Chapter 1
It’s not like he was asking for much as a VR player. He simply wanted to play games for a living, was there something wrong with that? His initial plan was to grind some quests in a fantasy game called Resliona, but when that didn’t pay enough for him to get by he started looking for other jobs. You may also be wondering “why I don’t just play another game?” First of all, you needed money to buy another game or rent one. He didn’t have enough to pay off the one he had now so that was out of the question until he could find the funds. The gameplay had long ago lost its lust too, so it wasn’t necessarily the most enjoyable experience imaginable. Not just that, but his customers were leaving the game for some new space game coming out later that week. He was trembling in rage, he’d just farmed an entire dungeon of sulfur slimes just to come back to another missing customer. Like really! What was a guy to do with a few hundred slime cores? Other than the original player buying them, they usually went for close to nothing if anyone actually wanted them. He went to check the town bulletin board for any notices and spotted some even worse news. The town smith had picked up and sold out leaving the game completely too. Now his short sword couldn’t even sell for anything, she was the only one capable of repairs and his definitely needed some badly to be worth anything. His original plan was to sell the characters stuff for some credits he could transfer to the real world, but after the dungeon and slowly auctioning his other items until then left little to nothing to be had.
Making his way to the closest tavern he entered. Stomping across the wooden floor he plunked onto a bar stool near the back corner.
Bartender: “Hey Jake, You look glum today… wanna talk?”
Jake: “Not really, just the same ol’ same ol’.”
The bartender set a mug of ale in front of Jake with a determined look upon his face.
Bartender: “How about now?”
As he says this Jake cracks a smile and looks up from the mug at the bartender. The man was truly large at over six feet tall and wider than a linebacker. With short black and grey hair, he looked about 50. Truthfully, he wasn’t quite sure how the guy could fit behind the bar without smashing himself.
Jake: “Well, The good news is that the dungeon in the bog south of here is completely clear until they start moving in again at full moon. The bad news is my buyer ditched on me. Fool left me hanging. By the way, I can’t pay for this”. He says that last part pointing at the ale on the bar top.
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Bartender: “It’s on the house then, it’s the least I can do for you. Man that really sucks about the customer… how long do you have till your times up?” He picked from his belt and starts wiping down the counter.
Jake: “Today was my last chance, all the other quests are either gone or they take about a week to reach the destination.” He hung his head in shame after taking a deep draw of his ale. “I guess I’m gonna have to work somewhere in the real world until I’m back on my feet. Oh ya, those stupid f****** robots took all the lower class jobs! I’m gonna starve because some tin can took my job flipping burgers… I feel pathetic.”
Bartender:” I’m sorry man, I got a family to feed and you know how business is lately… maybe you can find a job on a fishing boat? Those still need men to work ‘em, at least the independent companies do. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell ya…”
He finished the mug and stared into the bottom, he wished he’d could drink the pain away.
Jake: “They stopped going out a while ago, not many customers. Not like they have any openings anyway, and even if they did I’m still going to be homeless when they take my apartment this evening.”
There was a moment of silence between them until some NPC’s started a brawl in the corner. The bartender started to was making his way over to intervene yelling at them to put the chairs down and as he left Jake called out to him bidding his farewell. When he was alone outside it was already getting dark. It was kind of creepy at night full of shadows like this, but you couldn’t mistake the perfect terrain and vibrant colors of the surrounding world. He was going to miss the place, as soon as the payment failed to go through his profile was done for. It would be deleted soon after he verified he couldn't pay the subscription. Sighing he looked at the horizon one last time then said “Player Logout” and the world around him started fading away. It was disappointing to leave it behind, after all he' only just started playing a year ago.
(Authors Note: Thank you for reading the introductory chapter to this story! Bare with me if you find this boring, the real action starts next chapter! If you have any criticism please leave a comment down below. My grammar isn't the best so feel free to comment on anything out of place.)