A happy chiming tune wakes Aya from her slumber, rubbing her eyes she turns her head toward the sound.
"Oh the game." she says, pushing the covers off and slowly getting out of bed with a yawn. Aya makes her way over to the only desk in her small one room apartment. Once she's comfortable she checks the time on her phone that's charging nearby.
"3:45 am? It's pretty late." she says yawning again. The music from her screen continues to play, making her turn her attention back to it.
Even if she didn't want to play right now the music was getting in the way of her restful night, plus she needed to let the PacBook charge fully for the night.
Aya sits ready to turn off the laptop monitor when she decides to take a look at the game instead.
Displayed on her screen is a vast landscape that makes her eyes go wide with excitement, Aya clicks on watching animations for a beautiful land structured to look like something straight out of a fantasy novel.
The mascot character from before flies over her screen once more, waving at Aya as though to invite her into the game. The girl could only squeal in joy, digging out her old mouse to plug it in and click around.
"Let's see first of all I have to make an account huh?" she says. After filling in the necessary details she comes to the part where she has to select her name and class.
[Please enter a name]
"Hmm, I want to choose something clever but at the same time it's just a game so no pressure." she says to herself. Aya holds her hand to her chin seriously mulling over what the name of her avatar would be.
"I'll just keep it simple." Aya says, typing into the computer.
[You have selected Yvlena]
[Yvlena will be your name?]
[Yes/No]
Aya smiles to herself remembering an old story about that particular name. Her mom used to tell her stories once upon a time, she could barely remember any of them now but that name stuck out to her.
Yvlena.
'And it's pretty too.' she thinks.
Next comes the race.
"Well I don't really know much about all these basic stats but it might be a little boring to play as a human I think." Aya says with a giggle. "Though from what I know, humans are generally more balanced but certain classes have more strength or dexterity hmm."
She looks through the classes, coming upon, elves, dwarves, humans, and a multitude of other races each with their own unique stats, and power-ups.
Aya finds herself getting overwhelmed by all the choices she's presented with.
"Bah!" she exclaims, throwing her hands in the air "I'm just going with elf, I've always wanted to play as that race anyway." she says clicking on the button.
[You have selected elf as your race]
[Elf will be your race]
[Yes/No]
Aya clicks yes
Another prompt comes up.
[Please choose a starting area]
A couple options show up and Aya picks the one that makes the most sense to her.
[You have selected Bloom Haven.]
[Yes/No]
Aya clicks the confirmation button once more and soon all the info she's entered disappears, allowing the game to load.
"Welcome Yvlena to Moon Valley a land of secrets, mysteries, and more. Do enjoy your stay and remember magic is real."
A kindly and motherly voice says from the computer speakers. After a shortcut scene introducing her character Aya is finally greeted by the elf she made.
"Wow I look so cute." the character on screen is a little elf girl. Yvlena had dark hair like her's, with warm eyes, her hair was cut short in a bob and her skin a lovely tan. Aya made sure the character looked somewhat like her.
'It's like I'm really in the game. I wonder how it feels with VR?' she thinks. Moving her character around she could see she was in a small town. The cobblestone floors and little shops around gave the fantasy novel type medieval vibe.
Aya wasn't alone either, all around her, she could see different players and NPCs running around. The girl feels herself getting overwhelmed again, after all this was all quite new to her.
"Is there a guide or something, maybe I should just check on my character." she opens the status to view her basic stats
NAME: YVLENA
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
RACE: ELF
HP:100
MP:60
CLASS:????
[LVL: 1]
[EXP:0/30]
her eyes fall on the stats she currently had.
[STR]:10
[DEF]:5
[DEX]:12
[AGI]:12
[INT]:12
[WIS]:10
[CHA]:5
[LUK]:5
Aya nods, wondering if she could do more research into the game so she could understand what all the numbers meant, though she was pretty sure she wasn't the strongest character. There was more info
"Never been much of a fighter so I'll take it," she says nodding to herself. Checking the time again Aya nearly jumps out of her seat
It was now 5:27 am nearly time for her to get up for work. Now she would feel sleepy as she pushed her trolley all over the office.
Aya groans but, doesn't regret creating her character and going through the set up of the game. She had a lot of fun even though she hadn't played yet.
"I can't wait to explore this some more." she says, logging out for the day and closing her computer.
"There's a mobile app too!" she says, checking her now fully charged phone. Opening the app stores she quickly searches for the Moon Valley companion app and installs it while she runs to the shower to kick start her day.
More than anything at least the day had started well.
"Thank you Daichi!" she beams, slipping into her work clothes and grabbing hr backpack for the day. When she came home she'd have something to look forward to.
----------
All through the day, the only thing Aya could think of was Moon Valley, she pushes her mail ignoring the rude remarks as usual.
Even Viviana's usual quips didn't bother her. All she wanted to was go home and play. The workday seems to go on forever.
"What's with you today?" The mail room boss asks. He takes a deep puff of smoke, blowing it around the room and saturating the air.
"What do you mean sir?" Aya asks, looking up from her phone. This was one of the rare chances he addresses her without a sharp tone or snarky attitude.
"How do I say this, the lights are on but nobody's home." He says with a chuckle. Aya laughs a bit too, although a bit nervously. Honestly, the grumpy man looked like he could fire her for breathing wrongly at the mail station.
"I'm just a bit distracted but I delivered all my mail on time same as usual." Aya replies.
"You better be, I know you can't afford to mess up with this job." he says with a smirk. He swivels around in his chair, facing the lone television screen in the mail room.
Aya frowns at his words, and her good mood evaporates instantly at the reminder of her situation. He was the one slacking off and yet here she was getting the short end of the stick.
She shakes her head, brushing the comment off so she doesn't fume over his words. If she could find a better job she'd take it.
Axen City was going through an economic drought, with unemployment rising by the minute, of course, she couldn't lose the only job she currently had. The city was dying, the place she'd grown up in all this time was dying.
'No wonder Daichi got him and his grandma a place out of here.' Aya thinks.
It was a depressing situation and that jerk just had to bring it up. Aya sighs, tapping her foot anxious to shake off the stress. It was a miracle her hair didn't fall out at this point.
"Whatever, I'm going to save enough, and then I'm going to leave too." she mutters to herself. Holding that promise, she nods. It would be painful to turn her back on the city her mother and father loved but it was getting too much.
----------
Aya repeats her evening routine once more, getting on the bus and heading home for the day, she'd been so busy she couldn't even examine the companion app.
Taking out her phone she decides to do it on the bus ride home, while it was quiet and had very few passengers.
[Please input login details]
the app says.
Aya quickly does as instructed.
The interface opens, revealing a pixelated version of BloomHaven the starting area Aya had chosen. The girl smiles, letting the game bring a little smile to her face after the long day.
The app shows her the character stats, current items (of which she had none), and a few other little details.
The next tab on the app was much more surprising.
"Earnings" she reads, on this page were her current Moon Points and gold, the in-game currency.
Scanning the app, she learns that Moon Valley has quite a few ways to make money, Aya swipes out, fully intending to look through that page late.
The next tab on the app was the mini-game tab, where the player could play simple games to win in-game items and Moon Points.
The fourth tab was a simple items collections window, that was currently locked. Aya assumes it's for the items one could collect and trade.
The final tab is locked, making Aya unable to access it for now. She shrugs and heads back to look at the character screen.
Her little elf avatar stares back at her with warm brown eyes, Aya feels as though she's looking at a reflection.
----------
The bus stops at its usual destination, leaving Aya to dismount and wave the driver good evening.
On her way to the apartment, she could make out a moving vehicle parked outside.
'Oh, no way! Mrs. Lutz is leaving already?' she thinks, increasing her pace so she would be able to catch up to her neighbor before she left.
"Mrs. Lutz!" Aya calls, meeting the old woman who watches the moving men load her items unto the back of the truck.
"Aya my dear, I'm so glad I got to see you before I leave." the old woman says with a kind smile. She hugs Aya tenderly before a voice calls for her.
"Grandma we don't have all day." Daichi's voice calls from the modest four-wheel vehicle. Aya on seeing the redhead waves enthusiastically.
"So good to see you Daichi!" Aya calls.
The man pokes his head out of the window.
"Aya is that you!" he asks, the car door slams open as he runs off to see the young lady currently hugging his grandma.
"It's been forever! How have you been? Heard you work at Nue Corp now." he says. Aya sighs deeply.
"Ugh don't remind me, it's nothing special I just work in the mail room." she says, oddly enough Daichi seems impressed by her words.
"You know I used to be a janitor there." Daichi says with a kind smile.
"For real?"
The man replies with a nod and a smile.
"Now look at me, moving outta this dump of a city, you should come too if you can Aya, plenty of opportunities in Mericross city."
Aya's head drops.
"I would love to but I don't have the money to move to a city like that." she says.
Daichi nods.
"There are other ways to make money." he says. "You've heard of Moon Valley?"
Aya nods vigorously.
"Yeah, I just got it working yesterday thanks to your old PacBook." Aya says laughing.
"Grandma told me she gave it to you, I'm glad it's in good hands. Play your cards right with that game and you'll make more than you think." he says.
Aya nods, taking his words to heart.
The moving men soon call for Daichi and his grandmother. The old lady hurries along while Daichi takes a moment to bid Aya farewell.
"Hope to see you in Mericross soon, Aya." he says one last time before he's off. Aya stays at the apartment entrance to watch the cars drive away as she waves to them.
"Play my cards right huh, well you got it Daichi."
----------
Heading up to her apartment Aya only has one thing on her mind, Moon Valley, she would try her best to make the most out of it.
If the game could really guarantee a source of income she was willing to try.
And then maybe one day she'd build her own company, something that could save Axen.
Just like her mom would have.
Walking into her apartment Aya hangs her backpack up and walks over to her desk to start the laptop. She sits, opening the game to hear a familiar and melodious chime.
"Welcome to Moon Valley."
[Login?]
[Yes/No]
She moves her mouse, hovering over the answer.
Game Start.