Chapter 8: Life’s Brutal (1)

Blake opened his eyes to the blaring sound of his alarm.

He fumbled for his phone until he found it beside his pillow.

He turned off the alarm, stared wearily at the dark screen, and dropped the phone before burying his face into the pillow.

Oh, how he longed to just close his eyes and go back to sleep.

He'd give anything for a day off, but he couldn't afford it on his minimum-wage job.

That's when the familiar, fleeting thought assaulted him: like a devil's whisper, telling him he could live a lavish—or at least normal—life with just a few taps on his mobile banking app.

This temptation prompted him to stand up and head to the bathroom.

He couldn't touch that money unless absolutely necessary.

It was dirty money that had made him a bastard, hurting his family, friends, and many others with his obnoxious selfishness.

At nineteen, a high school dropout due to his career as a beta tester, Blake couldn't find any decent work.

He also wasn't mentally prepared to return to school and pursue a degree.

'I've already started playing the game despite promising myself I wouldn't... I need to be stricter with myself,' Blake thought as he stared into the bathroom mirror.

His tiny one-room apartment was so small that he could see most of it reflected in the mirror.

His only belongings were the game capsule, a pillow, and a closet—all, except for the black capsule, as gray as the room's gloomy atmosphere.

He didn't look great either: weary eyes, pale skin, and dull brown hair. He resembled an invalid, an appearance he often tried to hide beneath his clothes.

He put on his work clothes, bundled up, and left the house.

The mall where he worked was close to his apartment block, so Blake met up with his co-workers quickly.

His overweight boss assigned him to a section and a partner, then retreated to his office to laze around.

Blake was once again teamed up with Joel, a jealous man, likely because they were both high school dropouts of the same age.

"I'm claiming the riding floor scrubber!" Joel announced, taking what he considered the most enjoyable machine for himself.

Blake nodded and went to pick up other equipment.

As he rode the machine, Joel asked, "It's been three days since the official release. How you doing, bro? Still the same?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yeah, just hammering and drinking beers," Blake replied.

The katana required a lot of arduous, repetitive work. It could be finished in a single day, but it would lose significant strength and bonus stats, which Blake couldn't accept.

So he had been repeating the same tasks for three days, enjoying the food and beer in between.

Players could sample many new foods and drinks in the fantasy world for the novelty, but eating was also an important aspect of their gaming experience.

An empty stomach halved one's stats and increased stamina usage, making one more vulnerable to crowd control effects like stuns.

Joel pressed his fingers to his forehead and exclaimed, "You're missing so much fun, bro! You haven't experienced the thrill of fighting monsters! At least try out a few weapons in the tutorial zone. I picked up a spear and have already skewered a few creatures! There's an abandoned village in my tutorial zone that's like an event area where players team up. I met a sassy woman there who looked down on me after I freaked out when a rabbit leaped out of the darkness. She called me a loser who picked a spear because he's afraid of fighting monsters up close!"

Blake swallowed his laughter and asked with a poker face, "How did you reply?"

"Bro, I called her a dishwasher, and she went at me as if I'd killed her entire family. I lost," Joel sighed. "She's so lucky I haven't received my destined legendary title yet."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Blake replied before distancing himself from his co-worker.

He couldn't recall any events happening this early, let alone in the tutorial zones, back when he'd been a beta tester.

Could it be that the game company had changed their strategy, or that a hundred in-game years after the last boss's defeat had made the game much more demanding? Perhaps teamwork was now essential.

Rumor had it that the AI controlling the game world was so advanced it could send players back three thousand years into the past, allowing them to face new enemies or perhaps even change the future.

'I need to forge a mask after the katana's done,' Blake thought, fearing he'd be forced to play with others sooner than he expected.