8 World Key

React!

-"WOAH!" --- SH: 7 + WN: 1 = 8

**-"..." --- SH: 13 + WN: 12 = 25

-*Clap*clap*clap* --- SH: 11 + WN: 2 = 13

-*Yawn...* --- SH: 9 + WN: 3 = 11

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"..."

"...Fine, you boring guy. Let's go in."

Chloe rolled her eyes and led Lucas inside the building.

They walked towards the reception desk and Chloe leaned on it as she talked to the receptionist lady.

"Lily, it's your shift today?"

"Chloe, yeah. Are you waiting for your father?"

As Chloe had been here often, it wasn't strange for her to befriend a staff or two.

Lucas looked at the receptionist lady in curiosity.

She had yellow blonde hair that was tied neatly onto a hairpin behind her head which looked neat and tidy. Her face was also quite beautiful as expected from a receptionist one would see the moment they enter.

Lily caught Lucas looking at her and smiled professionally.

"Is this your new boyfriend Chloe? He's quite handsome."

"Isn't he? Hehe. He's not my boyfriend yet though."

What do you mean 'yet'?

Lucas sighed and shook his head.

"I'm Lucas. Chloe's...friend? I guess."

Lucas was still unsure about their relationship. From his perspective...it's as if he's the one being courted at and not the other way around...which feels weird to him.

Anyway, now's not the time to focus on love life. There are more important things to do and Lucas didn't want to distract himself too much or get taken advantage of because of it.

That's why, for now...it was best that he remained only friends with Chloe...for now...maybe...

As Lucas kept thinking about this in his head as if to brainwash himself, Chloe spoke to Lily again.

"Can you give my father a ring? We're supposed to meet him today."

"Hm? With your 'not boyfriend yet'?"

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Just do it."

"Alright. Wait one moment."

Lily went to the side, pressed a few buttons on her laptop, then touched her earpiece on her left ear.

"Hello sir, this is Lily from the front desk. Your daughter is here for you along with a man named Lucas...I understand, I shall guide them then. Thank you very much."

With that, the call seemed to have ended as she turned back to Chloe and Lucas.

"Your father has directed me to lead you to him. Please come this way."

"Look at you, acting all professional."

"I'm still on the clock after all."

Lily smiled and didn't mind Chloe's teasing.

After instructing someone to take over the reception desk, she led Chloe and Lucas to an exclusive elevator.

She swiped her bracelet on the panel outside and the elevator door opened after a few seconds.

Lucas was curious so he looked at the bracelet on her wrist.

"Surprised? This bracelet is like a keycard other companies use. It's comfortable to wear and not so easy to lose as a keycard."

Lily explained.

"Hooh..."

"Hm? Isn't my father's office only on the 8th floor?"

Chloe saw Lily press the topmost 15th floor and was confused.

From what she knows, only the big boss of this company is there...are they supposed to meet that big boss too!?

"Yes. Sir Charles had instructed me to take you both to the top floor. We're here."

The elevator doors opened and Lily stood in between the corridor and the elevator. She bowed slightly.

"Please be on your way."

"...Thanks."

Chloe appeared nervous as well as she didn't expect to go here. As for Lucas, he was also nervous as he would finally know what was happening to him.

Is it a good thing? Or a bad thing?

Now that he's here...was going here the right decision or not?

As all sorts of thoughts went in their minds, they had unknowingly reached the office door on the other end of the corridor.

Chloe stabilized her breathing and knocked on the door calmly.

*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Ah! They're here!"

A voice could be heard from the other side of the door. The next moment, the door opened and revealed a middle-aged man with brown hair and brown eyes.

He looked at Chloe and Lucas as he smiled.

"Welcome! We've been waiting for you two! Come in!"

"Father, this place is..."

"Right. Let me introduce you guys."

Chloe's father, Charles, pointed at another man in the room seated on the couch while enjoying a cup of coffee.

The man had short black hair combed neatly and a rather muscular frame of body.

"This is the Big Boss of our IDEA Corp. The Chairman himself, Trask Forest!"

Trask smiled and bowed slightly as a curtsy.

"I am Trask. I've heard a lot about you two from Charles here. Come, sit. We have much to discuss."

Lucas and Chloe looked at each other before nodding and sitting on the couch opposite Trask.

Lucas looked at the man in front of him cautiously as he spoke.

"Sir, my name's Lucas...which I think you already know...but I was told you have some answers to...what happened to me?"

"That's right. Hmm, shall we start from the beginning then?"

Trask thought for a moment and nodded to himself as he began his story.

"Let me start with this then. I am from the future."

"...Huh?"

Both Lucas and Chloe answered in confusion.

Chloe turned to her father as if to confirm he wasn't joking. Instead, she was even more shocked when he answered.

"Actually, I'm from the future as well."

"...HAH!?"

Charles smiled wryly when he saw her daughter's expression. He turned to Trask who then nodded as he continued to explain.

"You see, years from now, our world...or rather, this planet Earth will welcome some...shall we say, uninvited guests from another world."

"...What, like aliens?"

"Yes, well, that too."

"...Too?"

Lucas and Chloe frowned but didn't interfere again with his story.

His story went like this.

Years from now, beings from other worlds and planets would invade Earth one by one.

Earthlings were helpless against their powers, technology, and monstrosity.

Soon, it was only a matter of time before Earth falls apart, and Earthlings could only succumb to their fates. In no time at all, they were all forced at the bottom of the food chain in this wide universe.

They were powerless.

Because they didn't have what the others had. A World Key.

No one knows where the World Keys come from or who made them. They only know that they existed in the countless worlds and planets in the universe.

At first, the Earthlings tried to look for a World Key in Earth to gain a chance to fight back or at the very least, escape.

However, it was useless. They were nearly wiped out before they could find it.

After a long time, a World Key in Earth was found buried deep beneath the earth. But it wasn't Earthlings who found it, but people from another world.

Just as all hope seems lost, a genius managed to make something unbelievable at the brink of his death.

A time machine!

Although the genius made the time machine, it could only be used once to send 5 people into the past.

The genius chose five people to carry out his plan. They were to travel back in time, get the World Key from the location they already know of, and use it to strengthen the people of Earth.

However, they also knew that various political powers would be corrupted with this power. This was something they knew and experience already as it happened to the various otherworlders and aliens who invaded them.

They wanted to survive and win against them, not become like them.

And so the genius had a bold idea.

"Let's make a game!"

The genius made a device. A device that can harness the power of a World Key to send a person's thoughts and consciousness to another world.

That was World Gate Online.

The interface that everyone could see was something made by them as well in order to monitor and accurately measure a person's strength. However, the world itself was completely real.

And since it was real, it was normal for it to have a World Key or two as well.

And also because it's real, everything they learned in that world...the skills they had gotten...they could all be used in reality!

But how come no one has noticed it?

Well, it was because of a limiter placed in the Portal. It temporarily locks away these powers when they log out and releases them when they log in. If one forcibly removes the Portal while logged in, it also locks the powers away as a safety mechanism.

It isn't that it completely removes their powers and skills. It was more like it is forcing their brains to 'forget' how to use it. There's a more complex and complicated explanation for it but they didn't quite understand the genius' explanation themselves.

Naturally, as the people who placed these limitations, they have a way to unlock it remotely so they can do so if the invaders were to come back.

For example.

Trask took out a tablet and tapped on it.

Suddenly, Chloe stood up with wide eyes as if in shock.

Then, she started to flip and do some crazy moves which Lucas only saw as a blur.

However, her figure overlapped with the Bullet Goddess that Lucas had seen in the videos...

"This...I can use it! I can use my game character skills!?"

Lucas' jaw dropped to the ground.

"Wait, I'm confused...then what about the werebeasts with special racial abilities like the spider tribe's webbing? Are they supposed to shoot webs from their wrists or something?"

"No, racial abilities aren't included. Why do you think Skills and Racial Abilities were separated in the status screen even though they are all basically 'skills' as well?"

"...Come to think of it, my hearing's not quite the same as in the game..."

Chloe frowned when she closed her eyes and tried to test her hearing.

Lucas then pointed at himself.

"What about me? Why do I look like this?"

"Well, it should be because of the World Key. You see, a World Key can only be bound to a single person. It won't accept that a mere thought or consciousness is its user so it had merged your body with the game avatar...well, I'm also confused as well. These are only things that the genius told us 'might' happen."

Charles shrugged.

"Where is this genius then?"

"He's dead. He died after explaining everything and making everything possible for us...all for the sake of a new world."

"...I see."

Lucas sighed.

From the way things are, it seems it was impossible to return to normal.

And he can't even throw this World Key away...He already tried giving it to them but it always returned to his hands as soon as it leaves him.

"The only way to pass the World Key is for its user to die."

And Lucas very much didn't want to die...

"So...now what?"

"Now...you play the game."

"...Huh?"

Trask smiled.

"No need to worry. As long as you enter Harus through the Portal device, even if you die, you won't die. Of course, it's a different story if you used the World Key to go to that world."

"That's right. The invaders would only appear after 10 more years so until then, get stronger. As strong as you can be. Or all else will be lost."

"..."

Lucas and Chloe looked at each other and chuckled bitterly.

Somehow...a VR game had now turned into a life or death situation...

Although they weren't trapped in the game world and if they died in-game, they won't die in reality...the stakes were pretty much the same.

If Lucas wanted to live peacefully, he has to get stronger...or he would be the first to die once the invaders arrive.

After all, he has a World Key. His death is most likely the top priority of the invaders...

Trask laughed when he saw their reaction.

"Come, let me show you something."

Lucas and Chloe followed behind him into a secret door in the office.

To think that he even has a secret door...is he secretly Batman or something?

The secret door led to another elevator. This time, it continued to go down way past 15 floors as if descended beneath the earth.

After a while, the elevator door opened.

They saw a wide room with a cylinder in the middle filled with medicinal fluids.

In that cylinder was a woman.

"That's...the Goddess at the start of the game!?"

"Yes, this is Hara."

Trask introduced her.

"She, like us, also came from the future as one of the five that were sent to the past. After finding the World Key, it bound to her and no longer able to let go of it."

Trask sighed as he looked at Hara who had her eyes closed at all times.

"This was her role. To serve as the 'Main Server' of the game...this equipment lets us harness the power of her World Key to send the thoughts and consciousness of the players in the world of Harus through the Portal devices. She also acts as a guide to the players who first started playing. Saying that she's a Goddess or whatnot is just for the game background. Occasionally, she mixes things up a little to entertain herself."

Trask chuckled then turned back to Lucas and Chloe.

"She would sometimes appear in the world when she likes to so if you see her, make sure to entertain her properly alright? She's already sacrificed a lot."

"I understand."

"Un."

Lucas and Chloe nodded then looked back at the woman again as they sighed in their hearts.

"Lucas."

Suddenly, Trask called out in a serious tone.

"As a holder of the World Key, although I will not force you, even if you like to or not, in the future, you will need to hold the responsibility of a World Key holder."

Trask looked at Hara then continued.

"This is her responsibility. As for your responsibility...it will depend on your future actions."

He looked at Lucas in the eye.

"I hope you won't let or world down..."

Lucas swallowed a mouthful of saliva, nervous with all the responsibility that came with the key.

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Answer! (Poll ends in 2 days)

-"...I understand."

-"Don't worry. I won't let the world down!"

-"...Although I'm not sure about the world, I will definitely protect those I care about."

-"..."