End of First Day

"Great! I know one of the best pubs back in Morningwood town. We can grab some drinks and eat before calling it." She replied while smiling, happy about my agreement to come with her.

We made our way back to Morningwood town and entered the pub Ellie suggested. It was a nice looking pub with a spacious interior and clean tables and chairs. It was pretty packed as we got there. Both players and NPCs occupied the seats, chatting about what not.

Ellie and I found a table for two, luckily, and took our seats. An NPC waitress came shortly after to attend to us. She greeted us warmly, brought two glasses of water and handed us the menu. I applauded the realism of the pub once more in my head.

"So Ellie, how old are you if I may ask?" I asked curiously while glancing at the menu.

"Oh, that's a surprising question. I'm 17, what about you?" she said, looking at me.

"I'm the same age as you. I was just curious, that's why I asked. After all, you may have been well over 30 for all I know." I chuckled, intending to make a joke.

"What do you mean? 30? I'm 17 though." Ellie replied, looking extremely confused

Right, she's a damn NPC Tristan, she doesn't have a sense of humor even though she seems so real, get it into your head.

"Ah… never mind. So, what do you usually get in here?" I said, intending to change the topic.

"Hmm…I usually get butterbeer with a chicken sandwich. They're both pretty good, I would actually recommend them since you're here. You should try it." Ellie said while taking a sip of her water and crossing her legs.

"I'll probably just get that then." I said as I dropped the menu.

We continued to chat, learning more about each other as we ordered food and ate. Apparently, Ellie is an orphan and grew up in the local church orphanage. She started leveling up once the game was released.

According to her, that was when her system first appeared which was interesting to say the least. She also said that she was the only one who wanted to venture outside and level up amongst everyone else she asked to accompany her.

It wasn't surprising to me though, Ellie is definitely an outlier amongst NPCs. She was way more curious than regular NPCs from what I had seen so far.

She asked me a lot of questions ranging from where I came from to my family background and school history. I found out that we had a lot of things in common, which was a bit...strange.

I never thought I could share something in common with a freaking NPC. I gotta give it to Altered Reality, this game is ridiculously realistic. We both lost ourselves in the conversation and lost track of time; I found her pretty interesting and fun to talk to. Talking to her was…refreshing.

"Ah, Ellie. I should get going, it's pretty late and I didn't even realize." I said while looking at the time. It was already 10pm. I was a bit baffled by it, I didn't think we spent that long talking.

"Oh...alright. Can we do some quests tomorrow though?" She asked, a bit bummed that I was leaving.

I smiled at her cuteness. "Yeah for sure, just let me know. I didn't do that much stuff today. I kinda have to grind the game seriously starting tomorrow. I plan on making a guild with my siblings. We want to explore the game together."

"Wow! Really? Can I join? Please?!" Ellie suddenly exclaimed, which startled me a bit.

I thought about it for a moment. Ellie was a pretty good fighter to be honest. Our synergy was excellent, her synchro rate was godly and she was fun to be around. She would definitely be an excellent guild member.

"Yeah for sure. Then, we should probably just play together from now on. It's more fun and convenient too." I replied.

"Yes! Definitely!" She stood up and pumped her fists in the air.

I laughed at her antics, she was really relaxing to be around. Ellie quickly sat down, realizing that everyone in the pub was now staring at her.

She looked towards her feet and blushed in embarrassment. The whole thing just made it funnier to me. This was an excellent start to [Transcendent] for me; my day felt complete.

"Alright Ellie, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." I snapped her out of her embarrassment and said while standing up.

"Goodnight Tristan! See you tomorrow." She returned the farewell.

I smiled, waved and walked out of the pub. I tried to log out, but the game said that I needed to be in a room to log out. I quickly made my way to the nearest free inn, booked a room and logged out.

~.~.~

POV | Ellie Vault

As I laid down on my bed in my room, I couldn't help but smile. My day was amazing! I finally managed to get stronger by leveling up and made a new friend! He was very handsome and was quite charming to talk to. I've never seen a boy with such beautiful eyes.

They were entrancing to look at…I felt as if I was losing awareness of everything around me as I looked at them. His voice was soothing and intoxicating, like a drug that makes a person feel serene …..what is this feeling? Is this attraction?

This feeling is rather ….strange. I've never felt 'attracted' to boys before, even when they asked me out on dates in the past. I wouldn't mind if Tristan was the one who asked though. Ah! What am I thinking? We literally just met… sigh…these foreign emotions are annoying.

I can't wait for tomorrow though, Tristan and I are going on our first adventure! I giggled as I yawned and closed my eyes, eagerly awaiting the light of tomorrow…

~.~.~

POV | Tristan Vinter

As I exited the game, I pondered on what to do before I went to bed. I decided on checking the game forums, I was curious to hear about other players' first day game experiences so I asked Ava to display [Transcendent] forums on a hologram and once she did, I started to read.

The feedback from the first day was entirely positive. Everyone liked the mechanics and realism of the game. There were even a few people who went to brothels to try out the realism of the workers.

'As expected of the player base.' I chuckled as I continued to read the forums.

As of now, there hasn't been a world-wide announcement so I assume no one has gotten any high grade classes or equipment or done anything major, which is understandable.

After all, according to Altered Reality, the probability of any one player finding a divine grade class was as low as 0.1%.

And that's just finding the class, not passing any possible tests associated with it so one can only imagine the difficulty of obtaining classes of Legendary rank and above.

It would be a dream to get such a class though, it would make my [Transcendent] journey infinitely more interesting, difficult, and legend worthy.

When I play VR games, I like to play in a thrilling manner. For me, that means slaying ridiculously powerful beasts and bosses, leveling up with friends, becoming famous and making my name a legend alongside my friends.

Playing solo or avoiding the spotlight doesn't interest me that much; for me, those things make gaming infinitely more boring, though I still respect all forms of players.

In previous VR games, Valerie, Lukas, and I always played in the manner I enjoy because that was how they liked playing too. Though we've never been top 30 players, we've consistently been amongst the top 50 best players in any VR game we played.

Our guild, [♱Trinity], has been a top 10 guild consistently in any VR game we've played and that's largely because of our wits, teamwork, and resources from our parents. We consistently made good choices, allied with the right guilds, and recruited the best players.

I don't mean to sound arrogant or privileged, but I was blessed to be adopted into a wealthy household. Our parents, Seth and Nadine Vinter, own 2 multi-trillion dollar companies. One specializes in cyber security and networking while the other is a very famous fashion franchise named Cerise.

They have been [♱Trinity]'s primary investors. I'm extremely grateful to have been adopted to such a lovely household. Because of them, I was able to develop into who I am today. I always try to do my best in everything, so as to repay them in any possible way. I like making them proud of us.

Also, like I thought, the player base is mostly at level 4. The leveling speed for this game is a lot slower than others. But, this is definitely good for me. I'm currently level 9, so it's good to see that I still hold the level advantage.

The elite players are probably around level 7, though I'm pretty sure those monstrous and star players are around my level, if not higher. I definitely can't relax, I gotta start questing tomorrow.

I told Ava to turn off the hologram, turn off the lights and turn on the night lights. I soon drifted to sleep after a few minutes, excited at what the future held in its magnificent hands.

I have a feeling [Transcendent] is going to be different for me...