Creak!
The door to Liam’s room opened with a long and agonizing creak. His parents, Iris and Luke Ward stepped inside the clean room and saw their son still in a semi-asleep state while the VR headset was wrapped around his head.
‘’He is still playing…’’ Iris murmured and looked at her son with worry clearly visible. She never believed in the concept of Virtual Reality games because she was part of an old-fashioned family that liked to keep their feet deeply rooted on the ground.
That’s why they never used the newly developed technology that made sense of reality fader.
‘’He must be having fun,’’ Luke said. His family, on the other hand, was completely different. His parents were scientists that loved to find new ways to improve the level of humanity.
Even though they lived in a remote part of the Leaf Continent, they still managed to improve the living conditions of villagers of poor villages.
The Ward Family lived in Leaf Continent, which was oppressed by large and stronger Continents. The only reason why they weren’t conquered by now was because of the rare Healing Leaf that could only be found from there.
Only the Royal Family had a way to get the Healing Leaf, and they could use those valuable leaves to trade. Even though they were precious, they had no other choice than give them away.
The world was now in the era of VR games, and they had changed the world forever. There were even rumors of using VR Helmets to travel to new, unknown worlds and conquer them or befriend them.
So far, no one had managed to achieve such a feat except a certain black-haired man.
The strong players were hailed as heroes and idols. While, weaker players were oppressed, and they were only groomed to help strong players to grow even stronger.
At first, everyone thought that Fantasy Online was another game that would help stronger players. However, now, it was different because even real life was affected.
The influence of strong players keeps rising and rising until they are fiery meteor that soars in the sky toward the horizon.
Luke and Iris looked at each other before leaving the room.
Then, the old, square-shaped box flickered, and the dark screen showed an image of a news anchor giving a monumental speech that would start a new era.
An era of Strength.
The middle-aged news anchor was rather handsome with sharp eyebrows, a well-defined jawline, and broad shoulders. There was a trim beard blooming with strands of sideburns appearing.
Then, he opened his mouth, and everyone in the news station held their breath as one of the most important news broadcasts was happening right in front of their eyes.
The news anchor had a sweat-drenched back. The sharp light in the ceiling made him dizzy and unfocused. He knew the importance of the news, and it would change the world as they know it.
‘’Everyone, welcome to Breaking News, and today, we received an important piece of news from the Royal Family of Dragon Continent.’’
He took a deep breath and continued. Everyone in front of their TVs was confused and wondered what could be so important.
‘’The newly released Fantasy Online was a game said to be the start of a new era…’’ The news anchor turned to look at the camera and continued.
‘’It is the start of the new era, but not in the way we expected.’’
‘’The VR Helmet’s internal chip, that allows our consciousness to transfer into our avatar’s consciousness was slightly altered during the making process.’’
‘’The scientists worldwide wondered what could be the cause for such drastic change, and they couldn’t come to a conclusion.’’
‘’But, they know one thing. It isn’t harmful, instead extremely beneficial!’’
‘’Because of that slight alteration, your avatar will be truly connected with your real-life body.’’
‘’That means… Your body grows stronger alongside your avatar, and this means… The limits of humanity had broadened drastically…’’
The middle-aged man shuffled the papers in his hands that were trembling without stopping.
‘’I know this sounds like an April’s fool’s joke, but I know most of you have already noticed it.’’
‘’A slight change in your physique. The feeling of tiredness after you log out, and pain somewhere in your body.’’
‘’And if you have… You know I am telling the truth.’’
‘’The stronger your avatar becomes… Stronger you will be…’’
Clank!
The TV screen shut down, and the previous black screen appeared.
The world-shaking news that had just transpired was the start of a new era. However, Liam was still completely oblivious and didn’t know that even his body had a drastic change.
His lanky build started having muscles, with the slight fat around his waistline fading away. The shimmer his eyes let out was a sign that he had grown even stronger.
…
The following day.
‘’Ugh…’’ Liam’s eyes fluttered as they began slowly opening. He could see the grass shrouding his vision with cold air brushing past him.
Then, several figures ran past him and gathered around the garden. Soon, a muscular, broad-chested man appeared with a grin.
‘’Morning sunshine,’’ Garp said and pulled Liam up.
‘’Ugh…’’ I groaned in annoyance and looked at him with droopy eyes. Now, I remembered where I was, and it seemed that I had slept the night inside the game.
The strange thing was that it shouldn’t have been possible. If a player loses consciousness, gets a seizure, or falls asleep, they would get forcefully logged out, no exceptions!
However, Liam slept the whole night peacefully inside the game.
‘’Here.’’ Garp gave me a bag filled with rocks. This time, it was slightly heavier, with more bulges around the pockets.
It seemed that, according to him, I was ready to carry heavier back of rocks. Not sure whether I should be proud or depressed.
I wrapped the straps over my shoulders and carried the bag on my back.
Then, the young men and women sprinted after Garp while I followed after them.
If it looked like I could stay close to them yesterday while running, now it was completely the opposite. The heaviness of the bag caused my speed to get reduced by a lot.
Soon, Garp and the rest were gone from my vision, and I continued running alone with my feet tapping against the pavement.
