Mickey was lying on his real-world bed, as still as a dead man. For the last 25 minutes or so, he had not stirred, then all at once, his body came alive. He shot up with a loud gasp.

"I'm back!" he declared as he removed the headset.

The first thing he did was reach for his phone and check the time. He giggled to himself, as if he was going crazy, and smiled.

"Yes. It really was only 25 minutes. And the date's the same and everything! I'm back!" Mickey took hold of the headset and held it up. "Wow! Hidden World Online! How amazing! Wow!" Mickey carefully placed the device down and made for his computer. "Can't waste too much time out here. Five minutes out here would be one hour in there if I got the math right."

Mickey flew to the nodesite and went straight for the guides. He wanted to take on Mauling Peter, but if he was going to do so, he would go prepared. The differences in time changed the equation; he no longer had to worry about running out of time to play. Now, he'd be able to play without worries—

For one hour, I get twelve? That's more than enough to get my fill!

Mickey dove into the guides. With speed in his mind, he chose to read the Beginner's Starter Realms Guide, the Skill Bits Guide, and the Beginner's Exploration Guides.

The guides all seemed to be written by the same author, and thankfully, Mickey understood their style and appreciated the convenient summaries—he would definitely come back later on to give them a much more thorough read.

From the Starter Realms, he learned that the penalty for dying was being locked out of the game for three days—a real problem now that Mickey understood the difference in the passage of time. Three days in the real world meant over a month in the Hidden World. He also learned that generally, over-world enemies got stronger the further one was from the starting town. The different realms had other rules that got involved, and for example, Asniels had the note that monsters became slightly stronger the further one got from the main roads as well.

From the Skill Bits Guide, Mickey learned just how the Skill Bits worked. He was extremely pleased when he thought back on the Skill Bits he had already acquired. Going faster than he thought he would, he quickly checked the Essential Skill Bits Guide and made a mental note of the Skill Bits he would need to keep an eye out for.

Finally, from the Exploration Guide, he learned that the over-world bosses—bosses like Peter—were suitable for Level 3 players at minimum. This guide also held the answers to some of Mickey's other questions. Through this guide, he learned that certain items needed to be appraised before he could know what they did. Mickey had thought of the locket when he read that part. He also got an answer to his questions about treasure chests—there were two varieties. Chests every player would be able to open, generic chests, and one-of-a-kind chests that were first-come, first-serve unique chests. The latter were extremely rare and had amazing rewards. While every one of these unique chests had unique contents, this type of chest seemed to always be around, with some seemingly manifesting out of nowhere. If someone got lucky, even if they were a new player, they could happen across one of these unique chests simply because they were at the right place at the right time. The former, on the other hand, were for everyone. The same generic chest in the same location would have the same rewards for a player. These chests were also able to reappear in the same spot after being opened, but if one tried to open a chest they had once already opened, they would receive nothing. All in all, both seemed to be good ways of ensuring new players had chests to find.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Okay! I don't need the other guides right now! Let's jump back in! Mauling Peter, I'm coming for you!"

Some ten minutes out, and Mickey was ready to return to Asniels. But just as he grabbed his headset, he paused.

"Huh… This is pretty big, isn't it? Are there any side effects to the time dilation? I mean… This is a pretty big advantage, isn't it? What if I actually develop super cancer or something?" Mickey shuddered. "Please, please, please, no. Let me have this..."

In Mickey's mind, having extra time could be game-changing. He could escape into the other world for as long as he wanted if he ever needed a break. In other cases, if he was clever, he could work on assignments in the other world though that would only be possible with subjects like math where he could memorize problems to work through. Still, he thought about the possibility of sleep—if he slept in the other world, would he be rested?

"Whatever, I can think about it later! I could even think about it in-game! Yeah. I'll go enjoy myself, and when my time is up, I'll come out, and take it easy. Maybe I could do some more job-searching too..."

Mickey nodded to himself and fell onto his bed with a wide grin.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. No one would design a game just to spread cancer," he told himself, rationalizing his worries away.

Mickey didn't want to be caught up with concerns. His mind was buzzing with questions more sensational alluring. He wanted to find answers, and they were right around the corner.

***

Mickey reappeared where he had left—the midway camp's road. He looked around and saw no one, though all the cottages had their lights lit. He checked the time—it was a little bit past five. Asniels' sundown was in roughly two hours. As Mickey now knew, at sundown, Asniel's monsters all gained three levels. For the unprepared, that would be disastrous, but for those who needed experience, it would be a paradise.

Before setting off, Mickey opened his Slate and went straight to the Skill Bits app, an app that he refrained from investigating lest he make a mistake.

"Okay… So the Skill Bits just modify values or add new properties to Skills. I've got two of the [+1%] Skill Bits. If I apply those to one of my Skills, I could increase a percentage by a percentage point each… My Skills right now aren't that impressive, so I'll hold onto those, but then the [Activator] Skill Bit. This is the one!"

The Skill Bits interface was a simple one. The Skill Bits were represented as pieces for Mickey to drag over to a selected Skill. For the [Activator], Mickey dragged it over to a node on Ball&Chain's Skill Tree and activated that node.

In doing so, Mickey unlocked Ball&Chain's Handling Skill.

He immediately summoned Ball&Chain and went to work using it, throwing the ball at a tree branch and watching as it wound itself around the branch—just like he imagined.

"YES! It feels… It feels so much more! It feels almost like a hand—at this rate, it'll be moving like a snake!"

Mickey tugged on the chain and got his ball back just like how he wanted it. What the Handling afforded Mickey was essentially supernatural control over his weapon. Statistically, his own failure rate with using the Ball&Chain had reduced by 30%. In practice, it just meant that Mickey could use the weapon with a level of skill that would usually be reflective of years of experience. At higher levels, it was likely that Mickey's control would border on the supernatural, as if the Ball&Chain was an elongated arm.

Mickey drank one of his potions, restoring almost 30% of his health, and grinned. "Now I'm ready! Let's have a blast! I've got more than three hours for you, HWO!"

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Mickey fought: 4 Laughing Bones