Doctor Hearley led the siblings to a door at the side. She opened it, revealing a girly room.

A comfortable bed with many pillows, a desk, and a large cabinet made up the room. The room was mostly white with some pink accents and a wood-like floor.

Scanning the room, Liam was surprised as he noticed the pictures showing in a digital frame on one of the walls.

“Doctor, i…”

“You can call me Merida.”

“Ok, thank you. Merida, is this the room of your daughter?”

“It was, yes. I could never decide what to do with it since my daughter left.”

“What? This… I’m so sorry! Is this…”

“What are you thinking?! Mara went to study two years ago and hasn’t been back since. Disobedient girl! Only bothering to ca…”

Suddenly heart wrenching sobs interrupted the doctor. Liam turned to Serena, finding his sister fighting against tears.

“Serena? What?... Are you thinking about mom and dad?”

The young girl’s lips quivered, nodding sadly.

Liam let out a sigh as he hugged his sister.

“It’s ok. Let it all out. Don’t worry. I’m sure mom and dad will come back.”

“Really? But… what if they don’t find us after we lost our house?”

Liam felt a stabbing pain right in his heart. The biggest regret of the old Liam was not being able to keep their home. All his possessions had been taken away by some greedy people, thinking that his parents hid some of their findings over the years.

One must know that exploring the ancient ruins scattered in the universe was dangerous business and those able to bring something back were highly respected.

Most of the technology humanity had today was found in the ruins and reverse engineered, Liam’s parents playing a small part in this as well.

Thus, it wasn’t surprising that some forces eyed Liam after his parents went missing. They came up will all kinds of shady reasons to step for step force him into bankruptcy.

[Player Liam. Receive your second challenge.]

[Regain your old possessions.]

[Rewards will be based on degree of completion.]

A new challenge? Seems like this will take a while.

By the way. C, what about my current challenge?

[Evaluation ongoing.]

Liam shook his head, putting this matter at the back of his head. Regaining his old possessions couldn’t be accomplished in the short term.

A while later Serena had calmed down. The doctor went elsewhere, giving the siblings some room, now returning with an extra mattress.

“Thank you doctor. For everything.”

“Merida!”

“Merida.”

“Thank you, Merida.”, echoed Serena, her smile still looking somewhat sad.

“It’s alright. Treat this as your home for now. The door over there leads to a separate bathroom.”

“Thank you. I guess we will go to sleep now.”

“Sure. Good night.”

“Good night.”

“Nighty!”

Merida left with a smile, leaving the siblings alone.

Stolen novel; please report.

Liam sighed. He walked towards a large window. It was already dark outside, snowflakes fluttering silently through the air.

But the city was brightly illuminated. Screens and lanterns could be found at all heights, some of them hanging from the giant high-rise buildings making up most of the city.

The lanterns illuminated the busy street below, filled with cars. Above, even flying cars could occasionally be spotted, but they were only sold since a few years ago at astronomical prices.

In the distance a monstrous tree, reaching for the skies, filled with festive decorations, could be seen between a few houses. This was the red oak lending the city its name.

Liam’s former home wasn’t far away from this tree.

I still can’t believe it…

Before Liam could sink into thoughts, he felt someone grabbing his hand tightly. Liam tilted his head, looking into his sister’s cute eyes.

“Should we go to sleep?”

“Yes. I’m tired.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Liam gripped Serena’s hand tightly for once before letting go.

But as he tried to lay down on the extra mattress, Serena pulled on his sleeve.

“What is it?”

“Can we please share a bed? I can’t sleep alone…”

“But I’m right here.”

“Pleaaase?”

Liam smiled wryly while patting his sister’s head.

“Ok. But just this once, alright?”

“Ok.”, pouted Serena.

Thus, Liam hugged his sister as the young girl fell into a peaceful sleep. At this moment C reminded Liam of its presence.

[Challenge ‘’Save the life of your sister!’ accomplished.]

[Evaluation: Rank A!]

[Possible rewards:

1. A strengthened body.

2. Choose one item with a level requirement below 20.

3.

Please choose, Player Liam.]

Liam calmly took in the information. He quickly had a question.

C? Is the evaluation system the same as in Fate of Crunaboul?

[Yes. Player Liam.]

So it goes from F to SSS…

I feel like I already did pretty good. How could I have reached SSS?

Liam was somewhat confused. But he felt a strange itch in his chest. It had been quite some time since he got anything less than an S in one of the game’s quests.

Still, I have to accept that this is real life and not a game.

But it didn’t matter how much he tried to remind himself. The fact that he wasn’t able to reach a higher evaluation irked him.

However, he wasn’t discouraged. Quite the opposite. A faint excitement twinkled in Liam’s eyes.

Let’s take a look at the rewards.

Liam pondered for a while. A strengthened body wasn’t bad, but he was confident to achieve it by himself.

An item might be useful. In this world there were alien beasts and martial artists who might pose a threat to normal humans.

But Liam had a vague idea about their strength from his parents. An item below level twenty wouldn’t be enough to defend himself.

Thus, his focus fell on the information. In Fate of Crunaboul information was highly valuable. Whenever it was a possible reward, it was incredibly helpful most of the time.

Liam hoped that C would stand true to its principles as he decided on reward 3.

[You have chosen 3: information. Is this correct?]

Yes.

[Congratulations on finishing this challenge. You reward will arrive shortly.]

[Reward information:]

[The Virtual World will be spread in the universe in three days.]

Liam suddenly opened his eyes in shock.

Virtual World? Are you talking about Fate of Crunaboul?

[Yes.]

Liam laid frozen in his bed. He didn’t know what to feel about this information.

Originally Liam expected New Game Plus to let him play Fate of Crunaboul from the beginning.

But before he could react, C miraculously brought him to another world. Liam struggled to adapt, only the challenges forcing him to work towards a clear goal.

However, now C revealed that Fate of Crunaboul will be coming to this world as well.

Liam found some incredibly vague information in his mind. His parents once mentioned signs hinting at a virtual reality which played a huge role in the Ancient Civilization.

Humanity tried to replicate it but was met with many obstacles. They only made rapid progress with the devices used to enter virtual reality, even putting them on sale already.

Naturally those weren’t highly popular, only spreading among some hardcore gamers and people rich enough to buy them without worry.

However, Liam could already imagine the change when Fate of Crunaboul finally went live.

Wait! If the game is about to launch, why is there no advertisement at all?

[…]

C?

[…]

Great. Playing dead?

Liam shook his head, contemplating something else.

Should I play?

This question wasn’t easy to answer for Liam. He didn’t know if there was much meaning in him playing the game.

On the other hand, he did enjoy it, or he would’ve ended his career after the first championship in his former life.

Although buying a console won’t be cheap, Liam was confident that he would be able to make a fortune from the game.

While Liam was weighing the pros and cons, C suddenly interrupted him.

[Player Liam, receive your next challenge.]

[Enter Fate of Crunaboul on the first day of its launch.]

[Rewards will be based on degree of completion.]

Another challenge?

At this moment a smirk formed on Liam’s face. Maybe this was a way to manipulate C to give him more challenges and thus more rewards.

Although his intention for New Game Plus was to experience a new challenge, Liam wasn’t stupid enough to let go of some advantages.

It’s getting interesting…

Liam’s thoughts churned some more until he finally fell asleep.

The next morning Liam woke up with the smell of fresh bread in his nose.

Liam was about to turn around but immediately stopped himself as he felt the small body in his arms. He looked down at his sister.

“Good morning, Serena.”

Waiting for a moment, Liam smiled in amusement when Serena didn’t move. But her twitching nose and fluttering eyes gave the young girl away.

“Come, Serena. Let’s get up. Don’t you want some delicious breakfast?”

Serena still didn’t move but at this moment her stomach let out a loud growl.

Serena’s ears reddened in embarrassment. Suddenly she grabbed the pillow below her head, hitting her brother right in the face.

“You dummy!”

Liam could only blink, questioning how he deserved this.