrected by a priest. And a player was lucky enough to receive such help from an NPC."

"This means that dying isn't game over for me, but it just raises the value of someone with healing abilities even more..."

'I'm satisfied, I learned a lot...'

"A lot of info is being shared and discovered by the community… I'll pass by here every time I log off and see what I can learn."

And so, Dale stayed in front of his computer, waiting for time to pass by…

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