15 Welcome Home

A week passed after the trailer was released.

*World Message: Every user will now be logged out. The update will be implemented shortly after, which will take an estimated 24-hour downtime. Thank you for your patience.

[Logging Out.]

Every player in-game saw the same message. Although they could not play, everyone was excited. A huge company needing 24 hours to implement an update meant that the update was huge.

[Please head on to the game's website at GameGuild(dot)com/Immersion-Online/New-World-Overhaul for a full and descriptive log of the patch.]

Every player that got logged out forcefully instantly removed themselves from their virtual reality rig and moved to their desktops. They rushed to read the patch notes because they're all thirsty for information.

"Kazuma! It's time to eat!" A certain fat lady called.

"Wait! Mom, I have to read this!"

Kazuma, who was leveling his character with his party from the beginning of the game, was not an exception. He opened his web browser and typed the link that he burned in his retina.

"New World Overhaul. And enter!"

After he typed the link, he pressed enter and the page began to refresh. He waited for 3 seconds before he could see any change to the page but it felt like an eternity to him.

[502 Bad gateway.]

-Cloudflare-Nginx

That was all he could see when the website loaded.

"####"

In GameGuild's Public Relations Technical Team office, all web developers were sweatily typing their way at their keyboards.

"Are we getting DDoSed?" The guy that looked like a team leader asked.

(AN: Direct Denial of Service. It is when websites get attacked by bots to prevent actual traffic on the website.)

"No. Sir, there are simply too many players accessing the website at the same time!" A sweaty IT guy answered without looking at their team leader. His eyes were glued to his screen.

Due to the website being demolished by incoming traffic, the users took it upon themselves and started discussing within the forums.

-Dude! It's here!

-We know.

-I can't wait!

-STOP with the fesbook like comments. We need info!

-I agree. Anyone here had any luck accessing the website?

-My friend said he accessed it. He's making a post right now!

-I like trains.

-There are rare cases of chickens being born with a completely black feather coating. It's called melanism on all animals but you can try searching for 'Black cock' on woogle.

-I uploaded it just now! Check it out in the new tabs!

[New World Overhaul Patch Notes] a post by imFastAFboi.

*New World Overhaul. The game world is now a full virtual reality experience complete with minuscule physics changes. The realism is now down to a granular level.

-Does this mean that you can now mix and mash things?

-Woah. Imagine the upgrade they made on their supercomputer to achieve that level of detail.

*NPC Changelogs. Non-player characters are now fully fleshed out. The old AI system is now replaced by the new AI system that controls all of the NPCs in-game. This means that NPCs now affect the world just as much as the players.

*With it, comes the removal of all essential NPCs and a rework on the main story of the game.

-Woah!

-That is dope!

*Main Story Update. The story quest is now server progressive. That means that the story progresses for all players at the same time. Players, it is time to make your history your biography.

-What?

-I wonder what that means.

*Repeatable Quest changes. Repeatable quests will now be changed to Daily Quests. The System now creates suitable quests for certain topics

*Changes to Crafting System. Players with crafting jobs now have the option to personally craft their items. The System will judge the product's result and quality based on craftmanship and level correction. The instant production button still exists but the effects are slightly lowered.

-This is entirely a new game.

-Is this still Immersion Online?

*Changes to the leveling system. The formula for exp gain from before was that you could not gain experience from mobs that had 5 levels lower than your character. However, it has come to our attention that weak players could not progress. Therefore, we changed the entire system of experience acquisition.

-This! I've been waiting for this!

-I've been stuck at level 130 for a month now. This is good news.

*Finally. The Blood Moon Rises Seasonal Update.

[The Blood Moon rises and gives power to the accursed creatures of the night. The Vampires.]

*Further detail will unfold as the players unlock more of the story from the game. We hope that the players will have fun and at the same time enjoy the lore of the update.

-####!? Why aren't they giving more details?

-Dude, learn to read.

[The update aside. There's this crazy RP guy that has been "taking care" of Bob's Mom.] a post by giveMeDonuts.

*There's this player that has been staying inside a certain NPC's house for more than 3 months now. I saw him months ago when I just started playing the game, I'm no longer in Donut City, where the NPC is located, but my friend who recently joined the game saw him inside the house too!

*Attached Image

-Woah? Really?

-I don't know Rick.

-I heard he's been buying food ingredients to cook. But cooking never was an option in the game, right?

-Cooking is an option, however, it's just instantly cooking an item via pressing a button. Wait, the update will change that!

Bob became a topic in the forums once more. However, unlike the last post about him, this one did not garner too much attention. Most people were waiting for their turn to access the website.

"I'm heading out!"

Bob said to his mother, who did not reply as per usual.

Bob was going to the market to get some ingredients to cook. Although he never experienced hunger or thirst, not eating was unusual for him. This includes players themselves.

He grabbed a small basket and tied it to his back. After he finished tying it up, a chicken flew from the sofa and landed straight into the basket.

"I'll be back by dinner time!" Bob said as he looked at his mother.

Bob walked out the door and closed it behind him.

After Bob closed the door, the house became as silent as an anechoic chamber. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Within the house, a certain NPC was sitting still who slowly moved her mouth.

"Keep safe."

Bob couldn't hear it though, he was already outside.

"Sigh."

Bob sighed as he walked to the marketplace. He wished his mother would awaken like him but nothing he did worked. The only reaction he gets were scripted lines and silence.

He solemnly continued his walk in silence. Which was strange.

"Huh? Where is everyone?"

Bob looked around but could not see any adventurer around him. Everyone else was logged out of the game. Unlike everyone else, Bob could not be forced to log out as he was part of the game. The last time, the game only restricted access to the game world, technically he was still in the game.

However, this time, he did not have restricted access to the world. Players were only logged out and connection requests could not be established for 24 hours.

"Weird."

Bob did not care though. He liked it that the place became quiet.

Once Bob arrived at the marketplace, he could see the vendor he bought ingredients frequently from. He approached the man and waited for him to speak.

"What can I get ya?" The vendor with a blue apron said as he looked at Bob.

Bob did not speak. He waited for a prompt to pop-up on his screen just like it popped-up for the last 3 months.

But it didn't.

"Hey. Don't just space out in front of my stand, speak!" The vendor said to Bob with an agitated voice.

"?!?"

Bob could not believe that a non-player-character was able to speak just like a normal person. So Bob's reaction was to stare blankly at the vendor.

"THAT'S IT! BUY OR GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

"Wait wait!"

Bob woke up from his daziness.

"Give me a stack of dedleaf, half a stack of pericot, and a single salt rock from summoner's rift."

Bob said hurriedly. He did not want to further inconvenience the vendor.

"And?" The vendor asked.

"And?" Bob replied.

"And?" The vendor asked again.

"Ugh, how about one part feder legs?" Bob asked.

Bob was coaxed to buy more stuff.

"And?"

"That's all."

"You need that chicken all chopped up?" The vendor pointed at Bob's chicken.

Bob shook his head and distanced himself from the vendor who was holding a knife.

The vendor packed all of the ingredients Bob enunciated. Then offered it to Bob as he said.

"That'll be 1 gold and 50 silver."

Bob paid for the ingredients. The feder leg cost him 1 gold and the rest came to 50 silver. Bob could not complain though.

As Bob walked back home, he finally had the chance to think about what just happened. He took a quick look at all the remaining people within the marketplace.

"What the hell happened here?"

He observed the NPCs around him that were interacting with each other. They all had different expressions and their words were no longer static. Bob found it weird but after he noticed the difference, he bolted towards his mom's house.

'MOM!'

That was what filled his head as he ran.

"MOM!"

Bob screamed as he opened the door with speed.

THUD~

"Ouch." A voice exclaimed. It was not a mechanical voice.

When Bob realized what just happened, he saw his mother sprawled on the ground while holding her head. She got oofed by the sudden swing of the door.

"Mom!" Bob excitedly said.

"Oh." She replied while holding her head.

"Welcome home, son."