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/20 minutes later…/

/Munch munch…/

"And that was what I pretty much did throughout all day." Dale said to his mother as he ate his meat curry

/BURP!/

After finishing his short story, he ate one last bite of his curry and burped in satisfaction.

"... Didn't you pretty much just do hard labor for the entire day?" His mother asked with an inquisitive glance as she stored the groceries in the fridge nearby

"Well… Yeah? Hum... No?"

Dale was rather conflicted, but his mother paid it no heed.

"How come you do it in a video game but hate doing it in real life? Like fishing, your brother hates fishing but he does it every time in VR with his friends."

"That is a question I can't answer you, I simply do not know…"

"Washing dishes too, I once heard your brother playing and saying something about having his character go do the dishes, if only I could do the same to you both..."

"Perhaps the feeling of seeing the numbers rise or the danger-free scenario gives them the motivation to do so?" He replied with an awkward smile

"Same thing for your dad, he hates going to work but every time I check on him he is playing that office game on his capsule… Figures."

"..."

'Mom... I truly cannot explain why it feels fun to do some of these things...'

'That is the same as trying to explain what is entertainment...'

Finishing his food, Dale brought his plate to the sink, cleaning it before he left to brush his teeth, his mother shaking her head as she gazed at him.

She was once a player too, but now that she's all grown up, she mainly uses her pod to watch movies and relax.

She was one of the people who would use VR technology to sleep longer...

…

/A few minutes later in the pod room…/

"I took a shower, ate, and now I just need to wait for the remaining hours to pass…"

'I slept around 1 Am in the game, and the first Quest on my list starts at around 6 Am, that is 5 hours of time and under the 3-hour time difference, it's exactly 1 hour and forty minutes from then.'

(5 hours is 300 minutes while 1 hour and 40 Min is 100 Minutes)

"This means I have quite some time for myself…"

As he said that, Dale went out of the room and into his bedroom, sitting down in front of a Pc as he stretched his arms.

Yes, just because Pods were a thing, it didn't mean PCs were obsolete.

There were still many PC games that were released every year because there were many genres that couldn't simply be forgotten or adapted into the VR format.

There were also many small developers, who could try making an in-depth VR game, but sometimes, sticking with simplicity was the key to success.

Of course, all games could be played through the VR capsule, after all, it was merely a super computer that could connect directly with your nervous system.

What? You need a mouse and keyboard to play a game? Simple, just enter into a VR room and materialized one for you to use!

It may sound redundant, but it works...

Dale himself played on his PC for many years, though it had been a while since he did so, due to obvious reasons.

/Click click.../

He immediately launched the only Social App he and his friends used, sending them all several messages.

Including to the one and only… Jelly.

Also known as…

/DING DING DING!/

The moment he sent the message, Jelly immediately started calling him.

"What? That was oddly fast…" He mumbled to himself as he accepted the call

"What's up Ermin?"

"..."

"Ermin?"

'Is my camera working? It should be... But why is his all-black?'

/FWOOSH!/

The camera suddenly moved, showing Ermin's face.

(Image?)

"Are you out of the game?" Ermin suddenly asked in a low tone

"Yeah, I just left… Why?"

"Oh nothing, it was just that I had to log out of the game as well to call you… You know how it is."

Due to the difference in time dilation, if Ermin were to try and speak with Dale in the real world, things would be... A bit awkward to say the least.

So he was forced to log off the game, albeit he didn't leave his Capsule, there was a lot to do in-game still.

"Besides… DUDE?! That guy on the trailer was you, right?" Ermin said loudly as he screamed on the microphone

"I... I uh... Bruh."

"DON'T BRUH ME MAN!"

"There is no use denying it, I saw your online status before the game servers opened, and you were online! For 10 whole minutes! You may have changed your appearance, but I can recognize your 'air' by a mile!"

"My… What?"

"Man, I only have a single question… How did you do it?"

Dale smiled and replied:

"Well… Entering the game earlier was part of my reward for reaching Level 100… I couldn't say much about it because I was under a contract, but it became void the moment the game started so…"

"The same reason why I could not share what happened after I became Level 100."

'I can do it now... Though I'm still a bit uncomfortable sharing the "truth"...'

'The only thing I can do for now is... Incentivizing him in playing the game seriously.'

"OHH! That makes more sense now… Does that mean you can now tell me what happened after you reached Level 100?..."

"... If you wish to I..."

"NO! I don't want to hear it, I'll find out about it on my own."

"... I thought you would say so." Dale replied as he exhaled, smiling slightly

"Still, there is one thing I should say to you... Play the game seriously, I'm not kidding now."

"Does this have to do with what you found out?"

"Yes... Its... Complicated, but I believe this is going to change the... The Meta, so take my words and play with your life on the line, you won't regret it when you're at the forefront of players making millions." He said with a smile

"I wish!... Do I'll heed to your warnings, though I must say, I was taking this game seriously from the start!"

"Besides, I'll bet you being able to jump 10M high at the start of the trailer was also due to your 'rewards'?"

"Hum...Yup… You could say so."

"Cool… So tell me, tell me! How much did you gain with that swoop of yours in the market some time ago?"

"Are you talking about the auctions? About a couple thousand Zulls of Iron, this is already counting everything I spent, so in total, I would've made at least one or two Zulls of Copper."

Ermin's eyes opened wide when he heard the value.

"Wow… You're way too rich…"

He touched the back of his head and said awkwardly:

"In my case, I only managed to do a few of the things we discussed a few days ago…"

...

Ermin went over several strategies and routes they had discussed beforehand, and from time to time, Dale would intervene and give him his opinion.

In the end, Ermin said:

"Although we prepared a lot, I was rather lucky. My tutorial lobby was filled with newbies that didn't know any better, so it made it easy for me to exploit some things like you since I didn't have competition…"

"Although I wasn't able to acquire all of the Sigils and I have yet to finish some of the rituals and quests I had in mind..."

"I'll probably spend another full day in the tutorial and then leave…"

"You weren't able to get the Sigils?"

"Well... It's a long story... Can we leave that for later?" He asked apologetically

"It's okay, anyway, as for what were talking about before, the only major ritual I did was fusing the Sigils, the other ones weren't really that necessary for me as they either give you temporary buffs or items, and most of them are only useful early game."

'Though it's true I would've made some good use of those early buffs during my venture into the Dungeon... If only I knew...'

But Ermin smiled slightly.

"Man, not everyone can be like you and get those High-Class items…"

"I don't even know how you got the Vault items… Did you raid it through the Special routes? No… That is impossible. How did you beat the Boss? And enough times to collect so many Sets?"

Dale chuckled and said:

"I did go through the Special route, but when I arrived at the end, there wasn't any Boss."

"???? What? What happened to the Boss?"

"That's simple to answer."

"You do remember the alternate path I used, right? Since I got in the tutorial before it started, all its mechanisms were deactivated."

"This meant no traps, no challenges, no Boss... Nothing."

"When I reached the end, I just opened the Vault and raided everything at once."

Ermin's expression turned red as his head recoiled back.

"OH MY FUCKING… Jesus… I understand now, my mind has been enlightened."

"Well… Thank you for sharing this now useless information, it is pretty interesting nonetheless, a story to be told even."

Dale smiled and asked:

"So? You said you would leave in a day or so, do you want any advice? I would recommend my place but… It isn't a very pleasant place to be in right now."

'Jelly is someone that I would like to keep close, he knows a lot, and he would certainly thrive here...'

'Can't say much about his sisters... Jelly can keep my secret and even act with me, but they...?'

"Hm… To be honest, I would agree, but this isn't my sole choice anymore…"

"Huh? Explain."

"Well… You see… I'm playing with my older sister… And my younger sister… I'll just go wherever they want me to go…"

"You sound tired." Dale pointed out as he noticed his tone

"The life of being the sole male child in a big family… At least I'm not the youngest."

"So I'm sorry Dale, we won't be able to play together for a while… And for that, I have a favor to ask."

"Sure. Although there isn't much I can do with my game character since I'm already in the Continent…"

"Nah, it's rather simple… Can you pass us some money? My sisters methods are... Too crazy for their own good and they need a constant supply of items to keep themselves alive."

"Because of that, our finances are running low… My finances..."

"My sisters treat me pretty poorly and most of the time, the one who supports the team is me... But that is done through my own pocket."

"Seems like slave work..."

"It's hard already since I'm trying to move around sneakily to get the Sigils and some of the other items, but I also have to give them items else they won't stop being stones in my shoes…"

"If they learn about the Sigils or any of those special items… I am sure they will split it between themselves and leave nothing to me."

"And that would be devastating especially now that you share with me we can fuse all Sigils into one, I'll definitely be doing that."

"... You truly are a pathetic guy." Said Dale with pity

"There is nothing I can do! I swear! I tried to retaliate against them many times but our parents were always on their side! And…"

"Just leave your house or ignore them?"

"Leaving my house isn't an option... Unfortunately..." He said in a melancholic tone

"And if I ignore them I am probably going to be banned from using the pod by my parents... They are very naive... And after years and years of manipulation, they are already in the palms of my sisters' hands..." He said as his expression grew dark

"Okay okay, I understand… Tell me the amount and I'll send it to you. If you need any particular items tell me as well, just make sure to do it in one go since sending items through the Trade Market costs a lot where I'm from…"

"How much?"

"31 Zulls of Iron... If you can send more, around 100, 'I' would be very happy."

"DAMN!"

"… It's quite them sum of money, but it isn't really much if I only use it once or twice…" Dale said as he shook his head

"... Thanks man, my game is saved thanks to you."

"I'll send you a list later, and don't worry about your identity, I'll keep it a secret for now… Especially since my two sisters are fans of you, I can't even begin to imagine the horrors of my life if they found out I know you…"

Dale's gaze changed as he raised an eyebrow.

"They are?! Are they pretty?"

"FUCK OFF!"

"Come on! Give your bro a hand! I've been single for 19 years!"

"HA! If you have the courage after everything I said, go and take them on!"

"My older sister is an alcoholic and has violent tendencies due to her past as a school punk, while my younger sister is a HardCore BL fan while also being extremely well-versed in martial arts due to growing up under her older sister's care!"

"She's also very spoiled!"

"And coupled with their passive-aggressive personalities, I am sure they will treat you kindly… Who knows, maybe you'll do well as their butler?"

"If you think that is something you can take on, then go for it! One less problem for me to take care of!... Now that I think about it... I give you my greatest blessings!"

"Forget what I said then…" Dale said dismissively as he shook his head

'Crazy bitches... You know what they say, don't stick your D in crazy...'

"HAHAHA!"

"In any case, I'll send you a list of what I need, don't worry, I'll repay you several times over later."

"I know, and in case you have the opportunity to choose, give me a call and I'll invite you to my humble starting point."

'It would be very good to have a trustworthy helping hand, especially one as talented and knowledgeable as him.'

"I bet this is going to happen though…" Said Ermin in a depressive tone

"Anyway, now that we finished this topic, tell me about the things you got in the tutorial so far, and what else you plan to get."

"Oh?... Well, if I were given the chance, then I would like to get the 'Meraid's Prism'."

"That's a good one." Dale replied with a nod

The Meraid Prism was a caster item that occupied your hand slot.

It was a Unique Item and one of the few Dale knew of in the tutorial zone.

The reason he didn't get it was due to its conditions.

It was a ritual that involved singing a song while holding a conch atop a particular rock in the river that went through the ruins, the same river whose shores Dale spent days looking for rocks...

The song had to be relatively precise and at key points the conch had to be blown to make a smooth sound.

After 10 minutes of singing, the Prism would manifest, it was also a single item per lobby.

The lore behind it was that it was part of a long Quest where at the end, a girl who had her heart broken would sing the song and give the player the Prism as a reward.

"What else?"

"If I could, I would also like to go to the cemetery."

"Hm..."

The cemetery was an area full of ancient tombs and it could be considered to be a Dungeon as it was full of undead monsters.

During the time of the Beta, there weren't many strong monsters there, but with the game's full release, the average strength of the undead monster in there was about Level 15, making the area almost impossible to raid.

However, the tombs were full of items and resources, making them very valuable for looters... The monsters also dropped good loot, even if they couldn't get XP past Level 5.

And if you knew the lore, you would know which tomb contained the truly valuable items, it wasn't just about the size, it was about the quality and significance of the person buried within each.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't be that easy.

Those valuable tombs, the ones that gave Unique grade rewards and above, were all full of deadly traps, some requiring special rituals and incantations to be uttered and performed before entering.

Otherwise, the person in question may see themselves being either instantly killed and kicked out of the tutorial, or cursed for a long time...

Of course, both Dale and Ermin knew where the good loot was and their respective keywords as they research heavily into it.

The reason Dale did not visit it was due to the distance, it took over half an hour on foot to reach the cemetery through the trade center, and even if Dale could run extremely fast, he would waste over 15 minutes of his time just running around, all for the sake of potentially getting one Unique item?

He had bigger priorities... Besides, he trusted Jelly.

They had a partnership, if one got an item the other might need, then they could trade so they could grow faster.

On the list of items he needed, a few simple armor sets were included, Dale didn't have them, but he could give them a few other things, he didn't mind the cost at all.

Jelly more than deserved it.

"Other than that, there are things such as the Lord's torn Cape, Erier's Broken Shield, The revolving Cog, Earth Rebellion, and so on..."

Ermin went on to name a few dozen items, and Dale immediately knew what he was aiming for.

He was trying to get all Unique Grade and above items that they knew of while also gathering all kinds of Valuable and Lore-Heavy items.

Those Lore items had little value apart from being mementos but that was exactly what made them enticing for Jelly, he loved these niche things.

As for the gear items he mentioned, most of them were once great pieces that were famous in the past game, but were now all tattered and worn out due to time.

Each had their own methods of acquisition, otherwise, Dale would've loved to have one for himself as well.

And now that his doubts about the world of Azimuth were starting to change, he started to feel the loss of not having collected an exemplar for himself.

For example, Erier's Broken Shield was once a Shield belonging to a Champion of a Religion, one that very likely still existed...

What if you were to bring the item to them?

Even more, have it fixed? Erier's Shield was an Epic-grade item in its glory days...

The chances of that may be low, but Dale started to question if that was truly the case.

The developers lied about both worlds having no connection, and even if they say the tutorial zone will have no impact on the future story of this world... What if that were to be a lie as well?

What if they are trying to have the players look down on these broken-down ruins when so many important rewards and mysteries lay hidden in those piles of broken stone and rusted metal?

That was something to think about.

...

The two talked for a little longer before Ermin had to leave due to being called… By his sisters of course.

Overall, with his ideas in mind, Dale was sure Ermin would grow to become a massive player... If he managed to get all of those items.

Albeit he was sure it was impossible for him to be stronger than him, he would surely, without a doubt have a better tutorial start than him.

Erwin had the potential to leave the zone with the Sigil of Might, and a few dozen Unique items.

So much so Dale was willing to invest way more in him because he really wanted to get his hand on some of those items.

If their lore implication was still the same... Collecting them would be better than not doing so.

And even if Jelly kept them for himself, as long as he had them, then they could investigate their mysteries together in the future, leading to potentially new adventures and mysteries to uncover.

"... That guy never told me much about his family… And I now understand why."

'I thought he had a girlfriend due to a few instances where he had to leave due to a girl, but it seems it was only his sisters dragging him around…'

'He seems like the pushover kind of guy, but I can understand some parents to be easily swayed by the words of their daughters, overlooking the words of their sons...'

Shaking his head, Dale started to go over the web, and he soon found out that his existence had already been overshadowed by many other posts and interesting facts on the internet.

Forums discussing the differences between game modes and initial Classes…

Forums discussing the many items and areas in the tutorial…

How to Level up fast… How to make money fast… What were the best weapons and starting Class…

And even a rough sketch of the world map that was constantly being updated through the efforts of tens of thousands.

Once again, this has been done since the game automatically deletes any images of the main map during the Starting point Selection screen.

"People sure are fast and as I predicted... Or rather, it was obvious that it would happen, many players just jumped from the tutorial to the game itself."

"And as expected, they aren't having a pleasant time..."

'Being low level at the start of the game is making them pass through Hell because they can't do higher Level quests that involve hunting and they are pretty much being forced to hard labor through the start as I did...'

'Standard players also have Levels as requirements to use any gear, so even if they wanted to cut wood by the riverside, they can't even equip the axe...'

"But I'm not like them."

"What is the best 'starting Village'? And what is the best place for players with these stats and so on… It's interesting to see their opinions and reactions about this new world."

'In the future, they'll surely make more guides and comments, that'll be my only way of learning about the outside world.'

'Information is key, the more I know, the better my chances of triggering special quests and surviving unexpected scenarios.'

'My character is a Fallen Noble that made his way to a Village in the South in the middle of nowhere, but with the help of the community feed, I can now learn about what is happening in the middle of the Capital.'

'The information may not be that accurate, but there are many people that'll start making Lore channels to explain things, I just need to follow those people.'

"More than anything, I'm very interested in the opinions of the people regarding some of the higher level starting zones such as the Capital and… Resko."

Dale rested his head on his gamer chair.

"But it's good to hear that so far, no one has tried to go to Resko."

"That was thanks to the many players that tried going the harder areas immediately regretting it."

'Whenever they meet a monster, they almost always instantly die, and when they do, because they don't have a set spawn point, they are just going to spawn in some random place and probably die again.'

'Losing their XP and items, their precious effort and time, they'll be between a rock and a hard place.'

"Thanks to their pitiful and shabby display, I probably won't have a big influx of players anytime soon, even if some arrive, they'll be the hardcore or unaware people that won't cause too big of a stir..."

"I can easily suppress them into oblivion, forcing them out of the zone or buying another character to start anew..." He said in an evil tone

"It also gives me an insight into what happens if a HardCore player dies… They just lose their accounts, not even a Game over screen…"

"Hum… No, that isn't totally accurate, according to some of these posts, they say you'll be sent into a black world where you can leave at any time but if you do you can't come back…"

'There are many arguments for why this is so but one of the players already figure out.'

"If they stay in this black world and wait, they can be resurrected by a priest. And a player was lucky enough to receive such help from an NPC, confirm many suspicions."

'The black space is limbo where you can stay and wait for something to happen, or lose everything and be sent back to the real world.'

"This means that dying isn't game over for me, but it just raises the value of someone with healing abilities even more..."

'I'm satisfied, I learned a lot... Albeit part of me is still a bit on edge...'

'Just because it is so for everyone, does it mean it'll be so for me?'

'The stakes I play with are different...'

"Regardless, I have no intention of dying, ever."

He thought deeply as he tapped on his table.

"A lot of info is being shared and discovered by the community… I'll pass by here every time I log off and see what I can learn."

"For now... Should I check some of the old forums?"

'There might be something of interest in there...'

"Huh?"

Dale couldn't believe what he was reading...

"All wiki pages... Were deleted?" He mumbled out loud in awe

'Why?... How?...'

'There were tens of thousands of pages containing all kinds of tales, from Legendary accomplishments to mundane things.'

'The Wiki was a great accomplishment players had gathered over the course of the many years the game ran...'

"I have my own downloaded fan books... WAIT?!"

Dale quickly checked his archives, and as expected, all of his Lore books and collections were there.

"Phew... They're still here..."

'But this begs the question...'

'If all information regarding the two games were deleted... Why would it be done?'

"The more I think about it the more it seems the Devs are trying to make us forget something... Yeah, they've done that from the start."

'Most may not realize it, but people like me and Ermin surely will.'

'I wonder how many Lore lords are out there, but they should be quite numerous.'

'The question is how many people have an Archive like mine.'

"There is something big going on, and the Devs want us to pay it no heed and just play the game..."

'In their own words... "Some mysteries are better found and solved by oneself."...'

'The more I think about those words, the more I think they meant a lot more than I could imagine.'

"I'll have to discuss this with Jelly, when he logs off, he'll be in for one hell of a surprise..."

"Oh!... I forgot to discuss the Beta Tester Box with him."

'I wonder what he got from it?'

/Click click.../

Regardless of his worries, Dale stayed in front of his computer, fondling through the forums and the web as he waited for time to pass by…

…

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Notes

As you can see, this time around, I made the tutorial a much bigger thing, giving it some well-deserved background and also possible lore importance for the future.

When I first wrote this Novel, I just had Dale collect a few items and leave because I didn't have a clear idea of power Levels, Grades, or the Story of the world.

So Dale only completed one ritual before leaving, the most important one but still...

How could the entire city only have one such ritual? So that's where we fall...

So this time, with all of that in mind, I gave the tutorial the importance it should have.

I don't think I went overboard, but I also think I may have given it too much importance as now it may seem as if Dale lost a lot while other players can just take their time to become giants.

Like he said, Ermin could grow to become a monster, though he doubted he could have a better overall start than him due to his monstrous stats.

What do you think?