I owe an apology (again) to those reading Rebirth+. My life's took a sudden turn and I”m getting things back to normal. Until I do there will be a delay on chapters. I'll be able to write a little each day, not a ton like at first over the weekends. The chapters will now be released sometime on each Friday after I finish editing them. Please bear with me while I get things back together.

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Lucas sighed, leaning back in his high-backed leather chair. He rubbed his face. Work had been rather hard these last 24 hours. He needed to sleep.

“I really want to play.”

His door opened. A familiar face came in. He sat up to retrieve the documents from him.

“What's this?”

“Sale projections for next quarter. It's from the company we just sponsored.”

He opened the folder, seeing his company's stocks and profits. His eyes widened. He looked up, unbelieving.

“Is this correct? Did you double-check everything?”

“Yes sir. I had the marketing team and financial department go over it several times, as well as I did so myself. The information is correct.”

“This is four times higher than I hoped for. If this is the case we're going to be busier. Get the Marketing Team to endorse this publicly. No more hiding our intentions. I want that brand and our company's name mentioned together everywhere. It has to be common knowledge. We can't miss this chance.”

He closed the folder and returned it.

“Yes sir.” The man bowed and left.

“A peculiar custom.”

He gathered his things, stuffing his PC info his briefcase and heading out of the office. He took the central elevator for his exclusive use down to the first floor. He nodded and bid good-bye to employees as he left.

His private car pulled up. He slipped in the back, ignoring his driver's attempt to open the door for him. He buckled and set down his briefcase.

“Take me home.”

“Yes sir.”

He watched the high-rises flash by on the way. A few short minutes passed and they entered the gate to his home. They drove up to the front steps and he got out. He waved his driver off as he headed inside.

His head of staff met him there, giving him the usual rundown.

“There are two mail and four calls.”

“The mail?”

“One is from the auto owner's insurance. The other is from the private phone line.”

He shrugged off his coat and handed it over, but kept his briefcase. No one could have that but himself.

“Bills. And the calls?”

“All from the executive producer regarding the contract.”

“Hmm. Thank you. I'll want to be alone tonight.”

“I'll see that it's done.”

Lucas nodded and headed upstairs. The wide steps gave way to the second floor, covered in luxurious marble and scarlet-gold carpets. He made his way to his room, locking it. He went to the second room he'd turned into a game room. He locked that as well.

A bed lay in the center with a single desk nearby. He turned the lamp to low and set his briefcase down. He dressed for bed, grabbing the VLAM as he lay down on silken sheets and overpriced mattress. He relaxed, letting his mind clear as the VLAM read his signature and activated.

He felt a shift and opened his eyes. The forest of giant trees greeted him. He smiled, feeling all the tension of normal life melt away. Uplifted, he took a deep breath and really looked.

“What is this?”

He was in a camp of some kind. He was sure he didn't log out here. Meaning this had all been made while he was away. How could this happen?

“Did Tannin do all of this?”

There was a giant root layered with animal pelts. Near it was a rack of wood littered with meats. A small fire had burned down after exhausting itself underneath the meat. The coals were still red.

Littered near the fire were other objects. Several different kind of tools. There were stakes, spears, a small hand-sized shovel made of wood and thick bark. There was also rope. Lots of it.  Small bone objects with stones lay nearby. Some bones were fractured, indicating being carved or hit.

“He's been very busy.”

He sat on a root near the coals, twiddling his thumbs. His waiting paid off. Tannin came jogging in, war fan out. Lucas stood, eagerly ready to play.

Tannin was dressed very raggedly. He wore his original boots and only the upper half of his pants were intact. He had a rope slung over his shoulder, a few small birds strung in it.

“Tannin?”

He asked it as a question. The man he looked at bore scars across his body. His left arm was splintered, wrapped, and bloody. His eyes had the most extreme change. The stranger before Lucas turned his eyes on him, full of suspicion and caution.

Tannin froze, the sound of someone else talking besides him putting him off his routine. He faced the intruder, ready to battle. No way would he let someone threaten his new-found peace.

His eyes found Lucas, and he had to take a second to relax himself. He put on a genuine smile.

“Lucas! You're on!”

Tannin put his weapon away, setting down his recent bounty near the meat rack. Seeing another person had him in high spirits. Time to catch up and eat something good!

“Sit, sit!” He waved his hand when Lucas came over.

“It's been a while. It seems forever since I last saw you.” Tannin chatted happily.

He pulled some finished smoked meat off the rack and spitted it. He then handed it over to Lucas.

“Well, it's only been one day. I see that you have played all night and day too. Are you okay?”

“I'm fine! I'll tell you though, fighting is really difficult.”

Tannin spitted his own meat and sat cross-legged across the fire from Lucas. He chomped down on the smoked meat, salivating instantly. Meat in the game was very tasty.

Lucas took a small bite out of his own. He chewed slowly, not having truly eaten anything in game yet. “This is good! Did you make this yourself? It tastes like tough, smoked chicken.”

“Yeah. I can't get enough of it. It's kind of hard to get.”

Tannin watched as Lucas steadily ate his throughout the conversation, glad to see that he enjoyed it.

“What exactly am I eating?”

“Saber cat.”

Lucas choked on his food. “Saber cat?! You mean you've been hunting those?”

“Yeah. I've figured out how to hunt them. It was hard to figure out the best way to kill them. The first few days you were away were really hard.”

Lucas frowned. “How long has it been since I left?”

“Mmm... About seven days or so. They kind of mash together.”

“So 24 hours in real life is a week in game? That seems kind of slow.”

“I guess. There's a lot to do in game.”

“I see that. You have made a lot of progress.”

“Yeah, learned three skills and leveled.”

“What level are you now?”

“Three. One more kill and I think I'll hit level 4. Want to party with me again? I could use a heal or two.”

“Sure. I need to level myself. Mind if I have another piece?”

“No problem. Here.”

He handed Lucas another smoked meat.

“Thank you. I'd like to repay you for this, but I don't have anything.”

“It's fine. I can get more of it. The fighting saber cats is rough. I could use a healing pot or two, but I haven't figured out how to make them yet.”

“I have an alchemy skill. I discovered it on day one.”

“Really?! What do you need?”

If this was true he didn't need to waste so many items or rely on checking his bags so often.

“Unfortunately, it requires some materials I haven't found yet. Let me check again.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Tannin watched Lucas check his status window and skills. It seemed the system was still working. Why not his then?

“Ah, here we are. I need three herbal leaf and a source of water. My staff can do the rest.”

“Yes! Let's test that in a bit. I have to finish preparing this meat really quick.”

“Alright.”

Tannin quickly pulled the slabs of smoking meat off the stakes on the rack, sliding them into his bags.  He rekindled the fire and retrieved some dried roots from the hollow to burn later. He spitted the birds, feathers and all, placing them directly over the fire.

“Shouldn't we pluck those?” Lucas asked.

“Huh? No, it's fine. They're so small the feathers burn to nothing when cooked.”

He placed the rest of the raw saber cat meat out to smoke. “So far nothing seems interested in scents, so the meat should be fine if we just leave it here. Of course, now that I've said that it'll change by tomorrow.”

Lucas frowned in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh! You haven't noticed yet?”

“Noticed what?”

“The game adapts depending on what we do. That can be actions, or not acting, or even what we say.”

“What?!”  Lucas jumped to his feet.

“Yeah. There's been a few changes already. Wait and see. Tomorrow I bet you if I leave the meat out something will come and find it.”

“Are you serious? This game is like that?”

“I tested it a few times and it seems so. Hey, you ready to level? I want to see what we can do.”

Lucas seemed taken by surprise. “I guess so.”

“Great! Pick up your stick and let's go. I have something to show you.”

“Calling my staff just a stick...”

Lucas followed Tannin through the forest. They traveled for some time, Tannin harvesting a few plants here and there.

“Is that one of your skills?”

“Yeah. Wildcrafting. Allows me to take materials from plants without destroying them. So far it's saved my life and granted me two more skills.”

“Hmm.  What's that sound?”

“Hah, it's one of the things you need.”

Tannin led further away and a slight mist appeared. The sound reached a rumble as he led Lucas to the river. He grinned as Lucas took it in.

“I'm not so sure this is just a game. The details always amaze me.” Lucas whispered low, in awe.

“You said water was one thing you needed.”

“Ah, Yes.” Lucas came back to himself. “The other is herbal leaf...” His eyes lit up. “Is that something you have?”

“Yeah, I was gathering some while we came here. I have a ton stocked up. Alone they heal some HP, but aren't very effective. Let's make some pots!”

“I thought we were going to level first?”

“We can level faster if we have the pots. We won't have to wait for the regen rate to heal.”

“This will also save me some MP. Alright, let's try making some potions.”

They headed to a slow part of the river near some boulders. They sat, Tannin pulling out a few herbal leaves and handing them over. Lucas accepted them with a nod.

Lucas scooped some water into his hand, placing three herbal leaves on top. With his free hand he brought the edge of his staff down, chanting. “Alchemy!”

A soft blue glow gave way to a small flask. It held a deep green liquid.

“Identify this for me.”

“Ok.” Tannin stared at it and named the item. “Small Healing Potion. Gives 200 HP instantly. No cool down, then? That's a good starter item. We can make a ton of these too. Let's do the rest!”

Tannin pulled out half of his herbal leaves and handed them over.

“Alchemy!”

Lucas finished the quick process and handed the pots over to Tannin.

“Keep half. As payment. You'll need them too. Can't have the healer die, can we?”

“Thanks.” Lucas pocketed 5 small healing potions.

Tannin jumped up. “Now we can go hunting.”

“Where will we go?”

“Back into the forest. We can try our luck at saber cats. I've gotten them memorized. With you this will be easy.”

Lucas nodded. “I'll form the party then.” Lucas waved his hand around, moving inside the system windows. A window popped up in front of Tannin.

Would you like to accept party invitation from Lucas? YES/NO

He selected Yes.

You have joined Lucas' party.

EXP will be shared between all party members. Item drops will be divided between members at the party leader's discretion.

“Nice! Now I don't have to worry about my HP. I can just attack and you can heal me.”

“You seem to enjoy fighting.”

Tannin shrugged, leading the way into the forest. “It's something necessary I had to learn or die.”

Lucas was caught by surprise. He'd played many games before, with many people. This was the first time he'd heard someone say something so out of place. One couldn't die in game for real, so why was Tannin so serious?

“Don't you think maybe you should take a break from playing?”

Tannin shook his head. “Nah, not yet. I, uh, need to level a bit more. I want to stay ahead of the second wave.”

“Tannin, when's the last time you took a break?”

“Hmm. When we ate?”

“Not that. I meant when's the last time you logged out?”

“Not since I logged in the first time.”

“You've been playing this whole time?”

Tannin shrugged. What else could he do? “Yeah.”

“Aren't you worried about your body? You should log out. If you like I can stay here and level while you log off for a few hours.”

“That's okay. It doesn't matter. I can't log off anyway.”

“Tannin!”

Tannin stopped, forced to face Lucas now that he'd spilled the truth.  “What? Don't you want to level?” He tried changing tactics, hoping to change the topic.

“I'm worried. You haven't logged out for 24 hours?”

Oh well. Can't hide the truth now.

“I can't log out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have no system windows to access. It just errors. And the function for GM chat isn't working either. I can't leave the game.”  His eyes wandered, unable to look Lucas in the eye.

“That's ridiculous. A person can't be stuck in the game.”

“.....”

“You're not joking.” A statement.

“No. I was waiting for an update or patch to come out. Since it hasn't I have to wait.”

“Have you received any messages from your VLAM in game?”

“No, no health alert messages. My body's fine.”

“Still, I should probably check just in case.”

“What, you're going to go to my house?”

“I can call someone. You have relatives or friends that live with you?”

Tannin sat on a root, afraid of the path this was taking.

“You can call my aunt, I guess.”

Tannin gave Jenifer's number to Lucas.

“I'll log out and find this out. Sorry about not playing. I'll come back as soon as I can.”

“Ok. See you then.”

Lucas nodded, waved his arm, and was gone.

“Sigh...”

He was alone again.