[Athenticating...please wait]

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[Athentication Complete]

[Collecting Player Data...34%]

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[Complete]

[Replay audio file of last five minutes before 7H*&G56fg7h...?]

[Yes][No]

[Acknowledged]

[5/6/xx46]

"You baka, why didn't you tell me you got a copy of the Eldrian Online: Exodus?!" A slightly high-pitched female voice yelled.

"It's not like I've had time to play the VR version of Eldrian Tale yet and weren't you the one raving about the superiority of the VR version?" A monotone male voice remarked.

The sound of, what can only be assumed to be, the girl rolling on the floor can be heard. The sound of the rolling could be heard, at different volumes, as she rolled past the guy. The sound of the rolling stops.

"So, you're going to play it right, Devo??" the girl asked politely. Devo sighed.

"Fine.". The girl could be heard springing up from the ground and seemed to land on top of the guy, given a loud crash could be heard shortly after her jump.

"Really? Also, you don't need to worry about any of the boring stuff because I've already transferred your-.". Her voice was interrupted by the sound of static

[Error... Remaining Sound File corrupted]

[Ending Relay Sequence]

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[Starting Player Synchronization...]

[Synchronization Complete]

[Starting "Game"]

Devo felt a faint breeze brushing past his face, making his eyes and nose twitch. Devo slowly opened his eyes and was instantly blinded by the light. He instantly covered his eyes with his left arm. Eventually, the intensity of the light subsided and Devo moved his hand out of the way of his right eye. He looked up to the sky. There was a cluster of clouds and even a few flocks of birds. Devo was slightly perplexed as to why he was outside but did have a few ideas. He sat up and heard a clinking noise. He looked downwards and noticed he wasn't wearing his normal clothes. He sighed. He placed his hand on the ground and rubbed the surprisingly smooth surface of the top of the tree trunk.

"Menu," Devo said quietly. A small flat holographic screen appeared in front of Devo. The screen displayed his name, Level, Adventure Rank, HP, MP, SP, and his main class Overlord. There was also a scroll wheel with interactive buttons. Devo clicked on the Status button and another screen appeared. It showed all of his stats and his equipment. He wasn't interested in it and looked around the screen. He closed both the screens and stood up. He surveyed his surroundings. He appeared to be standing atop a giant tree stump that was situated in the middle of a dense forest of pale blue-leaved trees.

"Alice must have placed my Zi-Gear on while I was asleep. She's going to get it when I- wait I don't remember going to- ". Devo staggered when he opened the menu and saw that the logout button was greyed out. He tapped it and nothing happened, not even a sound effect. He closed the menu but the friend list suddenly opened. He saw that the only person on the list was Alice and it had a flashing phone icon on it. He sighed as he tapped it. A five-pointed star, which was split into five kites, spun around over the phone icon. Both the star and the phone icon disappeared and a new screen appeared. A video appeared on the screen and a faintly cyan-tinted silver-haired girl with a red left eye and a cyan right eye.

"Mind telli-". Devo was interrupted by Alice waving at Devo with a panicked expression.

"Devo, somethings wrong! You've gotta come quick." Alice pleaded. Devo's expression didn't shift as he rubbed his eyes.

"Where are you.". Alice told him to check the world map. She told him to look for a green dot on the world map. He spotted the dot Alice mentioned and told her he found it.

"Ok, I'll be waiting by this statue.". Alice showed him the statue she mention and told him to take care before hanging up. Devo closed the friend list and hopped off the giant tree stump, following the mini-map.

Before he walked too far from the giant tree, Devo stopped by the pond situated near the giant tree stump. He leaned over took a look at his reflection. He sighed in relief, seeing he looked like he did in real life. He took a better look at his facial features and realized his eyes and the tips of his hair were a deep shade of purple, that could have been mistaken for black. Devo also angeled himself so he could see his entire outfit in the reflection of the pond. Devo wearing a grey trench coat, with white fur around the cuffs and rim of the hood, a black t-shirt, and black trousers. He finally realized he was wearing silvery metallic shoes, that had a wavey texture on them. He figured Alice must have changed them somehow but didn't mind, seeing as he could just change them later. He stepped away from the pond and continued on his way.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Devo strolled through the forest, the sound of wildlife-filled the air. His uneventful stroll was halted by a line of rainbow coloured ducks, that looked like they were mixed with a peacock, crossing the path in front of him. As he stared at the line of ducks, a status screen appeared showing info on the ducks. The screen showed that the ducks were called Vibraduck and they were an A-class animal. They eventually passed and Devo continued on his way. He moved the branches of a short tree out of his way and exited the forest, arriving in a normal-looking field. He looked to his left and spotted a tall metalic wall in the distance. He picked up his pace and ran over to the wall.

Devo walked through the gateway in the wall and stopped after a few steps. He saw that the majority of the buildings, in contrast to the metallic border wall, looked run down and abandoned. He also noticed that hundreds of people were just standing around and seemed to all be confused, with some slightly panicking. Devo looked up and spotted the statue Alice showed him earlier. Devo walked through the crowd of people and, as he left the crowd, felt a hand holding onto his arm. He looked behind him and saw that a child had grabbed a hold of him. Devo blankly stared at the pink-haired elf-looking girl, who was covering their mouth with their panda plushie.

"Do you know what's going on, mister?" the girl quietly asked. Devo's entire body stiffened at the moment he was referred to as mister. The girl gained a concerned expression, believing she upset him.

"Mister?". Devo snapped out of it and cleared his throat.

"Not sure, I was heading over to a smarta- I mean friend...". The girl looked at him and her grip grew a little stronger.

"Could I come with you?". Devo wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"Wouldn't it be better to go with your friends?". The girl's expression slightly soured and she looked away from Devo. She gestured to Devo to move closer. He crouched down so that they were at eye level. While whispering, she explained that she only joined the game recently and hasn't made any friends yet. Devo scratched his head, in response to her explanation.

"Fine." Devo stood up and mentioned where he was heading while pointing at the statue in the distance. The girl continued to cling to Devo's arm and the two made their way towards the statue.

"Can... I add you to my friends list?". Devo sighed and opened his friends list. He received a friend request from the girl.

"So, your name's Shira?". Devo tapped accepted and her name was added to his Friends List, along with his appearing on hers. She nodded her head to confirm his question. She checked her friends List and learned Devo's name.

Meanwhile, at the damaged statue, Aline sat on the base of the statue, staring methodically at the world map as she watched the green dot, that represented Devo, approach. She opened her inventory and scrolled through. She tapped on a few items and her clothes started to glow a faint red and cyan, with corresponding cube particles slowly floating off of her. After a few seconds, the glow faded and her clothes had completely changed. She was now wearing a wooly and frilly cyan hooded cloak, that went down to her elbows, with white fur around the edge and the hood. Underneath the cloak, Alice was now wearing a frilly white short dress, that had an opening at the front of it. It also had ribbons on the back of the skirt part that was about half her size, with cyan bowties on the ends of the ribbons tied down using blue diamond-shaped crystals. She had deep ocean blue leggings that went above her knees and were wearing white and cyan mage boots. She scrolled through her inventory again but stopped when she spotted Devo and Shira, through the screen, approaching. She closed her inventory and waved to them.

"Devo, you made it and I see you've made a friend," Alice remarked. Alice cheekily stuck her tongue out. Devo sighed in response, much to Alice's delight.

"So, what was so important that you had to tell me face-to-face?". Alice's face shifted to a perplexed expression. She gained a shocked expression, apon remembering why she had originally called him.

"Oh yeah I almost completely forgot. I'm not sure if you noticed, the logout button isn't working.". Devo nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"However, that isn't even the worst thing, if what I assume is true.". Devo's eyes widened slightly at Alice's second statement and Shira instinctively tightened her grip.

"I've noticed that some of the menus, such as the many crafting, enchanting and cooking menus, have disappeared and... from what I've overheard... from people around town, definitely not from personal experience, that they felt pain when they got hurt.".

"Are you sure they weren't just being pedantic?". Devo's question was instantly shot down by Alice angrily flailing her arms around.

"I'm not being pedantic, hitting the ground hurts. The pain replicator was only ever able to make you think you were hurt not to replicate pain!". Devo scratched the back of his head and looked up to the sky.

"Sorry for... hurting your... feelings, Alice. But, what does that have to with this supposed bigger problem?." Alice puffed her cheeks, pouted, and wiped some tears from her eyes.

"It's only a theory, and I still need more info to be certain, but I think we might not be in the game anymore.". Shira looked confused, not fully understanding what Alice had just said.

"Are you trying to tell me we're stuck, or more accurately been put, in another universe with some of the game's mechanics?". Alice nodded her head. Shira's grip became even tighter as she fully processed Devo and Alice's conversation. Devo noticed Shira seemed to be getting distressed.

"What a hassle." Devo thought to himself. Devo placed his free hand on her head. She looked up at Devo in response to feeling his hand.

"Don't worry Shira. I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out.". Shira let go of Devo's arm and placed both her hands on top of Devo's hand.

"I'll be... fine Devo. It was just a lot to take in, that's all". Shira slightly pressed Devo's hand down on her head. She looked down at the ground, obscuring her face from Devo and Alice, and faintly smirked. Alice got concerned wondering if Shira was ok. She eventually let go of Devo's hand and looked upwards.

"I'm fine now," Shira said. Shira gave a small smile, relieving Alice of her concern. Devo asked if there was anything else Alice wanted to tell them. She shook her head and informed him she didn't. Alice suddenly got an idea making Devo concerned.

"Don't look at me like that, I just thought we should probably go and fight some weak monsters to test out the combat.".

"That's probably a good idea.". Devo's response made Alice smile. She opened her world map and looked over the nearby area. She pointed to a location, making Devo and Shira look at the spot.

"This should be a good spot. Normally monsters are around level twenty-five-ish so we shouldn't one-shot them.". Before Devo could even say anything else, Alice started to float and hurried off, gesturing to Devo and Shira to follow her.