Chapter 2: Infinite World

Infinite World was released one year ago. One billion or more VR consoles had sold. Half of the population registered an account in Infinite World, making it the most played game ever on the record. Unlike other games, players can only own one account. As a consequence, the in-game currency skyrocketed in value.

Fortunately, Infinite World did not ban players from trading game materials in third-party, allowing them to trade real currency for in-game goods between players.

The game's popularity was due to how realistic it feels, particularly the NPC interactions are on par with real-life experience. Players can join an NPC organization to contribute, become mercenaries, or wander around planets to planets aimlessly. There was no 'correct' way to level up, just like in real life, giving the players a sense of freedom. Hence, some players can become the shopkeeper just like any other NPC if they wanted to, the NPC can even buy from them.

Although players get some exclusive benefits, like a farm in a dimension space unlock at level 50 to collect materials. However, the materials cannot be sold to NPC and only on the player market.

Since the game is soaring in popularity, players' competitiveness also increases. Organizations start recruiting pro players to create a team or sponsor a solo player for Arena Battle. By investing in their players, organizations can get fame and profits in return by selling their merchandise.

Valuable in-game goods made many people quit their job and invest all their time in the game. The rarity determines the item's grading: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, and Legendary. One unique item's starting price is at least ten thousand dollars. If a person finds Unique items, they will be living in comfort for several months to years. If a person found a Legendary grade item, at the minimum, they can buy a pricy sports car and live in comfort. Although, the chance to find a Unique item is nearly impossible, not to mention the Legendary grade.

Players can make a few hundred bucks by selling rare items. Most players go after the rare items because they have decent stats and are affordable. the drop rate for Rare items stated on online forums are 0.01%

Common-grade items are worthless and uncommon can only be sold for a couple of bucks if only it's got good stats. Anyone rarely buys them with real money.

So far, 38 Unique items discovered in a year. Legendary? not a chance.

[Author notes: Common 90% Drop/ Uncommon 10% Drop/Rare 0.01% Drop/Unique 0.000001%/Legendary ??? Billion of players but none obtained.]

---

One hour later, after Yunee and Inoria finished all their dailies.

Yunee opens up her daily reward boxes.

[You have acquired]

Upgrade Scrolls (Uncommon) x20

Basic Dagger (Common) x1

Basic Wand (Common) x1

Mechanic Scraps (Uncommon) x2

Large HP Potion x10

Large MP Potion x10

Monster Meat (Uncommon) x5

'Ah... nothing good today.' Yunee sighs inwardly, then she opens up her stats interface.

[Status Information]

Name: Yukee

Level: 62 (270,808/504,160)

Class: Assassin (Shadow Swift)

HP: 5318

Mana: 2500

Strength: 183

-Increases the user hp and base defense

Agility: 380

-Increases user critical chance and critical damage.

Intelligence: 94

-Increases the user mana and magic attack

Luck: 50

Stamina: 781/1000

[Equipped Equipment]

Fury Fire Enhanced Dagger (+9) (rare)

Fire Sharpened Dagger (+8) (rare)

Lightweight Enhanced Chestplate (+8) (rare)

Lightweight Enhanced Pant (+8) (rare)

Lightweight Enhanced Boots (+8) (rare)

Bonus:

Lightweight Enhanced set 3/3

+10 to all attributes

+10% Crit Chance

+20% Crit Damage

'Thanks to Inoria giving me some rare gears, I might've gone around with uncommon gears,' Yunee thought while feeling grateful.

Yunee turned to look at Inoria, who seemed to be in a daze.

"Hey Inoria, what do you plan to do after this?" Yunee asked.

"Hmm, I just got an invitation from the guild leader who said they found a dungeon. Do you want to join them?" Inoria replied.

"Sure, let's join them!"

While on the way to the dungeon, Yunee's mind wanders back in time, where she just started the game after the beta ended.

---

January 25, 2041.

Infinite World finally opened its massive server for all of the people to connect. People are making memes, counting the accounts registering numbers on a video, and sharing their first experience in the game.

"Infinite World shockingly exceeded 2 billion players accounts registered in just 12 hours!" The lady exclaimed on a Youtube video.

Yunee turned off the video. She finally got home from school, excitedly opened the door, and ran to her room. She couldn't wait anymore and quickly undressed and immediately got in her comfortable clothes.

'FINALLY, I CAN PLAY!' Yunee sat down in her VR console and set up the straps, which took her 3 minutes to set up everything.

[Loading...]

[Welcome to Infinite World]

[Character Creation]

[Gender: Male/Female]

Yunee gazes at the options for a while. She never played a male character in other games before.

Her curiosity was at its peak, 'What if I... act like a guy in this game, hehehe... I'm a trap.' [Author's Explain: trap meaning a person act as their opposite gender in the game]

[Male]

[Character Customization]

'HAHAHA, I will make myself the most handsome man in the world!' Eagerly, Yunee loses track of time sifting through character customization.

Thirty minutes later, Yunee is finally pleased with her customization and named her character Yukee. The game assigns players their unique identification number(UID). Therefore players can have the same name as others.

At that time, Yunee forgot about the extra benefits of having a partner as a couple for farming materials. Albeit, Yunee could've coupled up with another female player. However, she originally planned to act as a man in this game, and she didn't want to lie to them. Furthermore, most male players prefer to partner up with a female avatar. Therefore, Yunee decided to stay single.

One month later

Yunee's fame rose quickly because of her skills. She can predict and dodge the monster attacks and do half of the party attack damage in most dungeons. In addition, she ended up carrying many new players. In return, many players admire her.

Due to her popularity, she could not stay off the radar for long. Female players proposed a partnership with Yunee every single day, but she refused all of their proposals. In their mind, she was just too handsome and skilled in combat. But, she couldn't imagine the face they would make if she were to expose her actual gender. Though, she did eventually find a partner in Infinite World.

...

Yunee thought back to when her parents forced her to go through martial arts classes. In hindsight, she was glad that her parents made her learn a martial art to defend herself. Otherwise, she would've been useless playing Infinite World.

At the age of 8, Yunee was taught to defend herself and would practice every day. For some reason, it became her specialty. Moreover, the teacher noticed Yunee's talent at fighting was extraordinary compared to other kids her age.

The teacher was a close friend to Yunee's parents. Therefore, Yunee gets a discount from the class commissions. Her parents wanted her to be more active than the other kids on their tablets. Because the 'kids these days don't move and are always on their mobile device' statement. As a result, her parents make Yunee move her lazy bum.

...

---

A few months after Yunee joined Infinite World., Yunee met Inoria in town while forming a dungeon party. For an unknown reason, Yunee found Inoria intriguing. She noticed Inoria's behavior was distinctive from other female players. Subsequently, she initiates a conversation with Inoria after entering the dungeon.

"Hey!"

"Uh... Hello?" Inoria was interrupted from her peace.

After noticed Inoria puzzled expression, Yunee continues, "Ah, it's nothing much. Do you need any help?" While waving her hands in front of her face in embarrassment.

"Hmm, I think I do. And to be honest with you, this is my first time exploring a dungeon. I don't mind some advice." Inoria said without any emotion.

Excitedly Yunee said, "I'll tell you some advice. Oh, and before that, I got some food that gives buff. You can have it."

They talk more about the game while exploring the dungeon. Yunee was a beta tester before. Therefore, she was experienced compared to the new players.

After much advice about the game's functionality, a while later, they discuss the Partnership topic. Inoria reveals that her actual gender is male and wouldn't mind marrying another male character. Due to personal reasons, she chose female as his game character gender. However, she also claims to be heterosexual.

Yunee found it fascinating that Inoria's somewhat situation was similar to hers. Then, Yunee told Inoria the secret she holds within herself, the reason, and they went along with the flow. Inoria also joins in the 'trap' and hides his actual gender from other players. They ended up becoming a couple.

'It's a game. So we play however we want.'

To this day, Yunee and Inoria kept the secret for themselves.

---

Yunee and Inoria reach the dungeon location after five minutes of flying.

"Aye, you two are finally here!" A male player said out loud.

He is the guild leader of Intertania, and his player name was Dark King Emben.

"Hey Emben, look like everyone is here," Yunee replied.

"Yeah, you two are the last people we are waiting for," Emben paused for a bit to look at the crowd, "Everyone! Get ready. We are heading in!"

[You have entered the dungeon]

Name: The Necromancer Temple

Level: 60+

Difficulty: S

Party Maximum: 30

Intertania is one of the top guilds in Infinite World. Since the game limited the guild's maximum players' capacity to 40, Intertania recruits only pro players.

After entering the temple entrance, the 30 players separated into three groups of ten for faster exploration.

Emben lead the first group, Yukee and Inoria lead the second group, and the third group was lead by another trusted guild member. They planned to explore the dungeon quickly and find the boss area. Then they regroup at the boss.

Yunee's group went to the right side of the dungeon area. The temple has many hallways and staircases, many bones scattered on the floor, and dusty mist fills in the air.

There was only darkness inside the temple. The supporter casts a visual enhancement buff, while mages release a fire spell to act as a lantern for the party. For assassins, they have a passive buff to see in the dark.

The assassin's role was to look ahead of the party and inform the party. Therefore, Yunee explores the area by herself.

"7 skeletons ahead," Yunee informed the party. "There is one mage skeleton in the back. I will take care of that one."

Yunee waited a bit till her party caught up. The tank taunts the Skeletons while the Priest chants buff for the party.

Yunee hid behind the Mage Skeleton and one-shotted the Skeleton with one sneak attack.

[2000 EXP Acquired]

'2000 EXP for a Mage Skeleton, not bad.' Yunee rushes back to her party and helps the party take down the Skeletons.

They explored the area a bit more and defeated ten groups of Skeletons.

It gives Yunee and the party around 100,000 EXP depending on their contribution.

A while later, Emben sends a message to Yunee's group, "The boss coordination is at The Necromancer Temple x: 80.2 y: 324.5."

"Give us 5 minutes," Yunee sends the message to Emben.

...

The group of ten people slowly approach a gigantic door. There seem to be another ten players waiting in front of it. They were chatting while taking a rest. The enormous door is the boss room. If a person experienced the Infinite World dungeon for the first time, they might be amazed about the door size. But, for these pro players, they might've seen the boss door a hundred times already.

After the group of ten players arrived, Yukee's group came after 2 minutes of waiting. Everyone regroups into classes instead of 3 separate groups.

Emben leads the party to the boss's room and commands. Everyone respects Emben for his leadership skills, and no one disobeys him.

The boss of this dungeon was about 15'7'' high and is an undead mage. The boss level was at 70. Therefore, a big party is needed to beat the dungeon.

Yunee and the Assassin players sneak behind the Undead Boss to sneak attacks, which gives a 100% critical chance.

Players know that all undead have a crystal located at the heart that absorbs and releases powers to support the undead body. But it's hard to penetrate without making the way into the heart first.

Yunee and the Assassin attacking at the Undead Boss's chest. Altogether, the guild attackers aim at the wounded opening, reducing the boss HP to 60%. A purple-colored crystal was out in the open for everyone to see. A small crack was visible to the open eyes. The wounded chest area quickly regenerates and is covering the opening to the crystal.

"Everyone fires before it finishes regenerating!" Emben yelled. Everyone uses their power attack to continue damaging the crystal further.

The boss went on to enter a berserker mode when it reaches 40% HP.

Black bones reforming out of thin air, Skeletons are forming by every second. Just in 10 seconds, hundreds of Skeletons are ready to fight the group of players.