My name is Max. I am 18 years old and in last year of High School. Though I'm not good at studies but still I'm your average student. Today is the weekend so I can play my favorite game 'Lands and Legends'.

It is VR-MMORPG where you can control your own territories and build kingdoms. There are dozens of races and classes to choose from. Players usually team up to create guilds and control territory to build revenue and defend it against other guilds.

Coming straight from school I went to my bedroom and laid down on VR Pod, upon wearing VR Headset I powered on it. The login screen appeared in front of me I filled my account information and pressed 'Login'. After starting soundtrack I am in the world of 'Lands and Legends'.

My avatar is a handsome human with slightly long black hair, brown eyes wearing a jet black robe. If you take out the handsome part then it greatly resembles my real self. My primary class is a mage. Although mage isn't that good combination with the human race but still I went it with it because I wanted my character to look handsome unlike Demi-Humans and Monsters.

When I first started playing this game I was a victim of pking many times. Sometimes players of similar race gangs up and start killing players of other races. I requested my guild for help many times but those arrogant bastards didn't even bother helping out a low level player like me. After that I left the guild and became a solo player and started leveling up slowly and steadily.

I am currently Level 100 in mage class which is the maximum level that can be achieved in a single class. There are total 10 Tiers of spells for a mage to choose. Level 1 to 10 can only use Tier 1 basic spells, Level 11 to 20 can use Tier 2 spells, and so on. Like other games spells cost mana and when your health reaches zero then you are dead.

I spawned in my small fortress, it is more like a beautiful mansion surrounded by huge walls. I walked towards the entrance of the mansion and at that time door opens and from within a woman walks out slowly.

"Good Morning, Master." Amelia bowed and greeted me.

Amelia is NPC created by me. She is breathtakingly beautiful with long black hair that covers her one red eye. She is wearing a pure white dress that barely contains her breasts and has a golden belt on her waist with a sheath attached which contains her short sword. She has a face like a goddess and tits like a whore. I created her with the image of my ideal woman in mind. Sadly, this game prohibited 18+ adult actions, or else I would've enjoyed her to my heart's content.

"Thanks for the good work," I replied.

There are battle signs everywhere that mean there was a raid on the mansion. Though there are many traps and defenses in this little fortress but these are not enough to stop invaders. Amelia is like a war machine who can stop anyone in her way. Even with limited AI she can hold her own against other players. The reason she is so powerful is that unlike other players instead of having multiple NPCs I've spent all my points and coins for equipment solely for her.

"I'm just doing my duty, Master," she said with an expressionless face.

I always complain that developers should improve AI dialogues and facial expressions. It's no fun if I manually change her mood to cheerful.

I walked into the mansion, and my gaze went on the throne which is carved from fine oak, embedded with jewels. There's no way this mansion looked like a castle but players whose territory contains at least a small town are granted throne which they can customize themselves. Although the world of 'Lands and Legends' is very huge but controlling even a village required a small guild of players. This proves that a solo player like me is not to be taken lightly.

Upon taking a seat I heard ringtone and text screen appeared before me.

                                                                              [Incoming Call From Zeyrox]

I pressed on 'Answer Call'.

"It's been a while, Zeyrox, so what do you need my help with?" I said.

"Haha same as always Death Mage, straight to the business, okay listen to me there's going to be a big war tonight. Departed Alliance is up to something again and I'm afraid there's going to be big territorial changes tonight," he answers with a strong tone.

"If Departed Alliance attacks with full strength then other larger and smaller non-human guilds will also take part in the battle. We'll probably not only witness and but also participate in the biggest battle with most players in any of VR game as of yet." I said.

"Yeah that's why I'm contacting all high level human players and you, my buddy is most notorious when it comes to pking," he said.

People call me Death Mage who kills other players. Yes, I do kill others but I rarely provoke anyone. When others see player see a solo player like me especially after a dungeon hunt or some other lavish event then they try to take my loot and mostly ends up getting their asses kicked. Hence, I built my reputation.

"I'll be there but I'll take any loot I find and charge a usual fee for my services," I said with a light tone.

"Okay you got yourself a deal," he said helplessly.

With this call ended and I looked toward Amelia.

"Get in your battle armor, prepare all high level equipment and potions," I commanded her.

"As you wish, Master," she replied.

After all the preparations I took and teleportation scroll and teleported outside of 'Royal Vultures' guild house. Zeyrox is the leader of this guild. Though teleportation magic exists, I didn't want to waste mana.

I was surprised to see thousands of players here ready for battle. My guess was right this is gonna be the biggest battle of VR history. I could feel the excitement in my bones.

After a few hours of in-game time we were all ready and shortly members of 'Departed Alliance' and others guild arrived. Most of them were Demi-Humans and Monsters.

I don't know which side cast a spell first but both sides were exchanging spells from a distance while getting close. I suppose this was the moment for the mages to shine.

"Amelia guard me, don't openly engage," I commanded her with a polite tone.

"Yes, I have got your order, Master," she bowed.

There was chaos everywhere and close combat between warrior started. As a mage, I was standing far away from close combat. Rather than killing small fries I was calmly observing for players who could tilt the scale of battle. Ah and there was this summoner who was trying to summon a Tier 10 creature.

Tier 10 spells take a long time to cast and this guy wearing red robe was trying to summon Archdemon. Archdemons are immune to normal physical attacks, Warriors are powerless against them but Paladins holy attacks and mages spells works greatly against them. Archdemons command dozens of lesser demons which get summoned alongside him.

I had to stop this guy from summoning because if he's successful and Archdemon attacks where there's the concentration of Warriors then they are fucked. But this guy like me was behind the front line and I had to break through it to get to him. I could contact other 100 level players but there was not anyone capable around me and if I wait for backup then summon would be complete and it'll be too late.

"Amelia, after I cast a spell, quickly make a way for me to that red robe summoner," I commanded.

"Leave it to me, Master," she replied expressionlessly.

I took out 'Moonlit War Staff' from my inventory. It's a short dim gray fancy looking staff which can extend at my will, it can boost many stats but it's mainly useful in reducing cast time by 35%. This is one of the rarest staff in 'Lands and Legends', I won it in PvP tournament arranged by admins and since then I've spent countless gold coins to upgrade, this is the reason why my base is a small mansion instead of a castle.

I aimed towards players who are acting as a shield for red robe summoner avoiding allies and cast a spell.

                                                                                                    <Sand Storm>

The spell created a vortex of sand along with heavy wind, every below level 40 players in vicinity died in few seconds and the remaining players became blinded for moments while their HP is getting lower every moment.

Taking advantage of the chaos, I start moving towards red robed summoner. While walking two players, one Orc and other Goliath jumped on me. Before I could even try to defend my self, Amelia made her move.

                                                                                                   <Double Slash>

She slashed her sword and it struck as fast as light, both players didn't stand a chance and got cut in half because they are already affected by my spell and her ability have high damage. She's in her jet black battle armor which covers her from head to toe, only her red eyes can be seen through a gap in her helmet. Despite being full body armor it is light and she doesn't get a penalty in dexterity from using it. Similar to her white dress this one has its own charm, I can even trace curves on her chest with my hands if I want.

"Nice move, Amelia," I praised her.

"Thank you, Master," she replied with the same expressionless face.

I sometimes wish that she could smile. Moving with her at the front I was close to my target but there were other players Amelia got engaged with them while providing me cover, I moved around them while she was busy fighting and finally reached red robed summoner. He was still within magic circle and his summon was almost complete.

"I've finally caught up, now you can say your prayers", I taunted him.

"Death Mage, do you think I'm foolish enough to get in your line of sight, I lured you on purpose here, taking you out early in the battle will tip the scale towards us," he said laughingly.

As he finished speaking, huge magic circles appeared beneath me and I got surrounded by four players, among them was the leader of 'Departed Alliance'. Though I'm strong but without Amelia, even I can't avoid this strike.

                                                          <Thorn Bind> <Reality Slash> <Flame Strike> <Meteor Rain>

Green roots growed from the ground and bound me then a muscular hobgoblin player struck me with a two-handed sword which took away more than half of my HP. It succeeded with another flame strike by the mage and at this moment I knew that I was done for, I had less than 5% of HP remaining. Before meteor rain could fall the last thing I saw was Amelia ignoring her current fight and ran to save me, she's an NPC and has her priorities straight that is to save her Master even if you have to become meat shield, before she could even reach me I was bombarded by Meteor.

And I'm dead, this is really humiliating for Death Mage, it was the biggest battle of my gaming life and I got taken out pathetically in the beginning and now my reputation will also take a huge hit, though I don't care about it.

Why am I not respawned yet? I can only see darkness, I should be spawned back at the mansion by now. Slowly my conscious is fading, what's happening? If there's some kind of problem having with my body or health then VR Pod should automatically kick me out of the game. I can't think anything now and went into a deep sleep.

I woke up and looked around, I'm in a forest, I can hear the chirping of birds and howls of different beasts. I observed my clothes, hair and other physical features and got astonished. This is my game avatar but this world doesn't feel or look like 'Lands and Legends'. I pinched my cheeks and there was pain, there should be no pain in the game, I aimed my hands towards a tree and cast a spell to check if it's work.

                                                                                                      <Magic Arrow>

An arrow made of mana looking exactly as in the game came out of my hand and pierced the tree, I can't digest the truth this is another world, how exactly my abilities are different from the game here? How strong am I here? Panic and questions started to fill my mind but I was sure of one thing that this is some other kind of world and my first priority is to find out information.