I woke up and began preparing for my day in a rush. It had become more difficult after I was forced to change gyms, with my new location being another twenty minutes walk.

That cut forty minutes out of each day that I went, forcing me to speed up the rest of my day if I wanted to avoid cutting time out of my gaming. With it finally having become profitable, I needed to avoid any habits that would lead to reduced time in the game.

Still, I wasn’t willing to cut out my workouts as they kept my body in shape despite the long periods of laying down each day. Besides this, I enjoyed the activity and actually missed it while my arm healed.

With that in mind, I sped through my preparations as fast as I could. The only hiccup was when I once again tried to summon something from my fridge. As usual, it took a few seconds of me standing there expectantly before I realized I was in the real world.

It was a habit that I had tried to break with no success, likely because it was reinforced by so much time in VSO. Really starting to be concerned about that, I mused as I walked over to grab the milk. I could even have sworn that it twitched that time.

Game-induced hallucinations aside, I made it out on schedule and began the long trip down the stairs. Where once I had been forced to take multiple breaks to make it down, now I was barely puffed by the time I reached the bottom.

Now came the most nerve-wracking part of the trip. While more than half off it was along a busy highway, it still started with ten minutes down the narrow, winding streets that made up my district.

It was almost identical terrain to where I had been mugged, and I had become rather paranoid since that had happened. Even though I was moving in an entirely different direction, I couldn’t shake the fear that it would happen again.

This led me to focus on my surroundings as I moved and, as such, I was able to react as the terrifying sound of a bike echoed from behind me. Having thought over the previous incident incessantly, I had the presence of mind to leap out into the street rather than into an alleyway.

I came to a gasping stop and turned to face the rider. They had stopped just past me, something that felt like a bad sign. Time seemed to slow as I took in the appearance, giving me time to process as they began stepping down from their bike.

The figure was fully clad in cheap faux leather and had a helmet protecting both their head and their identity. They were roughly the same size as my previous attacker, however, which sent a pulse of fear through me.

Then I spied the pistol holstered on their hip and my feet were moving before I finished consciously processing the sight. Fighting off a mugger when they had a knife was one thing, a gun was entirely another.

Seconds later, I was a dozen feet down the street and turning into an alleyway. I had no idea where I was going, I just knew I needed to get away from the individual in the street.

A terrifyingly familiar male voice rang out behind me. “Hey, wait up, you bastard!” It was the same voice I’d heard in so many nightmares, the voice of the man who had mugged me.

The sound of booted feet hitting concrete behind me spurred me onward and I moved into a full-on sprint. A hysterical thought hit me as I began panting at the strain. Should have done more cardio at the gym, I don’t know how long I can keep this up for.

The alley ended in front of me, opening up into another street. That was bad for me, I needed cover in case the man following me opened fire. Groaning at the strain, I sped up even further as I crossed the street and dived into another alley.

The next couple of minutes were a blur as I ran through a maze of streets. I was growing tired quickly, and I knew I couldn’t keep it up for long. Then tragedy struck as I turned a corner and ran straight down into a dead end.

I skidded to a stop just in time to avoid plowing into the side of a building at the end. Frantic, I glanced around, it looked like the back entrance to a couple of restaurants with massive bins and shut doors.

Trying to get my breathing under control, I turned only to pale as a black-clad figure began striding down the alley toward me. Less than thirty feet away, he pulled off his helmet before tossing it away and continuing his advance.

My view of his face confirmed it was the same man as before. I couldn’t understand how this was happening again, however, my attention was drawn toward the man as he spoke.

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“Hah, finally got you,” he gasped out, showing that he was nearly as tired as I was. “You can sure run when you want to. Both now and last time.”

“L… Look,” I stuttered as I raised my hands. “I’ll send you everything in my account, OK? No need for this to get violent.” I was in a completely different situation than last time. Whereas before losing my real-world funds would have seen me thrown out of my apartment, with a steady income from VSO, it was now only an inconvenience.

“Hah!” the man responded with a harsh laugh. “No need for violence? After you nearly killed me last time? No, No. There is every need for violence, I don’t even care about the money anymore.”

Fuck, I thought with a wince as I tried to back up further and hit the wall. Somehow in all my ruminating over the last incident, I hadn’t considered how badly I’d hurt the man. Of course, he would hold a grudge.

“It took some time to find you, of course,” the mugger continued as he stalked forward. “I had to heal up, and I assume you did as well. Then you went and changed gyms, that threw me off for a while. But I put out some feelers and eventually got a call, after that, it was just planning.”

I trembled as he advanced, but fought off the urge to collapse into a ball. He seemed more interested in gloating than in straight-up shooting me, perhaps that would give me a chance.

Once he was within five feet of me, he paused again as he drew a wicked-looking knife from his jacket. It was nearly a foot long with a serrated edge and he held it easily in his off-hand.

“Now hold still,” he said with a cruel smile as he waved the gun at me. “This is going to hurt.” He stepped forward as he finished, clearly planning on cutting me up before he ended it.

That would be my chance, though I had to be extremely careful. One wrong move might trigger him to shoot, and then it would all be over.

I shrank back along the wall, faking timidness despite the growing feeling of confidence flowing through me. Just like in the last fight, I could feel my instincts from hundreds of battles working to buoy me up.

“None of that now,” he drawled with a laugh and another wave of the gun. “You're going to stand still and take it. Maybe if you don’t cause me any trouble, I’ll even leave you alive.”

Somehow I doubted that. No, the only way I was making it out of this situation alive would be to save myself. I paused as if intimidated into stillness, before waiting for his final approach.

“That’s the way,” he said as he stepped forward, nearly chest-to-chest with me. “Now, how to start? An arm? Or maybe,” he continued as his eyes dropped. “A leg, just like you did me.”

Now, I thought as his eyes strayed away from my upper body. Putting on as much speed as I could, I surged forward to slap away his right arm. My hand connected and smashed his aside, the gun going off with a deafening bang as I did so.

I felt a sharp pain in the side of my chest but ignored it for now as adrenaline surged through me. The man let out a loud gasp of surprise as I hammered into his arm again. This time it was enough, and the gun slid from his hand.

It fell to the ground with a clatter and I tried to dive for it even as my opponent lashed out with a front kick. I just barely touched the gun before the kick hit, sending me sprawling and the gun clattering away.

I groaned as I looked up to see the mugger already diving for the gun. With a groan, I struggled up to all fours and lunged for it as well. Time seemed to slow again as I took in our relative positions to the gun.

I wasn’t going to make it in time.

The mugger had too much of a head start, he was going to reach the gun first and from the crazed look in his eyes I didn’t think he was going to play around this time.

If he got his hands on that gun, I was going to die.

Yet there was nothing I could do other than keep reaching for the weapon. I needed that gun to live. So with a desperate surge of energy, I reached for the gun despite knowing I would never make it.

Then suddenly, cold metal was within my grasp as the gun weighed down my hand. Somehow I had made it in time, I had reached the gun first.

I looked up with disbelief, unable to process how I had crossed the distance in time. I was only further confused at the sight of the mugger over a foot away with his hand outstretched.

I hadn’t made it in time, instead, the gun had come to me.

A throbbing headache formed as I sat there with the gun. Both the mugger and I were frozen in shock and I could see a look of terrified disbelief appearing on the man’s face.

I almost shot him. All of my instincts told me to do it, and yet I stopped myself. I didn’t want to kill someone, not in real life. Even if the police didn’t care and I would probably get away with it, I didn’t want to be that kind of person.

Instead, I stood, keeping the gun trained on him as I did so. I had to find some other way to handle this.

The man shook his head before dropping the dagger and raising his hands. “Sorry,” he gasped, fear in his eyes. “I didn’t know you were one of them. Look, I’ll go. You’ll never see me again.”

I had no idea what he meant by the first part, however, I liked the second. “Go then,” I spat as harshly as I could. “But if I ever see you again, you won’t like what happens.”

He nodded frantically, before sprinting off without even picking up his knife or helmet.

Once I was he was gone, I slumped to the ground and held my aching head. The headache had progressed to a thumping migraine, something I had only experienced a few times before.

It’s just like when I overdo it on the Psionics in-game. It was unbelievable, however, I couldn’t find another way to explain how I got the gun in time.

Even beyond that, something had terrified the mugger, and I felt like it was something more than just looking down the barrel of a gun. He had to have seen it. Seen the gun disappear from just in front of his fingertips before reappearing in my hand.

What the fuck, I thought as I sat there. How is this even possible?

It wasn’t something I had any kind of explanation for, yet I felt that the proof was obvious. Somehow, VSO was affecting my real life.