A tall man stood in front of a glass window. Short and straight jet-black hair, a pair of equally black almond-shaped eyes, he resembled those of Asian descent. His sculpted body hinted at the intense physical training he had gone through. However, the fruits of his labour did not carry over to this virtual world…

Your satiety has fallen.

Current satiety level: 12%

‘Food…’ Lou thought.

His stomach had been grumbling for the better part of an hour now, and he lost track the number of times that he’d seen the hunger warning window. Right now, he could only stare at a variety of bread and pastries displayed behind a bakery’s window. Now and then, his nose would twitch at the faintest fragrance floating in the air.

How was he supposed to search for the demon in this state?

“What is he staring at…?”

“Shhh! Stay away, people like that are better left undisturbed”

Passersby who saw him shied away. He couldn’t blame them, he would’ve done the same in their place. He didn’t even have the energy to blush.

For once, his current predicament was not caused by his peculiar disability. No, even if he had no hands, he would still be able to munch on his barley breads some way or another. The problem was… he no longer had any of his bread, or the canteen of water he started with. Everything began when he exited Natalya’s prison...

Due to exposure to dust and mould, your food had become inedible! Your bag provided a small measure of protection from the microscopic particles, but you have spent too much time in the polluted environment.

Number of food(s) affected:

15 X Barley Bread

“What?! That’s all of my food!” Lou shouted in frustration.

‘Even the extra five bread the shopkeeper gave me…Kuhuk!’

‘At least I won’t go thirsty…’ He thought, as he withdrew the canteen from his bag. With great effort, he managed to open the lid using his feet. ‘Now, just a sip…’

The canteen slipped from his feet and hit the ground. The soil greedily drank the water splashing onto it. Glug, glug, glug… the precious liquid escaped into the earth. Thankfully, the opening of the canteen was narrow and positioned in the centre. Hence, a small amount of water remained inside.

‘It’s okay, I can still drink from it… Then I’ll refill it from a fountain. Now, I just need to pick it up carefully…’

He nudged the canteen with his toes, hoping to flip it over. If he could change it into a vertical position, he would be able to hold it between his calves. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he performed the action. The level of precision he needed could be compared to a surgical procedure. Probably. He wasn’t a doctor.

‘That’s it… almost there…!’

Neiiiighh!!

Sets of hooves clopped against the cobblestones. Wooden wheels rolled under a posh horse carriage. A coach driver cracked his whip in the air, urging the horses to hurry. This would not have been a problem at all, if Lou wasn’t sitting in the carriage’s path.

“Whoa!”

He rolled to the side and barely avoided getting turned into mashed potatoes. But then, a cracking sound entered his ears. To him, that sound signified his soul shattering into pieces. It was as if fate itself intended to screw him. It was the sound of his water canteen breaking.

“Watch where you’re going, you damn cripple!” The driver called back without slowing down the carriage.

But Lou didn’t even have the will to get angry. In the space of a few minutes, his entire food and water supply was depleted. Spilt water was still fine. He could’ve refilled the canteen. But now he doesn’t even have a canteen to carry water around in. He’d have to crawl to a fountain every time he needed a sip. At this rate, he might have to search garbage cans for leftovers as well.

And thus, that brought him to his present state.

‘Even my previous life was luckier than this…’He moaned inwardly.

“Hey, get away from my house. You’re scaring away my customers”

‘Eh?’ Lou turned his head to view the owner of the voice.

A plump woman stood beside him with her arms crossed. She donned a clean white apron and stuffed her hair under a tall chef hat. She moved a thick rolling pin up and down in one of her hands, as if she wanted to beat him with it.

She called this bakery her house. Now that he took a closer look, all the shops around here were two-storey buildings and sold a small amount of products. So this must be a row of shop-houses. The ground floor was dedicated to modest family-owned business while the top floor housed their bedrooms.  

“Ah… sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your business. Well then, I’ll take my leave” He bowed and backed away.

Your satiety has fallen.

Current satiety level: 11%

Just then, his stomach grumbled again. The woman was obviously a baker, and also the owner of the shop based on her words. But he couldn’t exactly beg her for food. No, that would be too pathetic. He’d rather eat trash or die of hunger than sacrifice his pride.

“Forget it, come inside!”

“Wha—? Huck, cough!”

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into the bakery. Once again he was reminded that this was a virtual world. His current physique was obsolete in the face of stats. Even this baker here exhibited a higher amount of strength than him.

‘Hmmm? This place…’

He didn’t realise it earlier because he diverted his entire focus onto the displayed food. But this bakery was… untouched. Not in the sense of an abandoned building, but rather a lack of life. Plates and rattan baskets brimmed with breads and pastries. Yes, that was the problem. It was already evening, and nothing seemed to be sold.

‘I only stood outside for ten minutes at most. This can’t be my fault, can it?’ He wondered.

“Eat” The baker said, after shoving a bun in front of his face.

“Oh no, thank you for the kind offer but there’s no ne-ghorfgfffh!”

She ignored him and stuffed the bun into his mouth.

‘This is abuse! Just because I couldn’t resist, doesn’t mean she could—oh…? This, this is pretty delicious’

The bun was still warm. His teeth chewed through the crunchy texture on the outside and he tasted the sweet fluffy insides. It was a simple bun, with no flavouring outside of a sprinkle of sugar. But the taste had beaten every other bread he had ever tasted.

“Mom, is that a customer?”

A boy peeked at him from upstairs. The boy’s cheeks were tinged red. His sunken cheeks suggested that it was due to health reasons rather than embarrassment. He gripped the stair railing with pale fingers and limped down.

“He’s just a hungry beggar, go back to your room and rest!” The baker shouted.

Her tone was rough, and wrinkles riddled her forehead. However, Lou could tell that she was worried rather than angry. Judging from the atmosphere, this was a troubled family. By atmosphere, he meant the sick child and an absence of customers.

“If he ate your cooking, then he would return as a customer one day. Customers should always be treated well, isn’t that what you taught me, mom?” The child replied, finally clearing the flight of stairs.

“…I wish I hadn’t. Well, you might as well take a seat” She glanced at the door. Customers passed by without even looking at the bakery. She shook her head lightly and pulled out a chair for her son. “It’s been a while since you’ve been downstairs. We’ll have an early dinner this evening”

The baker took off her apron and removed the chef hat. Underneath the apron was a neat brown blouse. Lou wasn’t a fashion expert, but he thought the colour of her clothing had faded. Streaks of grey intertwined with chestnut in her hair bun. But her skin was a bit too smooth for her to be that old.

“I thought about sending you off once your stomach stopped making a racket. But since my son put in the effort to move for your sake, you should stay a while and have dinner with us” She called out, while rummaging for plates and dining utensils in the kitchen.

“My mom’s not a very honest person, please forgive her. She’s actually very kind and generous, I’m sure she’s giving excuses because she’s too shy to help you” The boy whispered into Lou’s ears and grinned.

Lou felt a stabbing sensation in his heart when he saw the smile on the boy’s face. The boy seemed like he had a chronic disease, but he was still this cheerful. And there was one more thing. This mother and son pair have not mentioned a single word about his missing arms. They didn’t even stare at it.

He felt… normal.

“My name’s Jim. What are you called, mister?”

“…Lou. Nice to meet you, Jim” He answered, and returned a warm smile to the boy. This was the first time he smiled since he arrived in this world, actually. Who would’ve thought an NPC would be the first to make him smile?

***

“Demon? In this citadel?” The guard asked, a puzzled look on his face.

“Yes, have you heard anything strange recently? Like missing persons, unexplainable murders or maybe accursed pentagrams drawn using the blood of a thousand virgins” Lou added.

The guard stared blankly at Lou’s face for a few seconds. Then he broke into a stream of laughter. His chainmail clinked like a musical instrument as his body shook with glee. After what felt like an awkward thirty seconds for Lou, the guard stopped laughing. The guard’s face was crimson while he gasped for air. Tears streaked the both of his cheeks.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Haaah… that was a good laugh. You Users could crack some mean jokes, eh?”

Lou flinched when the guard called him a user. ‘I’m still not used to that. Couldn’t the developers have coined a different term? This really breaks the immersion into the virtual world’ Lou thought.

The term ‘User’ with a capital ‘U’ meant exactly what it was. To the NPC however, User was a term to refer to a foreign race of humans with immortal lives. They understood that Users could never be killed permanently, and gave out dangerous quests for Users to undertake.

"So, is there anything like what I mentioned?”

The guard blinked once, and said “Oh, so you were serious?”

Lou nodded in response, hiding all his frustration.

“Hmmm, no. Monsters and demons don’t really get into the citadel, you know? I’ve been guarding here for over ten years now, and I assure you that I and my colleagues did our job well. Of course, I couldn’t guarantee the same should the next Cycle arrives…”

“Cycle?”

“Oh yes, I kept forgetting you Users were foreigners” The guard scratched his head before going on. “Cycles are large-scaled wars between the forces of humanity and… every sentient being besides humans, really. Monsters, demons, fairies, you name it”

‘Oh…this sounds like a world event? Then maybe the demon hadn’t arrived yet?’ Lou thought.

“When’s the next Cycle?”

“About… another 13 years from now, I believe. You can look at the calendar in the Main Square or barracks, actually. The Cycle repeats every 30 years”

’13 years! Then this is unrelated…’

“By the way, are you in need of prosthetic arms, perhaps?” The guard asked.

“Eh?”

“I have a blacksmith friend who makes them for war veterans in the army. I can refer you to him and get you a discount. Are you interested?”

‘Huh? I can get prosthetics in another way…? But he mentioned a discount…’

“How much is it?”

The guard knit his eyebrows and stared hard at Lou’s stumps. Then he approached Lou and grabbed them, inspecting something. After a moment, he nodded in satisfaction and announced the price.

“For this size, probably 300 gold coins. But you should be able to get it for 270 thanks to me” He grinned, probably proud of himself. However, Lou’s face turned ashen white upon hearing the numbers.

‘300—no, 270 gold?! I don’t even have a single copper on me. 1 gold is 10000 coppers so 270 is… 2.7 million copper coins!’

“I… don’t have the money” He muttered.

“Yes, I thought so. Even for me, that’s a lot of money. But when I mentioned this to you, I meant it as a future reference. For when, you actually have money” The guard explained.

“I see…”

Lou wondered how long he would take to collect that amount. Even if he could pay in instalments, he would struggle to even get one gold. Who would hire him for any job around here?

“But it’s really rare, to see people with missing limbs if not from birth” The guard rubbed his chin in deep thought. Then, he crinkled his nose and glared. “Does your pursuit of this demon of yours have anything to do with it?”

“Actually, I— ”

But the guard did not stop to listen. Instead, he immediately embarked into a story of his own assumption.

“Oh, what a tragic fate! Once a warrior, then you lost your arms to a powerful demon while protecting a maiden… I understand. I really understand you. Why, the same thing almost happened to me once. There was this girl, you see… and this lizardman. And then…”

The guard went on and on telling a tale of how he met his wife. Whether it was true or not, Lou couldn’t care less. He realised a strange occurrence after talking to a number of NPCs. Sometime in the middle of the conversation, they would turn sympathetic towards him and made no sense. Lou highly suspected his ‘Pitiful One’ title.

‘I’ll just have to bear this…for an hour or so…’ Lou groaned inwardly.

***

‘Finally! That took a good chunk out of my precious time. Damn guard couldn’t shut his mouth’ Lou thought.

He headed for the citadel gates early in the morning. He thought asking the guards was the best thing to do, considering the nature of his quest. If a crime occurred, one would call the police. Over here, the guards were the equivalent of the police.

And now, the sun stood at its highest point in the sky. He had spent hours, just questioning one NPC. Hours, while doing a quest that had a time limit to complete. He even tried to leave in the middle of the guard’s chattering, but the guard held him back and told him to stay. Twice

“Quest log!” He yelled, waking a cat that was taking a nap on a trash can.

Natalya had asked you to slay a demon hiding in Whitemoon Citadel. In exchange, she would grant you a pair of prosthetic arms and other equipment of hers in the hidden safe. You may refuse this quest by exiting the building, but you would never receive it again.

Quest Objective(s):

-Find the demon and slay it.

-Retrieve the item binding Natalya’s soul, and free her from her prison.

Time left: 6 days 4 hours 17 minutes

Quest Difficulty: D

Quest Failure Penalty:

The quest cannot be repeated if you fail.

Fame – 200

All stats – 1

“It’s almost been a day since I started the quest, and there’s still no progress…” He muttered to himself.

As a user, he had no need for rest. His true physical body was frozen in a cryogenic sleep. Naturally, he could take a nap if he wanted to. But, it wasn’t a necessity or anything of the sort.

‘And now, I’ve racked up another two quests!’

The sickly boy Jim had shared a story with you.

The bakery he and his mother lived in was once a flourishing business with many customers. But one day, all their customers disappeared. Nobody came to buy anything from them, and the same thing had continued for weeks.

Jim wished to help his mother, but he could not do it himself due to contracting a chronic disease. Instead, he requested help from you to bring customers to the bakery and return it to its old days.

But you must hurry, because their business would not last for long in its current state.

Quest Objective(s):

-Advertise about the bakery to Users and NPCs in Whitemoon Citadel

-Bring back a sufficient amount of customers for the business to flourish once again

Time Left: 13 days 6 hours 24 minutes

Quest Difficulty: D

Quest Failure Penalty:

The quest cannot be repeated if you fail.

Fame – 100

He had received this quest from Jim while had dinner yesterday. He was already burdened with the demon hunting quest, but he couldn’t refuse since he had eaten their food. To top it off, an invisible tragic atmosphere permeated the dinner table. In the end, he accepted. Of course, he asked for an advance payment of a few pieces of bread.

‘But… quest difficulty D, for advertising a shop of all things!’

Lou felt that there was an unforeseen problem in the quest. He might face more difficulties than he expected. However, he couldn’t focus on this quest at the moment. At most, all he could do was to multitask. Whenever he asked an NPC about the demon, he’d inform them of an amazing bakery and its whereabouts.

The gate guard’s reaction wasn’t favourable, though. The smile on the guard’s face slipped, and he called Lou a liar. Before Lou could even question him any further, the guard chased him away with a pike. That was the only reason why Lou managed to get away from the guard’s incessant chattering.

And then there was another quest he received from the guard. Before the guard chased him away, of course.

The western gate guard, Jerry had informed you of his blacksmith friend who made prosthetic limbs. He also told you to mention his name in order to get a 10% discount.

Quest Objective(s):

-Go to the address mentioned by guard Jerry

-Meet the blacksmith

-Pay the price for the prosthetic limbs

Quest Difficulty: E

This quest may be abandoned.

‘I wonder if the discount is still valid, though… But I should keep this quest around, just in case I fail to slay or find the demon. At least then, I’d have a backup plan in store’

Lou sighed deeply and closed the quest log. He then gazed at the Beginner’s Training Hall down the street. Even today, plenty of other users lined in front of the building. It had been three days since the launch of this virtual world, and other users were leaving him behind.

“That was a long sigh. How did your meeting with the healer go?” A familiar voice came from behind him.

Lou spun on his feet and registered a face that he knew. A hard face that seemed to be chiselled from rocks, a buff body unsuited for his job, and a good posture with his back straight as a sword. It was the shopkeeper that gifted him five barley breads.

“From that miserable expression, I suppose it didn’t go too well?” He said.

‘No shit, Sherlock’

***