The little village of Rosecott was only one of the countless beginner villages in the game. When starting the game, players would be sorted randomly. However players found out that each of the races had an higher chance on spawning on their kindom’s grounds.

The Human Kingdom, situated in the Isidoya continent, was sandwitched between the elves’ forest on the west and the beast tribes territory in the north east. Unlike the other races, humans didn’t have one absolute ruler, but instead there were multiple kingdoms and rulers.

Our village was located in Leronell Kingdom, a small territory if compared to the rest of the kingdoms. However that mattered little to the players.

Well, most of them at least. There is always someone bound to like messing around with politics.

But for now the most pressing problem for the players of the beginner village of Rosecott was finding a place to log out from.

A player could log out any time as long as they were in a safe zone. A safe zone could either be anywhere inside the village, or it could be created in the wild by making a camp.

However if one browsed the game’s forums they would have come across the countless posts mentioning how sleeping in an inn would give a ‘well rested’ bonus, which granted an overall stat increase and bonus experience.

Unfortunately for the ones that happened to start in Rosecott village, the Smiling Pilgrim inn was the only one around. Old man Hans was the owner, and his flaw was that he liked money a bit too much.

Countless players protested the sky high prices of 5 silvers for just a shabby room that granted no well rested bonus and no meals.

5 silvers were equal to 500 copper coins. A scam considering that the monster materials hunted in the vicinity of the village could be sold for 10~15 copper coins each.

But the complaints fell on deaf ears. Old man Hans would just chase them off. They were under no obbligation to stay the night in his inn. He was a greedy old man that cared little for his patrons well being. How he could still run his business was a mystery.

Hans was grinning while counting his earnings for the day. A total of five people had payed to stay the night. He was rich! At least, for this village standard.

He caressed his white beard with glee. Maybe this month he could make a trip to the city to have some fun.

As he was putting away the precious coins, the inn’s door creaked open. A small old lady with a pair of big glasses resting on her nose walked towards the counter. Hans imediately put out his business smile.

“Welcome to the Smiling Pilgrim, where travelers get their deserved rest”

ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ

Tacha Macha entered the old, dusty inn. The floorboards creaked at each step and the whole place looked like it was ready to collapse as long as one kicked the wall strongly enough. Molly was right in saying that this rat hole wasn’t worth more than two coppers.

“Welcome to the Smiling Pilgrim, where travelers get their deserved rest” The old man at the counter had a snake’s smile plastered in his face, even that pair of sunken eyes of his were looking at her like a fat piggy bank.

“Is there a room available for a poor old lady?” She choose to try and appeal to his simpathy for a fellow elder, but she didn’t expect that this guy was just like aged milk “Of course! That would be 5 silvers!” His yellowed smiled, coupled with a golden tooth, blinded her silly. This motherf*cker was a greedy bastard through and through. He didn’t even give a discount for the elderly!

With her lips twitching she tried to reason with him once more “That price is a bit high. Could you not give a little discount to a fellow elder?” The innkeeper looked at her, deep in thought “Alright. I can give you a 50 copper discount and add this soft pillow as well” She looked increduly at the roughly patched pillow that the old man had taken out from under the counter. Tacha squished it and found it to have straw and kernels inside.

She slammed it on the counter, scaring the old innkeeper. Before he could jump away she grabbed him by the blouse’s collar, dragging him closer to her face. “Listen well you old codger. This rat hole of yours isn’t worth 5 silvers and neither that ‘soft’ pillow of yours could be sold for that price. Give me a reasonable price while I’m asking nicely”

Hans face became red “T-that… I-I cannot live witho-” “Don’t tell me bullsh*t. The whole village knows that you keep a secret basement full of coins to swim in. Annie next door has been complaining about that horrible singing of yours for years now” The old man’s face lost color. With a trembling hand he raised one finger “O-one sil-” Tacha slammed the pillow again on the counter, Hans shut up looking at the pillow that was now too close to his face.

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“Hans Macmillan O’Brian” She smiled and Hans could see a devil in that face “You do want to have a pleasant time while going to the bathroom, right?” He looked at her, realization slowly kicking in “Y-you...” She brought him closer and with a whisper she gave him the final blow “Molly says hi”

Tacha let him go, old man Hans fell back on his chair with no strength and looking without a soul. “Molly adviced me to get a room for two copper coins” She loudly put the money on the counter, the man waking up from his ghostly state.

With a satisfied smile she went up to choose a room while notifications were ringing nonstop in her ears.

Hans looks at you hatefully.

Relationship decreased by 5.

Hans regrets talking to you.

Relationship decreased by 1.

Hans hates your guts.

Relationship decreased by 3.

Hans…

Relationship decreased by 1.

…

Hans is cussing you out without restraint.

Relationship decreased by 2.

You have become ‘Enemies’ with Hans Macmillan O’Brian.

She was already in her room, done with making the place as comfortable as possible when the notifications stopped popping out.

Tacha opened up the relationships tab to check on the old man.

Relationships

Molly Ridger: 53 ˂Best Friends˃

Hans Macmillan O’Brian: -50 ˂Enemies˃

“How petty. He went to -50 with just that” She closed up the menu before laying down on the bed, covered with the blankets and pillow that Molly gave her earlier.

You are in a safe area.

Do you wish to logout?

Yes No

After confirming her choice, her surroundings faded to black. When she heard the music cue from the headset, she took it off and looked at the time. Only one hour and half passed since she started the game, even though she felt like she had played for almost a day. After doing the math, she guessed that 1 hour in real life were equal to 12 hours in game.

Ariel was happy since that meant that she could play way more than she thought. While thinking about what to do next time she logged in, she went to clean up the house while night fell.

ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ

Rye Ward was an ordinary highschool student on his last senior year. It was an important year for the students since the results of their college entrance exams would impact the rest of their life.

He has always been an introverted kid, one that kept to himself and studied quietly. However lately, those few friends that he had, noticed that he was behaving weirdly.

He was still a quiet one, but now he had an air of alofness around him. He even cared less about his grades. No one could believe that Mr. Neverunder90score would dare to sleep in class!

Plus, he spent most of his time at the local PodCafe since the release of Elysium Online: Worlds of Arcadia. It didn’t even feel like an obsession, it was much worse. Rather it looked like he lived in that game.

Some were worried, but after playing the game themselves they could understand the sudden change. The game was simply unlike any other.

Rye, however, cared not for the opinion of his friends. No, he had far more important things to do. On the way to the PodCafe he clenched his fists.

He was sure of it. That morning of late August he had come back to the past. To a time where life was still peaceful, to a time where EO:WA was yet to be released, to a time where the world had yet to come to an end.

Just at the thought of it, he trembled. He didn’t know how or why, but four years from now, monsters that devoured everything in their sight would appear and extinguish civilization. The worst thing was that those monsters looked exactly the same as the ones that appeared in the last World Quest of the game before it shut down.

At first he believed that it was a nightmare, a wild imagination of his brain. But as things happened exactly as he remembered, he feared that was no dream. He didn’t dare to say a word of it for fear that they would lock him into a mental asylum. Who would believe someone that went around saying that monsters would end this world in a few years?

Rye was determined to find the truth in the game, so this time around he made an account as soon as the game released. He used the same nickname of his original character, Frӧst. He couldn’t bear to change its appearance, for many beautiful memories were tied to it. Just like the first time, he choose a human with short black hair and icy blue eyes.

When his character appeared in the Shrine of Minor Beginnings, he received a system notification.

As a reward to be the last survivor of the final World Quest ‘Requiem of the End’, you’ll be given a Unique title.

We hope you’ll continue to enjoy the game!

That notification gave him the chills.

How could the game know?