1 Intro

Twilight Orbit was the most popular game in the entire galaxy. One could rather say that it was a second world inhabited by the human civilization. There were few who had not entered this unique immersive world since the past century, that had gone from strengths to strengths.

Unlike computer games, and even virtual reality or augmented reality games, Twilight Orbit only needed a registration with the Gradient Corporation and then registration at a specific machine which looked like an orb at any of Gradient's offices. Then with a will of the mind, one could simply be transported to the world of Twilight Orbit, body and everything, not just a virtual simulation.

It was an incredible technology discovered a century ago called quantum resonance, and even today was the subject of intense research.

On a simple mining planet of Rust, a poor seventeen year old boy who had spent his orphaned life as a laborer had finally turned of age to enter Twilight Orbit. Eighteen. One could not enter the game before turning into an adult.

The young man named Will was a simple person. His life had been monotonous and hard, one filled with poverty and menial labor. He had heard that Twilight Echo was a place where anyone could make it big, however, a poor person like himself had no idea about games.

Today, he went to the small sub office of Gradient Corp. in his city to register himself so he could 'transport' himself into Twilight Orbit and start a new life. He quietly lined up like the others, and registered himself, touching the orb which glowed and a ray of black light entered his body, signifying that he had been registered.

Returning to his little shack in the slums, he closed the door, taking a deep breath. Today Will would take the first leap. Quietly closing his eyes, he thought within his mind the one thought of going to the world Twilight Orbit.

Suddenly, Will was urged to open his eyes and found himself in a tunnel whose walls were glowing with a rapidly changing technicolor rainbow like a disco.

[Welcome to Mordia!]

[Choose your starting race.]

Will saw that there were all kinds of race options, from humans, to elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, spectres and all kinds of humanoid species. The species would determine where he was likely to spawn. Will only knew that Twilight Orbit was absolutely realistic and so he decided to choose being a human because he was a human.

Then the tunnel began elongating and disappeared with a bright glow. When the whiteness over his vision subsided, Will had appeared as himself in a very simple outfit inside a village.

[Welcome to Yellow Leaf Village, a beginner village.]

[Set your name.]

Will set his name as Black Sky. A kind of chuuni name, but he had thought about this name for a long time before he had even joined the game.

He found that this world was real, his body was his own and everything was the same, but this world was very lush and the town he was in was a medieval small town. There were all kinds of people running about doing quests.

He saw that he had no money at all, nor any way to sustain himself. This was a real world, he had to eat for sustenance. After walking around for a bit, Will found a guard standing on the cobbled path. He walked to the guard to initiate a conversation.

"Hello sir." Will said seriously.

The guard looked at the boy in rags and his face had a hint of pity in them.

"Kid, you seem to be new to the village. There are very few jobs available here and looking at you, you are too weak to do much."

Will nodded. "Sir, I just arrived to yellow leaf village. I wonder if there is a way I can earn food."

The guard nodded. "Some of the outer walls have been damaged by the beasts in the wild. Go to the elder and collect the masonry equipment and try to fix the wall. He will give you food for the day and a copper."

Will nodded and went to the elder who looked at him curiously, before giving him the tools which he took and walked to the designated spots to repair the makeshift wall. When other players saw this they shook their head.

"Another idiot falls for these pit like quests." Someone shook their head as they ran around.

Will heard them, but he really had no choice as he had no skills or money.

[Black Sky]

[Human Level 0]

He had no skill or anything, however, back at home he was a laborer and knew to do these jobs, so he didn't hesitate.

He spent a few hours applying the cement and plugging in bricks into the damaged holes, fixing the damaged portions of the walls. His body was covered in grime and sweat and he was feeling hungry, but he was used to this feeling.

Eventually, after being done, he walked to the elder to hand over the tools.

"Elder, I have finished fixing the wall around the village."

The Elder inspected the walls and nodded. "Good job. Come inside and have a meal prepared by my wife."

Will was hungry, so he nodded and followed the elder, while other players laughed at him. Inside, he quietly had the very simple food that had been provided. It was extremely real and Will wondered if this was really a simulation. The only difference seemed that if killed he could respawn but everything, hunger, his body, the NPCs felt real.

After eating the very simple gruel, he felt full and even freshened a bit. The Elder had a smile on his face.

"Kid, I've seen many new travellers like you, but you are a hard worker. I have a job for you, are you interested?" The Elder asked.

Will agreed immediately.

"Our village is small with no cleaners and often we have volcanic dust settling on our village. Will you help by cleaning the village?"

An hour later, other beginner players were face palming as they saw an ignorant player sweeping away the large amounts of brownish red dust that had collected around the roads with a broom.

"Look at that idiot. Hey man, didn't you read the guide? Don't waste your time on these stupid quests, loan a weapon and go kill monsters!" A passerby mocked. "This beginner village just uses you for cheap manual labor."

Will was a little stunned. He wondered if he was wasting his time. He had not checked out any guides and hadn't been a gamer. He shook his head and discarded the players advice. He remembered the news articles he had read about the game which said each person had their own path.

Afternoon had turned to evening, when Will finished cleaning up the village. He found that the volcanic dust could actually be gathered within his inventory, so he did the same as he cleaned. Twenty of his thirty slots had been filled with volcanic dust. Each slot could hold 20 stacks.

He walked back to the Elder to report. The Elder was happier to see Will. "Good job. Thank you for helping clean the village. As thanks, I'll let you have meal at my place."

Will had a good dinner and he felt satisfied. Life in this world didn't seem too different from his own laborer life back on planet Rust.

The Elder looked at Will and smiled as he saw him eating with gusto.

"Our village is small and poor. However, thanks to travlers like you who come to our village, we are able to occassionally get help. Most of your group don't like to help us, but your intentions seemed poor.

Our village doesn't have too much, but if you go to Vince's house, you can sell him the volcanic soil you cleaned up. He is a glass blower and uses the soil to create glass utensils for us." The Elder helpfully commented.

Will thanked the Elder and decided to go to Vince's house next but the Elder stopped him. "Don't go outside the village at night."

Will nodded and made his way through the small village to a decent house that belonged to Vince, the glass blower. His workshop was right outside his house and Will could clearly see the man still working hard.

He quietly walked into the workshop and observed the glass blower. Vince finished his glass and then turned to look at Will who was patiently waiting.

"What is it kid? Do you wish to purchase some of my glassware? I have a few potion and juice containers for sale." Vince said nonchalantly.

"Hello. The Village Elder sent me here. He told me you were in need of the volcanic soil that gathers around the village." Will said.

Vince's face glowed. "Oh, I did see you cleaning the village paths today. Yes, how much soil do you have? I'll take all of it, a copper a stack."

"I have collected 400 stacks of volcanic soil." Will replied.

Hearing that Vince frowned. "I don't have 400 coppers on me. How about this, I'll let you have this item I accidentally made, it is actually a pretty interesting item. You can take 10 of these."

[Prince Rupert's Drop. An accidental glass creation due to poor heating has turned the glass into an exploding weapon.]

Will's eyes glowed and he collected the ten ball shaped glass objects and put them in his storage.

Vince was happy to get the soil in exchange for the waste products and found Will to be more pleasing to the eye.

"Kid, you're new to the town right? There's no inn in the village. If you want, you can sleep inside my workshop for tonight. Consider it a bonus." Vince said.

Will smiled and nodded. He was considering returning back to Rust to sleep, but he kept the thought on hold.