With Verrata Online being a game that wants to offer the most realistic experience in gaming history there were still things that shouldn’t be possible to do. The game had hard limits on torture, rape, players inflicting pain on other players with the purpose to make them suffer and many more hidden things that would get the system to intervene.

Even with all these systems in place it was allowed to capture other players, interrogate them, keep them as prisoners or even sell them as slaves. After all, the game wanted to present a hard and unforgiving world. But there were loopholes that people figured out easily while playing. Like, players can’t harm others to inflict constant pain but if an NPC attacks you again and again? Well that was fair game.

So Nox found himself captured, again but this time by players. David’s party easily overpowered him on the market, being stronger, better equipped and having more knowledge of the world. A player dropped from stealth behind him and tackled him to the ground, heavy iron handcuffs snapped around his wrist before he dragged him before David. His real life acquaintance smiled at him, a sneer on his face as he spit at Nox.

“It seems we need to show this noob a bit more of the world don’t you think?” Looking at his party members, all of them smiling and nodding.

David turned around and the entourage followed behind him, Nox in their midst. That bit of courage he earned in the slave camp vanished slowly. The warm feeling in his chest slowly subsides while they force him out of the town. Plains greeting them with some animals roaming around, Nox would love to explore it if his situation was different but he just looked down at his feet. His body felt cold and numb as they dragged him forward, throwing him to the ground. When he decided to look at his surroundings he noticed a few bunnies around him, they even looked cute but when he heard the wet thud of a dagger impaling one of them they started to attack the only target around available.

The next moment he felt small sharp teeth bite into his skin, their claws raking at his arms and legs, one jumping in his face, its claws ripping open his cheek. He wanted to be tough but eight bunnies attacking you constantly made it impossible, Nox started to scream and roll around on the ground to get them off. The bunnies didn’t stop, their aggro firmly on him as they attacked again and again. Blood was dripping from small wounds all over his body as he felt his vision getting blurry and the colors slowly fade away. The sweet embrace of death would soon claim him.

At least he thought it would, a healing spell was cast on him and he regained his health instantly, the wounds closed up but the bunnies inflicted new ones just as fast. He screamed until his vocal cords gave up, only to be restored with the next healing spell, tears streaming down his face, he was angry and in pain. He wanted this game to be an escape for him, not another prison like his school life.

He didn’t know how long the whole ordeal lasted but at some point it must have stopped, the bunnies killed from more dagger throws, the healing magic stopped and Nox only heard people laughing. David’s group decided this was enough fun and just left, his body wounded and healed many times, but now he was bleeding out. The darkness claimed him a few minutes later. Standing in a dark void while a timer ticked down in front of him. In fifteen minutes he would respawn.

While he waited for the timer to tick down his guide appeared from the dark void and coiled up in front of him again, looking at Nox with worry in her eyes before speaking. “I sent a report and this kind of exploit should be patched out in a few hours, I know it doesn’t help you right now…” when she saw the empty look in Nox's eyes she vanished again, her body concealed by the darkness.

After he respawned Nox opened his menu and logged out, the game world vanished slowly and he opened his real eyes again. He felt his damp cheeks, probably from tears and removed the headset. He just felt empty while looking around his room. He would prefer to throw that damn piece of technology against the wall but couldn’t bring himself to do it. In the real world it was only late evening, the game accelerated time quite a bit so players could enjoy the game longer, at least it felt longer to them.

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Nox or rather Max sat up and moved to the bathroom, taking a long shower to clear his head a bit while he thought about everything that happened in-game. The slavers, the escape with Brookr, the execution of an NPC and the torture David managed to do through a loophole. He didn’t even know why the bully didn’t like him but quickly noticed again what an asshole he was, even more in the game because there was no lasting damage or strict laws to enforce friendly behavior.

Max felt drained so after the shower he walked back to his room and fell down on the bed, sleep claiming him instantly, his dreams filled with grinning slavers, blood and of course killer bunnies.

The next day he got up, put his clothes on and ate breakfast with his grandparents. The kitchen was silent the whole time, his grandparents noticed the look on his face thinking it was because of his mother but in reality he only thought about the game. What he could do to get stronger, how to progress and actually have a chance against the game world and other players. After finishing his breakfast he gave his grandparents a hug and left for school.

Nothing happened on the way and he was grateful for that, the day would already be rough enough. Because the moment he stepped into his classroom all eyes were on him, some whispered with each other, others just grinned or laughed. Well, that’s what Max expected, he made his way to his desk and noticed that somebody wrote on it. “Bunny Killer” was written there in big red letters. A familiar voice reached his ears and a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Look who we have here, the bunny killer himself, the big adventurer that strikes fear into everybody's hearts. You’re famous now Max.” David holds his phone in front of Max's face. Himself laying on the ground while bunnies attack from all sides, his screams and tears on full display recorded in high quality with the in-game camera. But the worst thing was, it already had thirty million views. That bastard David uploaded the whole thing and now the world knew of his glorious first encounter.

Max just sat there and endured everything over the day, he didn’t speak or look at his classmates. When the school bell rang for the last time he left the school as fast as he could, the mask he wore all day nearly slipping from his face. People looked after him, of course the whole school saw the video by now and who ‘Nox’ really was. But he didn’t care about that, he just wanted out of this building and back home. To his grandparents that loved him and to the game that would hopefully distract them from school.

Going into his room he kicked his shoes off and sat down on the bed, a sigh escaping his lips. Even if not much happened today it still felt like he spent a whole day surrounded by people that didn’t like him or in one case, hated him. He grabbed a notebook from his desk and opened a new page. Pen in hand he wrote a small list with things he wanted to do in the game.

- Reach Level 10

- Find a way to get a ranged class, focused on guns

- Earn more skills that would help him survive

- Make money for equipment

- Figure out what deities are and do

It wasn’t much but at least he had a goal now, the plains outside of town should help him reach Level 10 quickly, he was already Level 4 after all. His notebook in hand he nodded, the guide could answer some questions and he was sure Brookr could give him some pointers for the rest. Determined to accomplish something in this game he laid down on his bed and put the headset on, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

He was a nerd in the real world, a noob in the game but he will show everybody that he could conquer himself a spot in this world.

It wasn’t a present from his late mother anymore, it was a chance to create his own legacy.