Chapter 1: Ethereal

On a very peaceful sunny day, under the piercing scorching hot rays of the sun. Xeno can be seen lying on his armchair while staring out the window absent-mindedly.

While staring out the window and watching the students outside on their P.E class, he subconsciously said, "What a peaceful day-. I wonder when was the last time it was this peaceful- Argh!" He felt and sudden pain right on his head, knocking him out of his daydreaming.

Thud.. thud.. OW!!

A chalk can be seen falling from his head and quickly dropped on the ground.

"Xeno! Quit daydreaming around and stand on the corner of the classroom while holding both of your hands up NOW!" Xeno's Homeroom teacher yelled out at him.

Quickly getting out of his daze, Xeno then stood up while yawing and went to the corner while putting both his hands up. Clearly this isn't the first time he went through this.

"Kekeke, xeno's back at it again."

"How many times has it been? He really likes to daydream haha."

"Haha, What do you expect of our class's Stargazer!"

Xeno's classmates can be seen laughing and giggling out after seeing this. Can't blame them when this scene occurred everyday and they have gotten used to it to the point they call him "Stargazer" due to him constantly staring out the window during classes absent-mindedly.

While his classmates are laughing at him, Xeno poker-facingly looked at everyone like someone who doesn't really care about everything. But on the inside, the same can't be said otherwise.

"Tch, how is it my fault when class is very boring! I wanna go home quickly and login to Ethereal." He thought so bad when specially mentioning the name, Ethereal.

"Ethereal", the game which the World's best Virtual game company "UTOPIA" made blew up and shook both the gaming world and the rest of the world last month and even highly influenced the normal people to play it. You ask why? Well, this game is also widely known as the "Second Earth" as to why it is called that way is because this game is the World's first Exclusive Virtual Reality World—Future class generation. An endless open world which you can do basically whatever you want! On top of that, there exist things which human only their best of Fantasies can only think of, You guess right! The existence of otherworldly things such as goblins, large beasts, cyclops, dragons, mermaids, flying lands, and other mythical beings! Not only that but this world also has the thing which every gamer in the world want, MAGIC!

Aside from that, the game also has another world which is mostly only used by normal people, militaries and goverments all around the world. The Industrial and revolutionary world on which you can live on like the reality but with a better concept of the normal world from which we live in. Because in here you can freely do whatever you want with the use of the AIs! From enjoying your life on a beach paradise, to building inventions you want, conducting tests, military weapons, and many more without disturbing and polluting the surroundings while importantly being danger free! That's right! This is the reason why game suddenly became a norm on everyone's life, due to mainly one reason! To satisfy one's entertainments! You might think this is to good to be true and might want to stay in the game for the rest of your life, BUT! You can't literally just stay on the inside for a long time without taking care of the needs of your real body on the outside, right?

That's why you can mostly still see alot of people outside continuingly living their lives like the normal days. Working to earn for their needs and some saving their money to buy the "Gen X— LifeCapsule" which can make up to the disadvantage of playing "Ethereal" while having the need to constantly logging to take care of your body as this capsule which the company specifically made to make up of that for, Costs one's entire fortune! While it might be expensive but it's worth it for! Why you ask? Mainly one has to eat and take care of one's hygiene but with the Capsule you don't have to that as the Capsule is built for one's body needs with just one "Rejuvenation Tube" which you can last a month without having to eat while the Capsule takes care of your personal hygiene so that's why it is highly sought by everyone, but due to it having low stocks and very expensive. Not everybody can really afford to purchase it except for the Richest and the Governments all around the world.

Our dear Mc here, comes only from a mid tier class Family so thats why he only has a "Virtual Connector — Headgear" like the rest of the players.

Back to reality..

"Xeno, meet me at the office later! DON'T FORGET!", his Homeroom teacher yelled while going out.

Seeing this, Xeno just returned to his desk and pondered what excuse to make this time.

While he was still thinking of a reason, he felt a soft tap on his right shoulder.

"Hey, thinking about playing Ethereal aren't you? Haha, u need to take a break sometimes." Aurora chuckled.

This girl! She speaks like she doesn't play the game more than i do when she also uses the [Industrial world] for her "Other-worldly" fantasies.

"Not really, not as much as you do kekeke" Xeno replied to her.

"What do you mean! I don't!" Aurora furiously replied.

She never changed at all. Ever since we met when we were first kids, she always get mads whenever i say the truth. Well whatever it's kinda cute though, Xeno thought whilst looking at Aurora whose giving him the looks.

"Have you thought about it? Playing with me on the [Main world], it'll be quite fun i promise you." Xeno asked her.

"Fine! I will! Just make sure you don't get me killed. You know how i hate the feeling of dying.' Aurora replied seemingly annoyed.

"Keke, of course I won't let you die under my watch. But if you die by your own magic, well it's not my fault anymore." Xeno replied teasingly.

"You! Just you wait! I'll really kill you!" Aurora furiously replied.

...

They chattered like this for awhile before the next class started.

Xeno once again faced the window planning to daze off and not participate at class.

"Hmm.. i wonder if Aurora can handle the struggle of handling Mana at the start.. well whatever I'll just teach her anyways. And for the skills.. <Fire Ball> and <Heal> can do for early practice." Xeno pondered for awhile on how to start Aurora off in the Main World before dozing off.

Aurora was about to call Xeno when she saw him lying his head on his desk.

"Oh, he fell asleep. I'll ask about it to him later then", she looked at his sleeping face while pondering before smiling then turned around to listen to class.

..

Click.. WHOOSH-

WEEEEEE WOOOOOO! WEEEEE WOOOOOO!

"Xeno! Wake up! We have to get out of here right now!" A familiar voice calls out to him.

Crash! BOOOOM!

"Damn it! Get back to your senses child!" Another familiar deep voice called out.

Grr... ROAR!! GROWLL!!!

"Go! GO! They're coming! We have to leave fast! I'll carry him at my back don't worry!" The deep voice yelled.

Crash! BOOOOM!

...

GASP!

"Huff.. hf.. ha .. what was that!?"

Xeno woke up on his desk while desperately gasping for air and trying to make up for what he saw on his dreams.

While he was trying to remember what he saw on his dreams, he subconsciously looked around and saw that everyone on the classroom was looking at him with confused looks.

Aurora was the first one to ask, "Xeno, are you all alright? Are you sick? Do you need to go the nurse's office?" Worryingly asking.

He looked at aurora for awhile before calming down, then stood up to apologize for disturbing the class.

"Haha, our Stargazer had a nightmare how Awesome!" His classmate laughed with the rest of the class.

"Alright everyone quiet down, we need to continue with our class.. and you xeno! You need to start participating in class! Stop sleeping too much or your grades will continue to keep falling!' His subject teacher scolded.

Xeno smiled bitterly while apologizing one more time, then sat down on his desk while continuing to think about what just occured in his dream.

"What happened? Did you finally have nightmares because you keep dying over and over in the [Main World]?" Aurora giggled.

"Tch. Whatever, atleast im not a loser like you." Xeno sneered.

"How dare you! Im not bringing you to the snack bar later! Have fun!" Aurora scoffed.

"Alright, alright! You win! I'm sorry alright?! Tch." Xeno replied with an apologetic tone.

"XENO! STOP TALKING! You just disturbed my class and now you're disturbing me again? You never learned your lesson huh? Go stand at the corner with both your hands up!" His subject teacher yelled out furiously.

Xeno was startled by this for a second, then stood up and apologized again while going to the corner while having glaring at the laughing Aurora.

"Alright let's continue."

...

*BELL RINGS*

Chatter.. chatter..

"You joining me to my journey to the {Siren Land} later?"

"Nah i pass, it's too far plus it's too bothersome with all the high-class monsters on the way. Also the {Sirens} are very hard creatures to communicate with and is extremely agressive towards outsiders while adding to that they are also exaggeratingly hard to kill because of their innate talent on the waters so it's not really a worth trip."

"Right but their [Skill] orbs are also very good. Expect to automatically get very rich if you ever luckily come across one."

"I heard they also have an ugly percent chance to drop a [GOD CLASS] item which is extremely useful on both land and water environments. The so called <Neptune's Trident> "

"That's just a rumor, we never know lest someone shows up with the real one. You know alot of people have failed to kill even one {Siren} unless you work in groups with someone who is proficient in water Magic."

"It's the truth! I saw a <Neptune's Trident> getting auctioned at the official website! It's price reaching up to a few hundred-million WC!"

While at their back, xeno can be seen perking his ears up to listen to what they were talking about while lying his head down at his desk.

"Hmm.. the sirens.. should i also start hunting one too?" Xeno pondered for awhile before shaking his head.

Most of my skills haven't even reached their [MAX Proficiency] yet, so i should start working out with that slowly before hunting down high-class and above monsters. I have learned my lesson after dying lots of times to them, so im repeating my mistakes anymore!

Xeno thought with a proud look before returning back to normal, then rose up to pack up his things to return home.

He waited awhile for Aurora to return to head back home together.

Aurora returned back to the classroom after awhile, while chatting with her friends.

"Aurora! let's go eat!' Xeno happily said.

Aurora looked at him with an annoyed look, "No! You go alone!"

"Let's go!!!" Xeno said excitedly while wrapping his arms around her neck.

"Let go of me! ARGH! Fine, fine! Let's go." Aurora finally gave up.

She then got dragged by Xeno until the mood finally calmed down. But what they didn't know was that something dangerous is silently brewing at the dark.

..

Out far away from the Galaxy, in the deepest and isolated zone. Something out-of-the-ordinary was observing their planet, Earth.

"Sir, we have found a planet that seems to have shown some kind of abnormality." A strange-looking creature with a glowing magical horn on their forehead can be seen asking a beautiful looking young man with Magestic wings.

"Hmm.. show me the information about the planet and everything about it." The beautiful young man replied calmly.

The subordinate then sent him the details. After awhile of reading it, the eyes of the beautiful young man shone with a dangerous red light before fading away rightly after.

"Hmm.. the third planet on an average solar system located at the [Sento Starcluster] with a dominating specie called Humans.. their kind seems to be an averagely intelligent one but strangely have not yet touched the Elements of the universe, also it's neither a galactic civilization but just a normal one. While the abnormality shows that the Humans are not yet capable of using the elements of the universe but somehow able to through a [Virtual World]. Fully creating a different world. Due to that reason, their real body is evolving and adapting without their knowledge in order for their bodies to be able to manipulate mana in real life." The beautiful young man read the information.

"While them being in the dark about it, they'll eventually find out later on that they can actually use magic just like in their [Virtual World] due to their bodies slowly adapting to absorb and use the mana around them." The beautiful young man pondered for awhile before passing down orders to the subordinate.

"Proceed to send down a 'Seed' and a high level at that, I don't want risking to let them grow stronger and have another powerful competitor out here in the galaxy." The beautiful young man ordered.

"Sir they seem to be at a low-level civilization, are you sure? The subordinate asked with a low voice.

"Are you going against my authority? I said proceed!" The beautiful young man yelled out.

The subordinate then looked away fearfully while proceeding to send down a 'Seed' towards the peaceful looking Planet.

Humans.. I wonder if they can handle something out of their capabilities.. though I highly doubt that. Even if they had experiences on a [Virtual World], reality on hand is something totally different.

They haven't even touched the essence of mana, what more of defeating something that they haven't even handled or seen of before! As for the main reason, It's good to teach them a lesson that, it is Survival of the Fittest out here and only the Strong and capable will remain!

The beautiful young man had a proud and arrogant look on his face.

"Alright, everyone back to their work and monitor every direction for possible planets with thriving civilization." He said to the workers.

The young man looked at the blue planet one more time before shaking his head and proceeded to not bother about it anymore.

...