It was early morning when Leo woke up. He felt a sense of familiarity as his old body clock from Earth seemed to be kicking back in. On Earth, he always woke up early to check his games and collect offline rewards. This was also his sacred time to watch anime shows too. "One episode at a time," he always reminded himself with a chuckle. "I can't let society and its problems beat me," he mused, thinking about the overwhelming negativity brought by the news, people, and everything else around him.

Leo's eyes fluttered open as the first rays of dawn filtered through the window. His body felt more alive than it had in days, almost as if his old habits from Earth were reawakening within him. He glanced over at Amanda, still sleeping peacefully beside him, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. For a moment, he watched her, a soft smile on his lips, before turning his attention inward.

"I wonder what the system has in store for me today," he thought, his excitement bubbling up as he opened the interface. Notifications flashed across the screen—over 90 messages. Leo shook his head with a chuckle, "Just like my old games, the offline rewards keep piling up."

He tapped "Receive all items," and the screen filled with potion icons. "30 red potions, 30 blue potions," he muttered, nodding in satisfaction. "These will come in handy."

Perfect... Knowing these potions would be invaluable as they began their adventure today. He nodded in satisfaction, making a mental note to check the market value of these potions later.

As Leo continued to scroll, a thought struck him—there were more than 90 messages, but only 30 pairs of potions. His brow furrowed as he connected the dots. "Looks like rewards expire after 30 days," he murmured. "Sixty days' worth of rewards down the drain... but at least I’ve got something to work with."

He tapped "Read all messages" and then "Delete all read messages."

Leo then noticed a pulsing circle on the bottom left side of the window. He tapped it, and four icons were displayed, forming a line upwards, each icon just above the other one: a pair of crossed swords, a golden crown (Locked), a gift box, and a shopping cart (Locked). He immediately recognized one of them as the quests list. Tapping it, a window appeared titled "VIP Quests." It had three tabs: daily and weekly.

Under the daily tab, there were three quests listed:

Hunting Quest: Kill 100 slimes.

Material Hunting: Obtain 50 wolf fangs.

Progressive Quest: Kill 100 slimes.

Leo didn't pay much attention to the first two quests for now, as their rewards were quite obvious based on the games he played before. So far, making his past games as oracles has been quite effective. The system interface, its behaviors, his status, and the rewards system were almost identical, with some reservations since he was comparing it to real life now.

In software testing, an oracle refers to a mechanism or set of rules used to determine whether a system's output is correct during the testing phase. Just as a software tester uses known behaviors and expected outcomes to validate software functionality, Leo uses the games he used to play as oracles to navigate this new world and his system.

With that in mind, he proceeded to check the Progressive Quest. He tapped it, and another window opened:

Progressive Quest I

Requirement: Kill 100 slimes

Rewards: Experience points, Progressive Quest II

His mouth opened slightly as he nodded. "So, this is like a chain quest," he thought to himself, a smile lingering on his face as he imagined the potential rewards awaiting him at the end of the quest chain.

He closed the window and tapped the weekly tab next. The quests listed were:

Kill 1000 slimes

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Kill 1000 wolves

Complete 5 guild quests

Clear 2 non-VIP dungeons

Leo noticed that the quest to "Clear 2 non-VIP dungeons" showed 1/2 progress.

These weren’t just side quests to pass the time. Every slime, every wolf—it was one step closer to becoming strong enough to protect Amanda, to carve out a future in this world. Leo knew that strength alone wouldn’t be enough, but it was a good place to start.

He was thinking about it when Amanda woke up.

He greeted her with a warm smile, and she returned it sleepily. Slowly, she got up from the bed and sat on its edge, still wobbly and only partially awake. She mumbled something incomprehensible, and Leo chuckled as he watched her.

Amanda, still half-awake, made her way to the bathroom and took a shower. Leo decided not to disturb her, letting her go about her morning routine. Meanwhile, he continued checking his daily quests. Navigating back to the quest list, he tapped on the "Kill 100 slimes" quest. A new window popped up, and when he tapped the monster's name, a message appeared:

Move to the Slime Sanctuary?

Leo was visibly shocked to see the message, expecting that it would teleport him to the area where the slimes were. He hesitated, unsure of the location and how long it might take to return. He hadn't told Amanda his plans for the day, and disappearing without a word might cause some inconvenience. Despite his hesitation, curiosity got the better of him. He tapped Yes, but an error message was displayed:

You are not yet subscribed to the VIP Services.

Activate VIP Services?

He remembered reading about VIP services as a listed perk. Intrigued, he tapped Yes, and another message appeared:

Subscribe to VIP Services for 1 month for 100,000 gold coins?

The storage service alone was worth the subscription. Unlimited space for supplies and items could mean the difference between life and death in the field. And the warp service? That was a game-changer—he could avoid long journeys, cutting down travel time in an instant.

Multiple notification messages appeared in quick succession:

Successfully subscribed to the VIP Services for 1 month!

Professional services activated!

Storage service activated!

VIP dungeon activated!

Warp service activated!

You can now access the VIP store!

1,000 VIP coins received.

Leo's heart raced with excitement. He quickly navigated through the new features, eager to explore the benefits of his VIP subscription. This could be a game-changer for his adventures.

But his mind quickly drifted.

VIP services... Even in this world, it felt like the rich got richer, didn’t they? Leo couldn’t help but wonder how it would change the way he approached his new life. Was this power meant to make things easier or just another distraction from the real challenges?

He sighed going back to the sea of information in front of him.

Although he knew that checking all of these in detail would take time, Leo decided to skim through each option and gradually learn about them. He navigated back to the icons and tapped the golden crown icon. A new window titled "VIP Services" appeared, containing only one item: "Personal Assistant: Aether." His mouth curved down slightly as he tapped it. Another window appeared, and he began to skim through it.

Personal Assistant: Aether

Name: Aether (Customizable)

Gender: Select upon summoning

"Summoning?" he thought to himself, intrigued. He continued to scan the description.

Appearance: Aether will appear in a form the user prefers...

He chuckled to himself, thinking it was like creating a new game character. "A character creating a new character—how hilarious," he mused. Skipping the rest of the description, he moved to the abilities and functions section where his eyes almost popped out while skimming its content.

Comprehensive World Knowledge Base

Task Management

Advisory Role

He quickly glanced over more items and stopped at the last one.

Instruction Processing: Aether can receive and execute complex instructions from the user.

He almost choked in surprise. Back in his world, AI services were immensely popular for learning, development, and many other tasks. This Personal Assistant was exactly like that.

He then recalled the word he had caught earlier: summoning. He could summon this assistant, making it like a personified AI! The thought excited him.

Leo’s fingers itched to summon Aether right then and there, but a voice in his head warned him. ‘How exactly do I explain a fully customized assistant just appearing in our room?

“Oh, this? I just summoned it with my new VIP perks. No big deal.”

Yeah, that’ll go over well. Calming himself, he decided to do it later, the anticipation building as he thought about the possibilities.

He wondered how Amanda would react to all of this. Would she see the value in these perks, or would she be wary of shortcuts? Leo knew one thing for sure—whatever strength he gained, it would be for her as much as for himself.

He then heard wet footsteps coming from the side of the room.