When we were a child, we always believed that our dreams will come true as long as we worked hard and aimed for it. Well, if an adult still believed in those fairy tales, then Himari will surely give then a straight punch right through their face and dragged them right in reality.

Life was entertaining for the rich and cruel to the poor. From her early teens, Himari already started working to support her only family, which is her little sister and her grandpa.

Because of her experiences, she knew the value of money better than anyone in this world.  And after graduating from senior high school, she decided to work rather than going to college.

In the morning, she rides her bicycle and delivered newspapers to different houses while at noon, she works as a waitress in a restaurant.  When she was a kid, her parents died from an accident, leaving all the responsibilities to her. 

Even if she wanted to curse her parents from leaving them, she can't do that at all. From the moment she was born, her parents showered her with warmth and love.

Her only regret was not able to say goodbye to them before they died.  Despite everything that happened to her, Himari was still trying to live her life to its fullest.

She didn't mind if her body collapsed from overwork as long as she saw her family living the life they wanted. It was already enough for her. Whenever Himari entered their house, what greets her was the genuine and angelic smile of her little sister and grandpa.

 

"Welcome home, onee-chan."

"Himari, you must be tired, come on, let's start to eat so you can take a bath later."

 

Yes, this atmosphere was the one Himari is trying to protect. Their house was only a small and old apartment having two small bedrooms. Himari and her little sister, Relaire were sharing in a bedroom while their grandpa used the other.

After eating, she went to the bathroom, undressing her clothes and underwear, and took a shower.

 

"Relaire, are you finished studying? You should go to bed now. I will go first."

"Yes, onee-chan, I'm already finished here. I will go to bed after I finished this"

 

Relaire was a diligent and bright student. Maybe because she knows their situation, she wants to graduate from high school to help her sister as soon as possible.

Himari smiled wryly and went to their room. She went to the corner and what she saw was her old computer. Her hands went to the button of CPU and clicked it. The screen started to run, and from her screen, there was only one game that can be seen.

New World Online, one of the famous RPG worldwide and was said the best RPG of all-time before the virtual reality games arrived. One of the best things about this game is not about the graphics itself. It was about the gameplay, settings, and the fact that it can run on a low-end computer.

Luckily, her computer was able to run the game by reducing the graphics itself to its limit. It was the only game that she played for all year. New World Online was the one who supported her beside her family when she was down and on the verge of giving up her responsibility.

 

New World Online

ID: Rei

Password: **********

Confirm Cancel

 

Himari clicked the confirm button and started to play.

 

NAME: Rei

LVL: 999

BLESSINGS: Zombie Dragon's Series

RACE: Human

EQUIPMENTS:

>Head: Zombie Dragon's Horn

>Armor: Zombie Dragon's Scale 

>Necklace: Zombie Dragon's Heart

>Gauntlets: Zombie Dragon's Claw

>Boots: Zombie Dragon's Boots

 

She is one of the rankers in the game. She was known for her Zombie Dragon equipment series that can corrode everything it touched. Rei, together with her few ranker friends, used to play and dominate around the New World Online. 

It was when their names were vast in glory, and there's not a single player who didn't know their legends. But then, her friends started to disappear one by one. Their glory, relationship, and hardship, all of them gone in a single blink of an eye.

And before her last friend disappeared, it's mentioned to her about the New World Online 2. Rei was the only one left. After their disappearance, she started to clear the dungeon one by one, and not only that, but even the players are gradually reducing month by month.

Lands, seas, sky all of those places were explored by her alone Killing Hydra, Zeus, Angels, Demons, and many more monsters. And finally, after clearing everything, she got a skill book. She decided to store it in her storage, and as time goes by, she already forgot it.

Right, she didn't open her account to play. She was just staring at her character before she decided to log out.  After graduating from high school, Himari didn't have a chance to touch her computer and avatar.

Because of the increase in her workloads, she decided to end her legend in New World Online and uninstalled. But before he even managed to click the uninstall button, a sudden notification pop up from the window of her computer.

 

Game Site Notification:

Buying pieces of equipment from New World Online Only.

Money: Can go up if the equipment is good.

Equipment needs to be at least Epic tier

Meeting place: Inside the game.

Message me if interested.

 

Her eyes were focused on the notification in the lower right of her computer. The notification caught her attention, and she clicked it as fast as she could as possible.  Having fear for competitors, she sent a message to the buyer as fast as possible.

 

UMR_00: Hello, regarding the equipments that you are planning to buy. I have an offer, and it is a complete set of equipment.

 

BlackGamer295: Cool. Can you send a screenshot of the equipments?

 

UMR_00: Sent a photo.

>Head: Zombie Dragon's Horn

>Armor: Zombie Dragon's Scale 

>Necklace: Zombie Dragon's Heart

>Gauntlets: Zombie Dragon's Claw

>Boots: Zombie Dragon's Boots

 

BlackGamer295: What the hell, is that the Zombie Dragon's Series? Damn, I'll buy it. How about ¥2,100,000?

 

Upon seeing the priced, Himari's eyes nearly popped out of her socket. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, right now. One, two, three, four, five, six... Her count was seven digits... She decided to check it again... Seven... It was still seven digits. 2.1 million yen. She can't believe it. Her heart was beating very fast, but she managed not to faint. 

 

UMR_00: Deal! How will you transfer the money?

 

BlackGamer295: I will transfer it through a money card. First, I'll pay you half and send me half of the equipments, and after that, I will give you the remaining half and then you'll give me the remaining half too. Is that good?

 

UMR_00: Good! I'm ready. I'll see you in the game.

 

BlackGamer295: Ok. I will meet you in the town of beginnings.

 

Rei logged in inside the New World Online and went to the town of beginnings.

It was the place where the new players start and respawn. She saw an avatar with no piece of equipment at all, and it waves at her.

 

"Hello, I am BlackGamer295. Are you UMR_00?"

"Ah, y-yes... I am UMR_00."

"Sorry for the wait. Then shall we start?"

 

2.1 million yen acquired.

 

It was 4 am, and Himari's alarm clock started to ring. Usually, after hearing it once, she will get from the bed and cooked some breakfast for Relaire and grandpa before going to work.

But Himari stopped the alarm clocked and slept again. Later, after waking up, she grabbed the alarm clock in her side and looked at the time. 

It was already 6:30 in the morning, and she immediately woke up. She remembered that Relaire goes to school at 7 am in she didn't prepare breakfast yet.

She immediately rose from the futon and quickly walks towards the kitchen to prepare some breakfast, when she saw that Relaire and grandpa are already sitting at the table while eating.

 

"Um. onee-chan good morning. I prepared some breakfast already. We didn't wake you because I thought you were tired from yesterday's work."

 

Himari smiles wryly.

 

"Sorry about that Relaire. Don't worry. I will buy anything you want later, just tell me what you want."

 

Relaire giggles at the sudden statement of her big sister. She knew that she was only joking about it and tried to tease her.

 

"Then let's have a date onee-chan."

"Geez. I'm serious, you know? Come on. Is there anything that my cute little sister needs? I will buy it."

"Hmmm... I really don't need anything as long as I have you onee-chan... then, how about books?"

"What books?" 

"Math books so I can study more." 

 

Himari was not sure about it, and she asks her again.

 

" Are you sure about that?" 

"Yes. <3"

 

And they continued to talk until Relaire went to school. After that, she went to the bathroom and took a bath. She wears the best clothes that she found in her cabinet and double-checked her money card if it was in his bag.

Before leaving the house, she didn't forget to ask for permission from her grandpa.

 

"Grandpa, I will go out for a bit."

"Okay. Be careful on your way."

"Thanks!"

 

She rode on a bus and went to the nearest bank and withdrew some of the money that she got from last night. Instead of withdrawing all of it, she decided to save some for the future.

She went to a real state agency and decided to buy a small house for them. After that, she started to pay for some insurances and went to the mall. While walking around the mall, she stopped in electronic shops.

 

"Good morning, I want to buy some laptop. What do you recommend?"

"Ma'am, what kind of laptops are you looking for.? We have different laptops from low range, mid-range, and high-end laptops. What do you want to buy?"

 

While she was on the bus earlier, Himari thought that instead of buying books, she decided to buy Relaire a laptop as it was efficient for her studies.

 

"How much is the high-end laptop?" She was hesitating while asking the question, but she wants the best for her sister.

 

"The new brand of Mango is 260,000 yen. It is HForce 3600, i10, and Tuple Core, which best for gaming and studying at the same time.

"........I-I will buy it."

 

Himari was on the verge of crying. 260,000 yen is not a joke to her. Just imagine how much rice, fish, and meat she can buy on it, but her sister needs to enjoy and study at the same time. 

She went for a gaming laptop so that if her sister was tired of studying, she can relax a bit by surfing on the internet and playing games. It was already in the evening before she got home. Both of her hands were full of baggage. She went and bought them delicious food, clothes, and other necessities. The one who noticed it first and ran to help her was Relaire.

 

"Onee-chan! are you okay? Let me help you. Where did you get these things?"

"Ahahaha... Thanks... I'll explain it to you tomorrow, for now, let put these things down, and let's eat."

 

While she was getting the plates, spoons, and forks, Himari sat down and opened the old and tiny television they have. She needs to watch the news every day to know the economic price of the foods and ingredients as she always planned their spending on this kind of thing.

It was when she accidentally clicked the remote, and it switched to another channel. When Himari was going to close the television, she got a glimpse of the title of news and became interested.

 

(New World Online 2.... Why does the name sound familiar?)

 

LATEST NEWS: NEW WORLD ONLINE 2

"Good evening to all of our viewers worldwide. For today's latest news, let's tackle Virtual Reality."

"Hey, partner, do you play the virtual reality game called New World Online 2?"

"Of course, New World Online 2 is the VR version from the New World Online in PC right.? Almost everyone in the world already knows this game. It was popular worldwide, and has a download of 4.5 billion users around the globe."

"You're correct from Asia, Europe, South and North America, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. All of the continents are playing this game."

"Really? Do you know the reason for it, partner?"

"But Of course, New World Online 2 is a world like reality where you can do anything. As you rise and gain power from there, you also gain power from here. "

"What do you mean by gaining power there, you can gain power here in reality."

"Yes, partner, as you were making influenced in New World Online 2, you will also gain influence here in the real world. For example, if you got a Legendary Class Item, how much do you think it will cost you in real life?"

"Maybe a hundred thousand yen?"

"No no no... A Legendary Class item can be sold for a million yen."

"Seriously! Then how about the mythical class item then?!"

"Unfortunately, I don't know it too partner as we knew there were only a few people who are capable of acquiring those items."

"Why do they need to spend so much money in one game?"

"You, don't understand it, partner, VR is like a different world from ours but works the same. You need the power to control everything. To be strong, you need power, skills, items. And these things can be earned through money. By exchanging the flow in the real world and virtual world, the virtual world will also affect the real world little by little."

"I see now partner, Oh, by the way, I wish I could see at least one mythical item."

"Wow, partner, you're in luck today. Our latest news is all about the mythical grade equipment. It was the Zombie Dragon's Equipment! One of the Dragon's Series has seen in the Tracuria City. A player named Zed has seen using it today. Zed was the fifth player from Japan who owned a mythical weapon. As we knew, Korea was the one on the list who have numbers of mythical weapons as they have 10. Next is Russia having 9, France and England have 7, China and Japan have 5, Germany has 3, the Philippines and Brunei have 1.

"That's right, and I'm sure that our ranker our strong right partner? By the way, partner, How do you think Zed managed to obtain a mythical class weapon? If I'm correct, Rei of ranker from New World Online was the one who is holding that item right.?"

"Well, we still don't know that partner, as we all know the New World Online from the PC has a connection to New World Online 2. Rei was a powerful ranker in the PC version, but we never saw her in the NW2. We don't know if Rei was Zed or not"

"Oh, I forgot about that. If I'm correct, the items from PC version can be transferred to VR version right.?"

"Yes, maybe he gets it from there, Well regarding the price, let's try to ask the opinion of experts about this matter. Let's welcome Kudo-sensei."

"Yes, good evening to everyone."

"Good evening too, Kudo-sensei. By the way, sensei, can you tell the price for a whole set of the Zombie Dragon's Series?"

"I see... Zombie Dragon's Series is one of the mythical items that have a special ability to corrode anything in touch. Every piece of this equipment has a price no lower than ¥10,800,000. If you want the whole set, you need to have at least ¥54,000,000."

 

"W-w-w-w-w-haaaattt!!!!"

 

Himari was startled from the conversation of the reporters from the news. It was not the fact that her name was mentioned. It was not because of the New World Online 2 that she heard.

It was about the money! Yes, she got scammed! She didn't know that her items were that kind of a big deal.

 

"Onee-chan, what happened?"

"N-nothing"

 

Himari smiles wryly towards her little sister. The regret that she was feeling was gone now. Right now, she was thinking about what she heard from the newscaster.

 

(New World Online 2 having power in that world is equivalent to having power here. Should I try it?)

 

It was the start of the tale of Himari and her character avatar called Rei.

These are the story of every people and country fighting each other for what they desire. Money, wealth, pride, honor, authority, power all of these things will start here ... NEW WORLD ONLINE 2