Chapter 1 leaving everything behind.

Bzzzzt!bzzzt!bzzz*thump*

"I'm up already" with a yawn David rolled out of bed and got ready for work.

During his drive to work he listened to his favorite radio station.

"Welcome back everyone to GNR."

(Game Nation Radio)

"Today we have some hot new's about the game company that has taken the world by storm. In case you have been living under a rock Unicorn unveiled Royal Road to the world one year ago and nothing has been the same since. For those of you who are regular listener's you are already aware that Unicorn has dropped a bombshell early this week for those of use in the USA."

"Unicorn has announced they will be giving one lucky person a free capsule and a life time subscription! So if anyone is feeling lucky sign up at..."

As I pulled in at work I thought back to when I first heard of royal Road. A VR game which promised complete freedom and the use of all five sense's and the ability to move just as you do in real life. Many where skeptical that Unicorn had the capability to achieve such a feat.

But as time went on and people began playing and realizing that Unicorn had achieved what they claimed. The early question's of how did Unicorn achieve this? Was quickly drowned out by the inferno that consumed the gaming world and none gaming world alike. Of all the games I played that touted player freedom none have ever lived up to that promise.

But the more I learned about Royal Road the more I wanted to walk and breathe in it's world. Last year I wanted to buy a capsule so bad I could not stand it. As it happened I did have the money to get one but the money had been saved up for year's for buying a home outright. So even though I could not stand waiting for royal road I forced myself to stick with my plan for owning a home.

If I wanted I could get a loan at anytime to get the capsule but I absolutely refused to go into debt for anything. Which is why it took year's to buy my car and later my home. However a capsule did not cost nowhere near as much so it would take only one more year of saving to have enough to by a capsule.

Even though it did not cost as much as a house it still cost ten thousand dollar's, not to mention the three hundred dollar monthly fee! So when this giveaway was announced I jumped on within the first hour the website was up for registering. While I had no hope's of actually winning the giveaway it was still something to distract myself with considering how boring and aimless my life currently was.

As I pulled in at work I considered for at least the dozenth time what I would do if I did win the giveaway. There was the obvious option of trying to be what most refer to as a dark gamer. Dark gamer's have always been in the background of gaming earning money from selling in game item's. It has only been in recent year's that selling in game item's had been made legal.

Royal Road is the only game I new of that item's reached several thousand dollar's in auction's. But it would take quite some time to catch up to those that have been playing for a year already. Since I would need to spend all my time just trying to catch up to other player's. Time that is needed for work so being a dark gamer was not feasible.

Thinking about that I shook my head there was no point in thinking about this stuff since there was no way I would actually win the giveaway. As I walked inside I decided not to think about the giveaway anymore and just focus on saving the money for a capsule. As I walked down the hall and entered the office space I saw Nathon already shutting down his work station for the shift change.

"Hey Nathon already leaving for the night?"

Nathon turned around with a startled look and said.

"Jeez don't sneak up on me like that!"

With a grin I apologized and asked.

"So you going home already that's a little unusual for you?"

Now that I thought about it Nathon did seem a little  jumpy.

"Yes I have some stuff I need to take care of so I cant hang out tonight sorry."

"That's alright we can catch up tomorrow night so don't worry about it."

"Alright then I will be going then good night."

After that Nathon practicality ran out. I was puzzled by Nathon's behavior but brushed it off, I went over and turned my work station on. Normally Nathon would hang out for an hour or two and we talk about what we had the most interest in which happened to be Royal Road. Like me Nathon did not have a capsule so the closest we got was the forum's, video's and learning as much about Royal Road as we could.

Since our job's are server maintenance tech's Nathon had second shift and I had third shift we where pretty much the only people in the building. So we could Talk, read forum's and watch video's as much as we wanted since server maintenance amounted to nothing more than applying update's and waiting for something to go wrong.

The most excitement and constant speculation we got for work was when a new client installed one of there server's and the client was none other than Unicorn! The biggest source of speculation on the sever they installed was that only a power cable was connected and no one could figure out how it connected to Royal Road and it's capsule's.

My personal theory is they are using a quantum entanglement network which would explain why the only thing that was plugged into the server's and capsule's was a power cable and why there was zero lag for all Royal Road user's. (Arthur's note:This is a real thing check it out.)

As I settled in for the night shift I pulled up the server status list on one screen and the Royal Road forum's on the other. As I started browsing the forum's for the latest event's I came across a post saying another guild war had broken out as well as tax's being raised in the central continent again. *sigh* With all the crap the guild's pull in the central continent war's, tax's and charging non guild member's to use hunting ground's.

There's no way I would start in the central continent. I would be better off with choosing a area well outside there influence. While this had the downside of not having access to the central continent's more advanced technology however the upside to starting in a area with little to no large guild presence had the benefit's of not having to worry about paying tax's to any guild or having to pay to use any hunting ground's I came across.

In addition the guild's of the central area kept access to many quest's under a iron grip forcing many to pay ludicrously high price's or join the guild's in order to gain access to them. While Royal Road does generate new quest's constantly these new quest are only able to be taken by a few before one guild or another take's it for themselves.

With all that in mind it would seem the best place to start would be the citadel of Serabourg in Rosenheim kingdom that was somewhat recently discovered. With only very small guild's present that appears to be the best option for now but by the time I buy's a capsule next year Rosenheim kingdom may have been overrun by the guild's.

*Sigh*

By the time I get a capsule two year's will have passed since the release of Royal Road which amount's to eight year's in game! This was one of the key reason's for Royal Road's addictive nature for every hour spent in this world four would pass in Royal Road. This has been the source of a lot of chaos in the early day's of Royal Road as no one knew about it. The guild's that first realized the time difference took advantage at the first chance they had.

The most notable of these guild's was the Hermes guild they where one of the very first to figure out the time difference and with there temporary advantage they wiped out several competing guild's. After these event's it became common practice for guild's to make sure they had as many of there member's in Royal Road as possible at all time's.

The more I think about it the the more I realize there's not a chance in hell for me to catch up! Getting depressed I started thinking about the giveaway once more. Was there a chance I could win? No shaking my head there was no way I could my chance of winning was about one in three hundred and sixty two million! With the announcement of the giveaway nearly the entire country signed up for the giveaway those that didn't where already playing Royal Road.

Thinking about my odds I got more depressed. Damn shame there wasn't a way for me to rig the giveaway I thought.... WAIT A MINUTE!! Eye's wide I sprung out of my chair like a coiled spring and ran full tilt to the back server room. I was feeling a little winded by the time I got there but there it was the Unicorn server that was installed two week's ago. A big black tower stood in the center of the room it dwarfed everything else in the room this could be my ticket to winning the giveaway!

Many had already tried hacking the many site's that held the giveaway but to no avail those site did not hold any connection to the main server that held the information for the giveaway this sparked a lot of question's as to how Unicorn managed such a thing but as with Royal Road itself they weren't saying anything. But as luck would have it I had something the hacker's didn't. Direct access to a Unicorn server! as I started looking around the server for anyway to open it I noticed two thing's one was the server didn't emit any heat which I found a little odd.

The second was I found several scratch marks around the server thinking no more of it than carelessness of the installer's I continued looking for a way in for the next ten minute's but to no avail. Getting frustrated I began thinking of way's to force my way in, a screw driver could work I thought so I went over to the tool kit they had in the server room, one moment I was looking for a screw driver the next I stopped dead. What the hell am I thinking?! As if coming out of some thick fog and starting to think clearly I began cursing myself.

Idiot letting desperation take over like that! Turning around I left the server room without a second look. Making my way back to my work station I sat down....*sigh* Man I'm such a idiot the more I calmed down the more I realized that getting into the server would be pointless. Unicorn was bound to have any number of alarm's and safety's in place for just this kind of situation.

As I continued grumbling at myself the hours trickled by I began to think of the announcement of who would win the giveaway that would be broadcast in a little over an hour. My shift ended in about forty five minute's so I should hear who won on my way home. The last five minutes of my shift felt like an eternity with ants crawling on my skin with one minute to go I had already shut down my work station for the night and was waiting for the day shift to show up.

The moment I heard the door open I was up and moving in a instant I was already entering the hall by the time Brad was only halve way through the hall. Surprised at seeing me on the move already he step to the side to let me pass he called out.

"Hey whats the the rush David?"

"Sorry Brad gotta run!"

If Brad had anything else to say he didn't get the chance since I was already out the door. I more or less ran over to the car impatient to hear the announcement when I finally got in and turned on the radio I was both annoyed and disappointed when all I heard was a commercial.

*sigh*

Looking at my watch I realized I still had ten minutes till the broadcast feeling a little embarrassed with the way I was acting I started the car and left for home. By the time the announcement started I was stuck in morning traffic but any annoyance I felt was swept away the moment the broadcast started.

"Good morning everyone! and welcome back to GNR I am sure you have been waiting for the announcement of the giveaway with baited breath!"

That's a understatement I thought.

"Needless to say this is the biggest giveaway event that anyone has ever held with million's upon million's signing up for this event".

"Would you just say the name already!"

I demanded while siting at a intersection waiting for the green light it felt like I was crawling out of my skin.

"So without further ado the name you have all been waiting is here! The winner of Unicorn's giveaway is!..." I was holding my breath waiting for him to say it.

"Nathon holmes!!!" "The winner of Unicorn's giveaway is Nathon holmes everyone! This has been one hell of a ride but at long last it is finally ove" *click*....*Sigh*...

"Finally it's over."

It didn't surprise me that I didn't win but I couldn't help but get worked up over it. As the light finally turned green and traffic started to move I began to relax. Well with this over I can get bac..

My thought's stopped dead in there tracks as the last thing I heard was a truck horn blaring in my ear's.

*Beep..beep..beep..beep...*

Freezing that was my first thought when I started waking up. It felt like I had ice water running in my veins while I could feel blankets laying on me but it still didn't stop me from shivering. I tried opening my eyes but they felt like they had lead weights attached in addition I felt numb all over and couldn't move at all.

I had know idea how long I stayed like that it could have been minutes or hours for all I knew. Eventually I began growing warmer and after I felt better I tried opening my eyes once more. first thing I could see was a bright white ceiling as I started looking around I realized I was in a hospital room.

-Why am I here?-

My mind felt sluggish as I tried to figure out why I was here a nurse walked in the room.

"Oh you're awake"

as she walked over I tried asking why I was here but all that came out was a small groan.

"Hey don't try to talk yet your still recovering from surgery so hold tight while I get the doctor."

Surgery? Surgery for what?! Starting to feel more than a little uneasy I tried to look down at the rest of my body but couldn't move my head all that well. It must be the sedatives from the surgery still in my system. As I was contemplating what had happened before I woke up the doctor finally showed up.

"Hello good to see you up now lets take a look at you."

As the doctor started looking at the monitors that where next to my bed I started getting anxious about finding out what happened. Moving from the monitors he took out a pen light and examined my eyes next up he pulled out my right arm and checked my pulse. At this point I felt a little relieved as he was checking my pulse I could feel the pressure and I could flex my hand a tiny bit though it was still pretty numb. At this point I managed to speak up but it came out more like a croak.

"What happened?"

"I see you don't remember well you where in a car accident the driver of the truck that hit you had a heart attack that's what caused the wreck, unfortunately he did not survive."

"I see."

The last thing I remembered was driving home so it being a car accident that landed me here wasn't to much of a surprise. But next came the question that made me uneasy.

"How bad is it?"

With a grim look he reached down and raised the head of the bed and started to pull aside the blanket.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"It would be easier to show you."

As I saw more of what was under the blanket it felt like I had ice running in my veins again. To my horror I saw what remained of my body. I maybe alive but the crash destroyed my life. My left arm was cut off from the elbow, my left leg only had halve its calve remaining and my right leg was gone from the kneecap down. Seeing all this at once was to much to take in. I stared at what remained and felt my body going back to being just as numb as when I first woke up.

The doctor had been talking to me for some time but realized I wasn't hearing any of it so he put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze then left the room. As I was staring at what remained of myself I tried to think of a way to restore my life.

If this had been twenty or thirty years ago I may have been able to afford prosthetic limbs but health care had become so bad and expensive that the average person struggled to pay just medical insurance let alone any medical bills they may have. I had no means of getting even one prosthetic limb let alone three not to mention the cost of the surgery that was already done.

I could see no way out of this hell I found myself in. For a week I struggled to find a solution but couldn't think of anything that could help me. But things just got worse I had been out cold for two days after the surgery, so when I called work to let them know what happens I learned I had been fired for not showing up and not answering any calls. And it seemed no one bothered to call them to let them know what happened while I was knocked out.

No amount of pleading would get them to undo it since all the paperwork had already been processed. But I am convinced the real reason they won't reverse it is so they didn't have to deal with my mess.

During the second week I had a unexpected visitor.

*Knock knock*Looking over I saw a asian man in a suit standing at the door.

"Hello may I come in?"

I was more than a little confused as to who this was so I asked the first thing that came to mind.

"May I ask who you are?"

"Of course my name is Yoo Byung Jun(Seen in Vol 14 Ch 11 of LMS) I am a representative of Unicorn corporation. You are Jonathon D. Kirk correct?"

I was dumbfounded why did Unicorn send a representative to me?

"Yes that's me come in I am at a bit of a loss why has Unicorn sent a representative to meet me?"

With a surprised look Yoo Byung said.

"You don't know?"

"I am afraid I don't." (DK) 

"I see you are aware I assume that you were hit by a truck?" (YB)

"Yes I was told that when I first woke up but not much else." (DK)

"I see they must not have known that it was one of our shipping truck's that hit you." (YB)

*chuckles* (DK)

"I am sorry but what is so funny?" Yoo Byung had a perplexed look on his face.

"It's just that I find it amusing that Royal Road a company that brings the opportunity to live a new life has more or less claimed my own. So you could say it's a little bit of dark humor at my own expense." (DK)

"That's quiet a interesting point of view to have considering you current situation." (YB) 

"Well they say in time's like this you can laugh or cry and at this point I just feel numb so all I have left is humor for whatever that is worth." (DK)

For a time Yoo Byung just stared at me then said.

"You are a unusual man most people in your situation would either yell and curse in anger or wallow in despair."

"To be honest I have no choice but to accept my situation so anger and despair are useless to me." (DK)

-That and I have already gone through both so much lately I am pretty much burned out but he doesn't need to know that-

"Well enough of this depressing talk what has brought you hear?" (DK)

"Ah yes I haven't even got to the point of my visit have I? My purpose is to render assistance in this time of crisis. Even if the event's that lead to this situation were out of everyone's control regardless of that action must be taken to help in any way that can be done." (YB)

Hearing this I could not help but feel a little shred of hope. Hope which had eluded me since I woke up after the crash and left me in despair. I couldn't believe that this was happening and it sounded to good to be true. There must be a reason for them to go out of there way to do this, racking my brain the only thing I could think of was that they were doing this to prevent a PR nightmare. Thinking along those line's there must be string's attached to this help they were offering and so I asked.

"What kind of help are you wanting to give?"

Yoo Byung noticing the reserved look I had went on to say.

"First we would like to pay for all medical expenses in addition we would assist you in acquiring prosthetic limbs and subsequently aid you in acquiring new employment."

Once again I was dumbfounded what they offering went far beyond what I imagined I couldn't believe it they weren't just throwing out a token gesture they were actually piecing my life back together! But Yoo Byung's next words had the feeling of the other shoe dropping.

"There is one other thing."

With a cold pit starting form in my stomach I asked.

"One other thing?"

"We would like to offer a alternative to prosthetic limbs." (YB)

Thrown of balance by not having the expected shoe dropping there was a pause before I asked.

"How can there be a alternative to prosthetic's? As far as I know the only thing that you could be referring to is growing new limbs through stem cell's. And that was banned world wide ten years ago after a production lab became contaminated with a virus which lead to the death's of over 4,000 people."

With a surprised look Yoo Byung said.

"It would seem your current situation has lead you to do some research in these matter's. However we are not using stem cell's to grow body parts then crudely attache them in a Frankenstein manner. With our procedure if successful will help your body regenerate you limbs on it's own."

It would seem I am being left dumbfounded more and more as this conversation went on.

"I know that some lizards, spiders and starfish have that ability but not humans. Short of some sort of gene therapy or splicing I am not sure how you can accomplish this feat. And from what you say this sound's experimental?"

"Once more you surprise me but there is no gene therapy or splicing and you are correct the treatment is experimental and as such I cannot discuss the detail's. Should you decide to accept this offer there are some detail's you need to know." (YB)

I couldn't help but be curious no stem cell's, gene therapy or splicing these were the only way I could think of to accomplish what he was claiming.

"So what detail's do I need to be aware of?"

"First the treatment will take a full year to finish second do to the nature of the treatment no drugs can be permitted in your system. As you can imagine for someone in your condition not having any pain medicine you would be in constant agony on top of the pain of regrowing new limb's which leave's us with two option's." (YB)

I was beginning to feel light headed from everything I was hearing taking a treatment that would have me in constant agony for a full year did not appeal to me in the slightest but there is a way around that. A drug induced coma had the upside of me not having to deal with the pain but had the very real risk of them not being able to bring me out of a year long coma.

It would be better to go with the prosthetic limbs than take such a huge risk but Yoo Byung said there was two option's and for the life of me I couldn't figure out the second so I went on to ask.

"The two options being?"

"The first being a drug induced coma which would allow us to side step the pain problem but run the risk of not being able to bring you out of it at the end of the treatment." (YB)

I nodded my head I expected as much.

"The second being we intercept the information the body is sending to the brain and supply our own in formation." (YB)

For a moment I couldn't believe what I was hearing what he was saying is what is at the heart of the technology that made them world famous! I nearly stuttered when I asked.

"Do you mean you want me to?"

With a smile Yoo Byung said. "Yes Mr. Kirk for one year in this world you would be living in Royal Road for four year's."

Stunned I couldn't say anything for several minute's it never occurred to me that Royal Road could be used in such a way the implication's for this where enormous.

Yoo Byung went on to say."However do to the nature of this treatment there will two severe drawback's for you.

At this point I would accept anything even to the point of being stuck in the starter city for the duration would be acceptable."And these drawback's are?"

"First I am sure you are aware of the fact that those that travel in Royal Road do not receive the same pain as they would in this world. However you will not be able to enjoy this advantage. We cannot risk your mind becoming accustomed to such reduced pain if we did let that happen after you return to this world even a simple paper cut could be severely painful. Second you are aware that if someone die's in Royal Road they are forced to return to this world under normal circumstance's this would be fine but do to the nature of your treatment if you die..." (YB) 

I knew what he was implying.

"If I die there then I will wake up without any way to cope with the pain of my treatment and while pain alone wont kill me it could lead to severe complication's that could."

With a nod Yoo Byung said,

"You are correct I would understand if you wish to play it safe and proceed with prosthetic limb's. I know this is a lot to take in all at once so will return tomorrow to hear your answer."

With that he got up to leave but before he made it to the door I said.

"Mr.Yoo Byung thank you."

With a smile he said. "I look forward to tomorrow."

Then he was gone with everything that just happened I felt exhausted but my mind was going nuts with the possibility's. After a few hours of thinking I had a plan of action the only thing I was worried is if Yoo Byung would grant my request. By noon the next day Yoo Byung returned.

"Good after noon Mr.Kirk I hope this day finds you well?" (YB)

With a smile I replied. "It does indeed and I have made my decision."

"And what is your decision Mr. Kirk?" (YB)

"I will take the experimental treatment with the option of living in Royal Road. I do have one request I would like to make." (DK)

Yoo Byung With a single eyebrow raised (Think of a Vulcan xD)"And what is your request?"

Taking a deep breath I made my request. "I would like to have access to the internet from within Royal Road."

Leaning back into his chair Yoo Byung simply stared for a few minutes then at last said.

"I am sure you are aware that we do not allow anyone to access the internet for the purpose of preventing anyone from tampering with Royal Road."

With a nod I said.

"I understand and I would not be asking this if I wasn't going to be in Royal Road for such a long period of time. However I will be spending four years in that world and I have three reason's for my request. First if I have no interaction with this world for four whole years I believe it will make the transition back very difficult. Second this will provide you a means to inform me of any complication's that may arise in my treatment.

Third is more of a selfish one on my part I know you are willing to assist me in acquiring new employment but I would like the chance to support myself. I understand your reluctance in granting this request. If it helps you to grant my request you can restrict the access I have to any site you deem unfit."

After I finished I could only hope that my reasoning was enough.

----------------------------------------

Yoo Byung contemplated the request for halve an hour. From the moment he first heard the request he new the young man wanted the chance to make money. What he did not expect was for him to be upfront on the matter and the other reasons he put forth were well thought out including his willingness to be cut off from anywhere he deemed unfit. He wasn't expecting such honesty so he thought it will be fine to grant his request.

"Very well Mr. Kirk I will grant your request now if there is nothing else it is time for us to move you to a facility that is properly equipped for our needs."

I was elated with this I would have a much better time in Royal Road!

"Thank you sir for granting my request. Please take this I have already written down my Royal Road name and starting location."

Yoo Byung took the note and said.

"Very well lets get started."

He walked over to the door and called in a few men. As they began to prep me for the transfer I realized that Yoo Byung knew from the first moment he showed up that this would be my choice. As one of the men gave me a injection in just a few moments I was already feeling sleepy then Yoo Byung said.

"The next time you wake up Mr. Kirk you will be in Royal Road."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As his men began wheeling the young man out of the room he was glad he was not asked why it took two weeks for Unicorn to send someone sooner for such a serious matter. In truth they did not know that any of this has happened he manged to intercept the information so that only he new of this matter not even the media new this had transpired. he was also glad the young man did not ask if a different VR environment could be made available.

And last while he did have some surprising insight on how the treatment might work but in reality Yoo Byung already knew that this treatment would regrow the young mans limbs without a problem that was not the experimental part of his treatment. What was experimental was how the treatment would interact with him being in Royal Road. He was very interested to see what end result will be.

END

Hello everyone I hope you enjoyed this prologue! This is the very first time I have ever sat down and written a story so I apologies if there are any errors that I failed to weed out. After Vol 20 of LMS was completed I was left foaming at the mouth for more so I started writing a story of my own to interweave with LMS.

As you may have seen above Yoo Byung Jun Is a real character from LMS itself there will be time's where a item,skill,person,event,etc will come up and you might see this (Source/seen Vol X Ch X) That way if it seems like if you see something that doesn't add up you can see if the source comes from LMS our my own twisted mind. There will be some event's that happen that are inspired by some random piece of info from LMS.

For example (SPOILER warning for LMS) there is a point in which weed sends one his minions to gather a force to help defend a certain city and my character will encounter said minion. There will be a few things like this that can fill in the background of some of LMS but don't worry I do have my own story to tell there is a bit of foreshadowing right at the end of the prologue but that wont come up until much much later.

By the way if anyone hasn't found them yet JawzTranslations has continued translating LMS so far they have finished vol 21 and are now starting 22! Also the original LN they are working on Zectas is really fun to read and who would have guessed a beggar could be so awesome?