3 Hey! That's me!
"Alright. That's the final boss for this dungeon." A warrior said towards his partner in-game. He was wearing armor that did not properly fit his aesthetics.
"Okay. Let's go for the next one then?" A quaint voice replied to the warrior's statement, asking for another dungeon run. It came from a mage wearing a robe that had a duck as an insignia.
The warrior shook his head, he did not want to get caught to be playing past bedtime or his mother is going to give him a good spanking.
"Come on. Just one more run?" The duck mage asked him once more.
"I can't. It's almost 10 p.m. here. I have to get to bed soon." The warrior said with a denying tone.
The warrior was adamant verbally, but he was walking towards another dungeon's entrance. His body followed what he wanted but he denies that he wanted to do it.
"Since we're already here. Why don't we just do one more?" He said reluctantly. It was a stark contrast to his body language that screamed excitement.
"That's more like it." She exclaimed. However, she did not realize that her insistence would cause the warrior to be grounded for a week.
They went inside the next dungeon and started farming. Not planting plants and stuff but killing monsters and gaining loot. Don't ask me, it's just called farming.
"Hello? Why'd you stop?" She asked her warrior friend as he was standing like an idiot for a few seconds.
*Your friend Gyomchi has disconnected. [timed-out]
"Oh no."
The mage was left by herself within the dungeon as her friend suddenly disconnected.
She took a moment to think and realize that her warrior friend probably got caught by his parents playing past bedtime. So being left by herself, she decided to also stop there for the day.
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Logging out.
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Her body became a pale blue light and then vanished. She has officially logged out of the game while ignorant of the fact that her friend wouldn't log in for the next week. But what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Except for the fact that she'll think he was ignoring her.
The body that was just standing a while ago was not a real body. It was only a reflection from somewhere else within the database. The game has just stopped loading her character information but her information was still within the game.
And within that database was Bob.
"Woah."
Bob exclaimed as he has never seen this place before, not that he has seen a lot in his life as an NPC. He was always stationary, standing in one place without doing anything else.
He was within an abstract place that had buildings but was incomplete. The sky was lit but it was not morning. Most importantly, people existed in this place but they were standing still.
"What is this place?" He asked his chicken that he thought was in his embrace.
His chicken was not with him, however.
"Wait. What?"
He was confused that he was aware of himself even without his chicken, but after wracking his pea-sized brain, he could not come to a conclusion.
"Why am I here again?" He had a dumb look on his face as he looked around.
So he just decided to switch topics by himself. He looked around and he still could not understand anything.
"I have no idea why these people are stiff as hell."
There were people inside the space, just like him. The only difference between him and everyone else is that he was the only one moving around. And the fact that these people were wearing clothes and armor, unlike Bob who was wearing rags.
"Hmm. This one looks like a mage and this one is a warrior. But why is this mage wearing a duck?"
He curated the unmoving bodies because there was nothing else to do. He continued doing this for half an hour before he got bored.
And then a brilliant idea flashed in his mind.
"I can lift people's skirts and they wouldn't react!"
It was a dubious idea. Bob's character was not supposed to have nasty thoughts. He was evolving.
After sating his curiosity, he said a few words that every man gets enlightened with.
"I don't wanna be horny anymore. I just want to be happy."
Bob's character was growing but nobody knows whether that was part of his programming or not.
"Hmm. Maybe I can take this guy's armor?"
He tried experimenting. He was now certain that these were not people at all, he doesn't know that he isn't one either.
After a few hours, Bob got tired. So he slept. It was weird that he was able to sleep even though there were people that were listless before him.
He doesn't know how long he has been sleeping like a baby. He could not tell the time within this place as the sun's existence itself was questionable.
The thought that he may stay here forever struck him and he fell into devastation. Though his devastation was short-lived because he found new things to look at.
"Wow. Even monsters are not moving here. Amazing!"
Bob was standing before large monsters. He was familiar with the ones that were smaller than him even though he could not recall ever meeting any of them. He was programmed after all.
He continued his stroll with a light heart. His devastation from earlier was fleeting and now he found a new joy, just like a child that gifted a new toy. And soon enough -
"What the hell?"
He found himself within the NPC section. He found a listless person that looked just like him and was wearing the same rags that he was.
"Is this .... Me?"
Bob asked himself. He touched the unmoving Bob on the face. It did not react just like everything else within the place he was in. He poked its nose.
"Pfft. How stupid you loo-"
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The 24-hour ban on your account has been lifted.
Logging in.
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Bob was suddenly moved to another abstract place.
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Guest Accounts can only play for less than 24-hours.
Your account is unregistered.
Register?
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Vitals: Normal
Iris scanning: Black: Unregistered
Finger Geometry: Unregistered
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Account registered under your biometrics.
Would you like to continue using your current progress?
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"Yes?"
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Please enjoy Immersion Online.
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Bob was bombarded with words that he could not understand. But he didn't have the time to think about anything as his vision was suddenly filled with sceneries. There was a cow milking a man. A bunny on a stick and the lush greenery took over the void.
He was teleported back to Bagel Village. A village he was familiar with as he spent his entire life in it. It was a place full of hope and noobs. Perhaps he should take some time to tell everyone else that he just came back from a strange place.
"I should go home first." Bob thought out loud.
"Cluck." The chicken was still strapped on his back.
"Oh. There you are!"
Bob walked towards his barn. He was still confused about what he just experienced but there was nothing he could do about it. There's only so much his undeveloped brain could understand.
So he just went back home.
Only to find that another Bob was standing where he was supposed to be.
"Wat. Oh? Hey! That's me!"
These are confusing times.
"Hello?"
Bob tried talking to his clone. It was not the first time he found a clone of himself so he did not think it was weird.
"Hello, Adventurer! Welcome to the village of Bagel, the beginner village." The clone replied cheerfully.
But wouldn't you think it would be weird if that person who greeted you was another you? Yea, Bob thought so too.
"I need your help, Adventurer. Please help me find my chicken. I will reward you kindly for your efforts."
"I will be ever so grateful should you find my chicken, mighty Adventurer."
"The village inn is right that way. Send Greg, the innkeeper my regards."
The sentences he just heard from his clone was all too familiar. He had a vision of this when he was in the volcanic wastelands. Bob was creeped out by an uncanny feeling, but let's be honest, who wouldn't be feeling icky after this.
Bob, with a chicken strapped on his back, walked away. He could not bear to hear any more of his clone's words. Those words were his, and he repeated those countless of times. But now, it is no longer him but another.
"I lost my place."
Bob had a simple mind. He could not fathom that he was made from data. What he does know was that he no longer had a place to belong to. He has now become a hobo, just like every adventurer in the game.
"If I'm now an adventurer. Then I shall follow what they do!"
Bob did not lose hope. He was a buffoon but he did not like being useless.
"Off to the outskirts, I shall go!"
