I was so tired that I barely noticed where I was going as my body moved on autopilot. The day had been packed with one event after another. Near death from ice, heat, and overworking my body had all taken its toll. Add to that the adrenaline high that the wolf caused and it was no wonder I feel like I did. Suddenly, I found my path blocked by a door. As I reached for the handle, a prompt flashed into view.

Would you like to rent this room for one silver a night?

Newly issued guild account detected. Fee waived for the first night.

Accept / Decline

The sudden appearance of the prompt wasn’t as much of a shock given everything else I have seen today. If anything, the fact that the system monitored the doors to private rooms caused something inside me to unclench and relax. It meant that anything I left in here would be safe, including me, well my character.

The prompt vanished as I worldlessly agreed to the price. Without me doing anything, the lock clicked open and the door swung out of the way, revealing the room beyond. Dim lights provided enough illumination to give me a general idea of where I would be sleeping, at least for the foreseeable future.

On the far side of the room, above a single-sized bed, sat a window that looked like it overlooked the main road. The moon was angled just right. The soft blue-green light it gave off helped to illuminate the bed. My tired feet slowly dragged my tired body inside as my head turned to take in the rest of the place.

A counter, stove, and sink sat against the inside wall. Each looked as though they were brand new. Just beyond the counter sat a door. The sight of a mostly closed door piqued my interest enough that I had to check it out before going to sleep. As I pushed the door open, I found a modern bathroom. The thing wouldn’t have looked out of place in an apartment on Earth.

A soft click and snick sound behind me caused my heart to nearly stop as my body spun to confront whatever had caused the noise. The dimly lit room suddenly felt more menacing as I searched for any potential enemies.

My mind raced nearly as fast as my heart beat while my eyes scanned over the place. The door to the room was closed while the corners were clear, if a bit dark. Even the ceiling was clear of…wait, I didn’t close the door. I practically collapsed to the ground as I realized my stupidity. The sound I had heard was the door closing. Which, given that modern front doors closed automatically for safety reasons, wasn’t something that should have scared me. Even now my heart hammered against my ribs in an attempt to run away.

Hand clutched to my chest, I stumbled across the room. Letting my body collapse as I reached the bed. The soft mattress that met my body felt like what I imagined a soft cloud would feel like. I didn’t even realize I was asleep until beams of light pried at my eyelids. The abrupt pain of the light caused me to instinctively roll to the side. Where I promptly fell to the floor.

The sudden drop and subsequent impact tossed me out of my dreams more effectively than any alarm clock. “Where, what?” I cried out as my eyes scanned the room. Trying to figure out where I was and what was going on. There was nowhere in my apartment with such a nice wood floor. Hell, nothing in my apartment even looked half as new. I mean, there wasn’t a single crack in the paint or wood as far as I could see.

“Good morning.” The voice of my AI calling to me caught my attention.

“Where am I?” I whispered back. I didn’t know if I was kidnapped or not but why take the chance?

“You are still logged into Ascent to Aetheria. The current in-game time is oh eight fifteen AM.” Its words sparked memories of yesterday. Those memories, in addition to the AI’s voice, helped to calm me, to anchor me. “Also, answers to your inquiries have been found. Would you like to hear them now?”

I rubbed my eyes as I ambled towards the bathroom. The remnants of yesterday's chaos continued to filter through my mind. With one hand, I turned on the shower. The warm water would help ease the sore muscles. Too bad it would also lull me back to sleep. I needed to find some form of caffeine and soon. Until I did, I would need someone to talk to me. To keep my brain at least partially working so I didn’t fall back to sleep. “Sure, but remind me, what did I ask you to look up for me?”

“You asked what happens when a character's stats go up. This morning, an admin provided some clarity. Essentially, a character’s physical and mental capabilities mirror their stats. However, the manifestation of these stats can vary. For instance, some might develop enhanced muscular bulk. The extremes of which can resemble those found in stories of demigods like Hercules. On the other hand, others will find that their muscles increase in density instead of bulk.”

There was a time when I tried to gain muscle definition. After months of work with a school jock, there had been no real change. Okay, that wasn’t true. Most of my fat had disappeared leaving my form even more well-defined, just not in the way I wanted. Given that event, I was fairly sure I was in the latter category. Then again, this was a game so who knew? Maybe my character's body would be different than my real one. Maybe I would be able to see what I would look like with muscles. I tried to picture how that would look as I stripped and stepped under the water.

The soothing heat of the shower eased some tension in my back. The heat and pounding water eased the strain I had unconsciously ignored. As the water pounded into my hair and back, the streams flowed down my body and into the drain, taking the grime and sweat from yesterday with it.

“You also requested information regarding the inventory system, specifically the use of bags,” the AI stated in a neutral tone, indifferent to my physical state. As it spoke, I looked around for some soap. A bar of neon green soap sat on the far wall. I took a second to pick it up and give it a sniff. It gave off a pleasant, if unidentifiable, scent. With a shrug, I started to lather up my body as the AI continued. “A character is capable of equipping as many bags as they have inventory slots. Currently, you have twelve such slots. However, it is important to note that bags cannot be nested within other bags due to spatial interference issues.”

That was nice, though a bit annoying. It reminded me of how an older MMO dealt with its unchanging inventory system. They would rather add a new, larger bag than increase the inventory. Given how realistic this game was trying to be, I could see the developers doing something similar. Then again, couldn’t a player just buy enough of the largest bags they could get to fill their inventory slots? How many bags should I get? Was it worth spending the money on cheap bags now or save up and buy a larger bag?

As if responding to my thoughts, the AI answered in its customary impartial tone. “Regarding bag usage, many forum users advise that all new players acquire as many as possible, as early as possible, to optimize quest efficiency and maximize carrying capacity. ”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I paused in my lathering as something nibbled at the back of my mind. It had to do with how the AI was talking. “Say, how many bags can I carry?”

“At your current level, you are capable of holding twelve bags.”

The words the AI chose were never arbitrary. “What do you mean at my current level? How would I go about increasing the number of slots I could have?”

“A player can increase the number of slots in their inventory by purchasing and equipping bags.” I knew the AI didn’t mean to twist my question, it had no reason to, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating.

“Is there any other way?” I gritted out as I moved back under the water. The water pounded into my skin as the streams washed away the soap.

“There are entire forums dedicated to researching this. So far, the only thing they can agree on is that some stats add slots while others increase how many items each slot can hold. The problem is that some player classes can affect these slots, thus making it hard to come out with an exact equation.”

I turned off the shower and grabbed the towel from where it hung. Using it to dry as I processed everything the AI had just said. Not only would the number of slots increase with time and stats, but it would also increase because of one's class? How would one go about getting a class? Did you get to choose them or were you handed one? What class would I even be good at?

My mind worked through the possibilities while I started to get dressed. Stopping when my mind registered the two items in my hand. A skirt and a pair of leggings. I did not want to put the leggings on. Then again, with how cold it was outside, did I really have a choice? It wasn’t like I had pants to protect my legs from the cold bite in the air. I had already dealt with nearly freezing to death, I did not want to go through that a second time.

Before I could chicken out, I tossed the skirt on the ground and slid the leggings on. As I slid each side up, a few of my leg hairs were yanked out. In pain and mentally irritated, I turned to the skirt lying on the ground. The sight of the thing had me cursing the city. How was it that I was unlucky enough to have to wear this damn thing? Surely no one else was having this issue.

As I ranted and cursed out everything and everyone I could think of, I tried to add some pleats to the fabric. Using the belt to hold them in place as I wrapped the skirt around myself.

Looking down at the result, I shook my head. Not only did it not work, it looked ugly as hell. Over and over I tried to fold different parts in various ways while using the belt to hold everything in place. Nothing worked. The result either came out ugly or skirt-like. With a growl, I redid the skirt one final time. Going back to one of the nicer-looking styles.

Giving everything a once over, I found that everything fit perfectly. Not too tight or loose in any spot. As if someone had tailored everything to fit me perfectly. It was by far the best set of clothes I had ever worn. Too bad it accentuated curves I always tried to hide. Seeing those things had me cursing my father's genetic contribution yet again. Why in the hell did a man need hips like this?

Fear and powerlessness trickled in as I realized how many people would see me like this. The thought of someone out there trying to take advantage of me started to piss me off. Each emotion built off the others. Before the emotions could explode, I forced my eyes closed. Imposing my will onto my panting breathing. I sucked in a lungful of air and held it as I started counting to three in my mind.

It didn’t work. If anything, the act of trying to calm down seemed to make the panic worse. Without prompting, a window popped up in front of me. Even through my closed eyes, I could read the text presented.

Extreme stress detected.

Searching for cause.

Cause detected.

Emotional stress from a localized situation.

Searching for solution.

Solution found.

Returning player to pod.

Goodbye.

My mind fuzzed out as my heart stuttered. The world blinked out as another replaced it. Wood and the light of day changed to plastic and artificial light. A soft hissing noise surrounded me as my mind slowly cleared. The glass lifted away to reveal the chipped and dirty grey ceiling high above.

The fear and powerlessness I felt were still prevalent, but not as strong as they had been. Almost as if someone turned a nob down. My breaths went from the short gasping breaths that my body demanded, to something much longer and more calming.

“Welcome back Alex. The current time is thirty-three minutes after midnight. You have been in-game for two hours and thirteen minutes.” My AI called from a nearby speaker. I didn’t pay attention to what it was saying, instead focusing on the voice itself as I tried to calm down.

A couple of minutes later, my mind was calm and my heart was no longer trying to jump up my throat. My voice cracked as I asked the AI, “What happened?”

“The health monitoring system detected a building panic attack. According to the log, it found the issue to be something in your environment. As a result, the system decided to eject you from the game.”

Well, that was good to know. At least something monitored my health in-game and actively worked to solve any issues it could. It wasn’t like I could. While my AI could monitor me, it was only capable of calling for help. Not something that would be much help if I was stuck in the pod when said help came. Hell, I didn’t want to even think about what kind of damage would occur if someone was yanked out of the system improperly.

Now that my panic attack had been dealt with, I felt a need to return to the game. “When can I re-enter the game?” I asked.

“The lockout will be lifted in three more minutes.” Good, enough time to deal with going to the bathroom. Standing up, I found that the city was dark. Between the near-death experiences, training, and sleep, I had to have been in the game for at least twenty hours. There should be at least a bit of evidence of the sun on the horizon, but there was nothing.

“What time is it?”

“Thirty-five minutes after midnight.”

That made no sense. Not unless there was something going on with the time in-game. “And how long have I been in the game?”

“Twenty hours five minutes in-game time. Three hours twenty-one minutes in real-time.” Yep, there was a time difference. While it was a surprise, I wish it was something I had been informed of before I jumped into the game.

“What is the ratio?”

“There is a one to six time ratio. Real world to in-game.”

That was pretty good. I had heard of hardware with similar capabilities, but those were used by rich people or high-end companies. Well, that and the more specialized military training facilities. It was an open secret. Almost as hush-hush as the dangers of using such technologies. “How stable is the ratio? Also, how much load does it place on my brain?”

“It is a stable time dilation. The company has said that, as they work out the bugs and upgrade the servers, they will be able to increase it. Some of their models suggest that the dilation will reach at least double that.”

My AI stopped speaking. Not answering my other question. Seeing as the system was messing with my brain, I didn’t take no answer as an answer. “And the load it is placing on my brain?”

“The pod system monitors have registered no appreciable issues with the extra load to your brain. System buffers and modules are operating as intended to take up any extra load as needed.” Great, so the pod that had the potential to do damage to my brain was also the one my AI was relying on for sensor data and diagnostics.

On top of that, did my AI just say that there were parts of the pod that would take a load off of my brain as needed? Did that mean that my mind was a part of the machine or that the machine was doing some of the thinking for me? Was there a possibility of me losing a piece of myself because it was still stuck inside a module?

“Five-minute lockout has been lifted.” I ignored the AI. Getting up and walking over to the bathroom instead. My mind was reeling with the possibilities. “Rising stress levels detected. Is there anything I can do to help you with? Questions I can answer?”

“Not unless you can promise me that the pod won't lobotomize my brain,” I said in a soft voice. My mind wondered if it already had. Would I even know?

“The pod has been declared as safe in every nation on Earth. As a part of this process, the EU required that there be multiple safety and backup systems installed to prevent such a situation. Short of a lightning strike to the main processor, the system will not be able to damage the occupant's brain.” That made me feel much better. While the USA was strict with what could hit the market, in comparison to countries like China and India, it could not hold a candle to some of the modern European regulations.

“Thanks,” I said before sighing. At this point, I had a choice. To enter the pod and trust all the safety systems and regulations, or to sell the thing and hope to find a job as soon as possible. Like that was going to happen. Giving into the inevitable, I returned to the pod. The cold plastic on my bare skin caused a shiver to run up and down my spine. Goosebumps prickled across the rest of my skin as I pressed the button to return to the game.