Prologue

I’d used my PTO to take today off. Even though I’d gone to bed three hours earlier than usual last night, I slept in. Then, I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of toast—from an expensive loaf I’d been looking forward to trying—and three scrambled eggs, accompanied by a cup of tea with plenty of sugar.

How sophisticated of me!

After savoring my breakfast, I got my cleaning and laundry out of the way so I’d have a clear schedule for the rest of the day.

“Turn off the company phone, and I’m all set!” I declared.

I was loafing around in bed when the time came at last—the scheduled end time of the most recent update. A new patch was being installed, introducing “Eden, the Furthest Village” to the game. Every update so far had been touted as the most challenging yet, but it never took more than a few months for the players to catalog the new items, enemies, and dungeons in the online encyclopedia. As a pretty well-known OG player—not to toot my own horn—I’d contributed my fair share to this endeavor.

“But rumor has it, this update is going to be a cut above the rest.”

“Eden, the Furthest Village” was rumored to come with more lore on the goddess Flaudia, who was not some run-of-the-mill NPC but the most powerful Holy character in the entire game.

This game that was fully consuming my thoughts today was the MMO phenomenonReas Life Online, or justReas for short.Reas was the first ever open-world VR MMO, developed by the American and Japanese tag team of Zerorium Inc. and ONIGIRI Corporation. According to their PR, the game was created to “draw players out of everyday life and into a fantasy world they can enjoy to the fullest.”Reas was now a smash hit all over the country.

Using the Reas Link—a set that came with a VR headset and gloves—the player could wander the vast open world ofReas and do, well, anything they wanted. Some relaxed and enjoyed a simple lifestyle, while others fought monsters with swords and magic. There were