In front of me is a fully armored knight, head to toe, who ordered me to follow him. He brought me to the inner city, specifically the prison.

"Do not worry. We only brought you here for questioning." The protector Lorenzo assured me. The civil servant from before didn't accompany us.

The inner city is majestic. The beautiful mansions and towers are incomparable to the lower city's houses. The residents here all wear fashionable outfits, relaxed walking on the clean streets. From time to time, horse riders and carriages are going around with their preferred color themes. The most interesting part of the inner city is-

"Do not daze off. Please sit into that chair."

I obediently followed his instruction. The chair is clothed, perhaps covering the magic seal inside. On the other hand, it's extremely comfortable.

"Please remain alert. That chair is enchanted, comforting the one who sits on it, inducing sleepiness. Put your hands on this orb. Maintain physical contact on it."

I did as he told me. The orb slightly stung my hand.

"Very good. Please answer our questions honestly. Number one. Are you aware that 3 days ago, Lady Tanisha of House Garnet entered your store?"

"Yes."

"... Are you aware she will arrive at that time?"

"No. I do not. I am also surprised when she came to my store."

Lorenzo observed the orb for a while.

"Number two. Did you tell her or suggested to her where to go at that time?"

"No."

He started at the orb again. The orb didn't react to my response. He then asked the next question with a heavier tone.

"Number three. Did you offer her something dangerous?"

"Yes. She specifically asked for weapons."

... It was awkward. He probably thought of me selling her cursed items. Weapons are dangerous... to the receiving end of it.

"Uhmmm, did you offer here an item dangerous to her?"

"Yes. I offered her a tome of magic that can harm her if she did not handle it carefully."

I read the first pages of the said Grazier's Necronomicon and it heavily warned its readers of the severe consequences of mishandling the magic book or improper conduct of mentioned magical procedures... I don't understand some of the words I just said earlier. I just memorized it in case someone asked me to translate it.

Lorenzo realized he asked a dumb question. Everything is dangerous when mishandled, including water. You can drown a person with water and its container can be used to hammer someone's head.

"Did you have evil intentions when selling her goods?"

"... Yes. I was planning to greatly profit from her. I doubled the prices because she is a naive noble."

He maintained his silence for a while.

"... Let's change the question one last time. Did you have intentions of harming her?"

"No."

The orb didn't react the entire time.

"It appears you are innocent of this matter. I also received a tip that you originally came from the genesis village a month ago. I'm born in the same village and have no recollections of you. Perhaps you were lost at that time and just happened to arrive there. I just came from the village to visit my parents two weeks ago."

His tone is no longer a man of authority but one of familiarity.

"As you haven't been registered in our city, I won't ask your name yet. They are interchangeable and there are different forms of names. Please register your identity immediately-"

"Sir Lorenzo, we received an update from one of your dispatched squire."

Another armored man entered, interrupting our conversation.

"Go ahead," Lorenzo responded without any care for me.

"... Okay then, we found her. Lady Tanisha is completely fine, sir. She also has an important message to personally relay to you."

Lorenzo just nodded to him.

"You may now leave, no, you might as well escort this young shop owner into the outer city."

"Yes, Sir Lorenzo."

Following the cue, I accompanied my escort to the outer city.

It took time before returning to the gates of the outer city, as well as my shop.

Just an hour after I returned to the shop, someone entered it.

"Hello."

A man dressed as a merchant emotionlessly greeted me. I responded similarly.

"Hello."

It took 1 minute of blank starting before the merchant finally continued.

"I'm Jenjen."

Jenjen? What's that? Is that a typical name?

"Ahhh..."

The merchant eyed different directions although I'm afraid I do not know the reasons. My unique items can be counted on my fingers and there is no point in searching completely. What is he doing? He also uttered several unknown words such as NPC, Trade NPC, Shop NPC Menu, and so forth.

He then stopped for 10 seconds and raised his finger, perhaps a habit of asking a question.

"What do you sell?"

Ah, customer...

"You can choose from one of the items on the shelves. I will explain their attributes for you to decide whether it is worthy of your attention or not."

He then mindlessly approached the items for sale. For some reason, he is surprised to touch the items there with a remark, "The touch feels so real! I wonder if I can steal this."

I think I'm communicating with a child.

"What's this?"

He pointed to the flashy runic broad sword. I then narrated a few lines I memorized a few weeks ago.

"It's the Demonsword. For every kill with this weapon, it grants bonus stamina and mana. It also has a special ability to siphon your entire life force for an astronomical amount of strength."

Jensen then opened his eyes wide, screaming 'God-tier!' and then simultaneously asked "What are the specific stats? What is the rarity? What effects can it make if I swing it? How can I activate the special ability?"

... What?

"It's rated [Unique]. As I haven't used it, I cannot ascertain what can it do, however, the sword is a living being that can communicate telepathically to its owner... 500 gold coins."

He's about to ask more about it but all those questions in his mind crumbled when Jenjen heard the price.

"500 gold coins? Isn't there an extra zero there?"

"No. 500 gold coins."

He froze on the spot, hurriedly counting all the pocket money he had which I can see with my two eyes no less than 20 gold coins. Is he a merchant or I'm just that rich.

He then opened his left palm and... hammered it with his right hand? What is he doing?

"Yes! Yes! Uhh, do you need an assistant? I'm a college student learning BS in Accountancy. I also... Uh, forgot this is another virtual world... I'm a good accountant."

Assistant? With your clothes, you're a merchant. Bankrupt?

"I... won't mind having an assistant. Although I do not know what is an accountant, it sounds good to me. 5 gold coins per week, 6 hours a day. 6 days a week. It will include proper handling of items, communicating with customers, handling of money and you get it. I'll also put a bonus of 20 gold as a commission for every item sold here by you. What do you think?"

Is my pricing cheap? I do not know. With hundreds of gold coins in my pockets, I won't mind paying gold coins. If only I can occupy a spot in the inner city.

"Generous! Yes! I'll accept it!"

He then takes my hands and shakes them firmly. It appears to be an act of closing the deal for him.

"When do I start?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"What specific time? 6 AM?"

AM? What's that?

"At the second bell of the day."

"Second bell?... Okay."

"You can now go."

Instead of leaving the shop, he then stared into my items for 1 minute, leaving the shop. Didn't he already check them before?

---

 

Three days ago, in the real world.

Jenjen held his new headgear which he obtained through a raffle among the supporters of the development of the new VRMMORPG game. Of course, the management didn't ask for money nor they are planning to sell this headgear for a high price because, during the 5-year development of the game, they made multiple promises, emphasizing that they are different from the typical AAA game developers. This includes but is not limited to having more communication with the player base, no loot boxes, no pay-to-win, and transparency. With the combination of verbal promises of "we care about the game, not the money" and an aspect of better technology, the popularity of this game in development exploded, obtaining funds enough to last 5 years with expenses greater than a AAA company.

Now, the 5-year wait is nearing its end. The management said that there is a limited amount of headgear for now and decided to settle it on picking a few random people who supported them from the start.

As one of the earliest supporters, he had a chance to obtain it and he got it, all against the hundreds of thousands of players. He thanked God he obtained the right to be a beta tester.

He's also a small-time Youtuber whose contents only include himself playing various video games. He's not famous but knowing this opportunity, becoming a beta tester of a potentially great game, he might have a brighter future!

He examined the first part of the headgear. It doesn't have a helmet, nor the ridiculous live wire connecting to it. It has a huge flat surface that can easily be mistaken for a mousepad. He then saw the next part of the headgear, the manual.

It's a few pages with its 90% warnings and advice of caution.

He followed the first part of the instructions, handling it with great care. Of course, he realized that the part where he acts extremely surprised while exaggeratedly emotionally assembling the object is worthy of 30 minutes of Youtube video... and he didn't hesitate to do it. He turned on the camera and recorded himself doing everything from the start again, eventually ending with a headgear without a helmet but with a neck part. Why did they call this headgear again?

He then found the remaining pieces of the neckgear. The wires, the batteries, the adaptor. He set it up accordingly, the batteries in his bed drawer, the adaptor connecting the batteries and the socket, the wires all in between the headgear, the always beeping batteries, and the adaptor. He then laid down in his bed.

Seeing the setup, he can't stop feeling that he is a patient at the hospital with a neck injury. The noisy battery adds up to that atmosphere. After overreacting to this part of the information, he ended the recording.

"Okay, GreenNet Login!"

He uttered the magic words before logging in. He doesn't need to do it. He just needs to press the power button.

There are no colorful bars.

There is completely nothing.

Blank.

Pure darkness.

Jenjen can no longer hear the outside world. His name isn't Jenjen. It's the name he uses when playing games and the name of his Youtube channel.

A single panel appeared after 10 seconds of darkness.

// Greetings, Player 003! Welcome to GreenNet Closed Beta 0.1

Few words appeared in front of him. No logging in, no registration, nothing.

He then woke up. He did not return to his home but inside a cave.

He's late arriving here, perhaps 4 hours after the official opening. He woke up late, not expecting the beta would start at 6 AM...

Is there a video recording function? Where?

How can I log out?

Where is the menu panel?

Questions came into his mind. He is alone inside the cave. There are dim lights made by bio-luminescent plants everywhere.

It terrified him. The fact that he is alone, inside an unknown place, helpless.

He then heard something. It's background music. The first panel that he saw is the music panel at the very top left of his vision. He thought it would follow him everywhere, only to find out the visual panel only appears for 30 seconds, reappearing when new music is played.

The calm and mystique music calmed his nerves.

'At least I'm inside a game.'

He then tried to explore the place. It's an extremely huge place.

He walked and got surprised as to how he can feel everything, walking, running, even breathing. He then tried pinching himself. There's no pain.

At his feet are footsteps into one of the numerous exits of this large room.

He is amazed by the realism. To think it would leave a footstep... Hold on, we're inside a cave, right?

He then focused on the soil beneath him. It's soil. Where would it come from? This is a humid cave, after all.

He had a hunch. What's underneath this soil?

However, he doesn't have a shovel. He also needs to explore these vacant caves.

Should he follow in those footsteps?

He decided to not follow it.

He explored these hollow caves. The plants light up the dark caves. He then saw carved artwork on one of the walls.

To his surprise, it's written in English.

// Say 'Menu' or clap three times to open the menu.

'Amazing!' He thought.

'To think integrating the tutorial into these caves.'

He opened the menu. It's a simple 'Log Out', 'Sounds', and 'Help'. Nothing else. Under the 'Sounds', there is a 'Music,' tab with a single check on the box opposite it.

'Too simple.'

He is annoyed there's nothing much here. He then pressed the X button on the top right.

He continued walking on the path. He then saw a pond. It is also brighter here with numerous plants lighting the walls.

"Hey! Here!"

There's someone at the end of the pond. The other person waved with huge arms.

Jenjen ran fast, approaching him.

"Do you already know how to open the menu?"

"Yeah. Saw it on the walls. It's everywhere, my friend. The name's Golden Potato! How 'bout you?"

"Jenjen."

While he looks sociable in his Youtube Videos, he is not used to communicating with other people.

"So, Jenjen, I haven't seen you before."

"I just arrived."

"Oh, I see, my friend. I'll update you immediately about the situation. Ya see, above this floor, there are few enemies. Sometimes, they look like wolves, sometimes people, sometimes lizards. They are extremely hard to kill, not to mention none of us has any experience fighting. We're gamers, bro! This game is too real we have to use our real-life fighting abilities."

"What did you mean sometimes?"

"They are fire spirits that transform into multiple creatures. They even turn into metals, damn it. How do we kill them? I got injured multiple times and needed to recover. Luckily there's a pond here that can heal you. It's magic!"

He then splashed himself with water.

A green aura with plus signs appeared.

"Safe spot."

"Yeah. Safe zone."

"Where are the others?"

"Fighting them bare-handed."

Bare-handed?

"Is it easy?"

Golden Potato... Or golden for short stared at him like he was asking a dumb question.

"Do you think I would remain here healing if it's easy?"

"Sorry. I mean is it easy to kill them?"

"No. No one did. Every enemy feels like a boss level."

... Dark Souls?

"Are... Are they-"

"Yeah. This must be Dark Souls 4 we're all waiting for."

Is it that hard?

"I think you're better off seeing it for yourself."

Golden then returned to the pond, washing again and again.

"Where is the upper floor?"

"Just follow their footsteps. Go anywhere, there are no dead ends here. You'll see it sooner or later."

Jenjen traced back where he came from, eventually following his footsteps. Walking for 4 minutes isn't fun, to be honest. Everywhere he goes, he sees the same plants. He then reached the upper floor.

"Hey bro, welcome to the second floor! Just call me Slice for now. We haven't found the add friend function yet."

At the opening of the upper floor, he saw a map carved on the wall.

"The enemies are nearly impossible to kill, but thankfully, they only stay in one place. As we speak, we found an optimal path to walk this place unharmed with the sacrifices of the other beta testers' resurrection cooldown... However, there is only one exit, and it is blocked by a fire elemental."

His words are one of frustration.

"This floor no longer has those plants. However, this floor is filled with fire elementals. Remember this map and you won't have any problem. Don't thank me. I'm just here to record the map with the information from other beta testers."

The map is huge. Memorizing it in one go is a huge effort for me.

"There is no hunger and thirst stats yet. Good luck!"