Chapter 22: Morning Bird

It was only 5 AM when Zach woke up, so he regretted sending a message to Aurora.

“She must be sleeping, right?” he wondered. ‘And even if she wasn’t, there is no way she can get ready within 30 minutes.’

Zach went downstairs and saw many players were already awake and they were having a meeting.

‘I do think a bigger team would help me level up fast, but more team members means more dead weight. I only want to level up with strong players, so I won’t have to worry about saving them or help them in any sort.’

The inn had the facility for breakfast and dinner. Hence, the players who weren’t interested in playing just lazed around all day and enjoyed the scenery of the beautiful world.

After having a light breakfast, Zach made his way to the garden, where he was meeting up with Aurora. However, he stopped in the cafe along his way and bought two cone crepes similar to what Aurora was eating last night.

Zach was the type of person who always chose to save money wherever he could, but he never held back when it came to food. He believed that food is essential and the price must be paid. But that was wavering now.

“Ten coins for this crepe?” He sighed and went to the garden.

Zach was expecting that Aurora wouldn’t be there, but she was waiting for him. He walked to her and handed her one crepe. “Here.”

“I just ate one, but thanks,” Aurora said as she took the crepe from Zach.

Zach bought the crepe for her because he wanted to gain Aurora’s favor by being kind to her. He still couldn’t completely trust Aurora and didn’t want her to backstab him later, so he was earning brownie points from her. It was just his plan. He also owed 1499 coins to Aurora, so he had no other choice.

After eating the crepe, Zach reached his hand to Aurora and said, “That was ten coins.”

“Wha-! Are you seriously charging me for the crepe?” Aurora asked with a surprised look on her face.

“You bet I am.”

“I thought you were giving it to me…” Aurora sighed and asserted, “And you already owe me the coins worth 149 more crepes.”

“So, where are we going today?” Zach tried to divert the topic.

“Where do you want to go?” Aurora asked. “Have you seen this entire world yet?”

“Not interested in that,” Zach replied.

“This world is of 25 KM radius. That means a player can explore one world in one day.”

“I said I am not interested in that.”

Aurora matched her pace with Zach and said, “You can get special quests from the NPCs, extra bonuses, and secret treasures, hidden maps. At least, that’s how other VR games work.”

“For a princess, you seem to have too much time on your hands that you can play and explore the worlds in other VR games,” Zach commented.

“At first, my father was against it, but I convinced him by saying I can learn many things such as practicing real-time sword fighting with opponents, getting accuracy in shooting, and many more things.”

After a brief pause, she continued, “He reluctantly agreed but made sure to send two maids with me to keep their eyes on me and report everything back to him. Of course, I wasn’t allowed to talk with boys.”

“Then you must be enjoying your freedom here,” Zach joked with a grin on his face.

“The maids died because of me. I can’t enjoy my freedom like this,” Aurora muttered.

After reaching the center of the first world, Aurora turned to Zach and asked, “So, have you decided where we are going?”

“You said the tower gives equipment and rewards. While the dungeon gives skills and EXP, am I right?”

Aurora nodded and said, “You can also get rewards and EXP by completing your quests. Once the player has reached level 5, they receive personalized quests depending on their gameplay, personality, and class.”

Zach opened his quest menu to see the quests before deciding on where he should go next.

[«Quest- Equip a Gold Rank Weapon.»

‹Time- ∞.›

«Reward- 500 Epic grade material powder. (Can be used while crafting new equipment to boost its stats. One powder = 10 points.)»]

“This one is old.” Zach looked at his inventory and furrowed his brows. “Say Aurora. You also had a quest where you had to equip a gold rank weapon, right?”

Aurora nodded and pointed her finger at her sword. “Here it is.”

“So if the player equips a weapon with a higher rank than gold, will the quest get completed?” he asked with a puzzled and curious look on his face.

“I don’t think so.” Aurora shook her head. “You will need a gold rank weapon to complete the quest.”

“Hmm~” Zach hummed in wonder and gazed at Aurora’s gold rank sword. He pointed his finger at it and said, “Can you show me your weapon?”

“What… are you going to do with it?”

“Just give me.”

Aurora reluctantly handed her sword to Zach.

“Heh!” Zach smirked and equipped the gold rank weapon.

[Congratulations! Quest ‘Equip a Gold Rank Weapon.’ has been completed!]

[Congratulations! You have received the reward of completing the Quest. Reward- 500 Epic grade material powder.]

“That was… easy…” Zach muttered. He glanced at Aurora and saw her staring at him with her jaw dropped in surprise.

He unequipped the sword and gave it back to Aurora.

“Here.”

Even the gods couldn’t stop him from cheating the system.

****

Total players in the game 52260.

11 new players logged in.

5 players died.

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[Weekly target.]

«150 power stones- 1 chapter.» (not Reached)

«200 power stones – 2 chapters.» (not Reached)

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Author’s Note- This might be late, but I want to make it clear that the real world in this novel is not earth. Think of it as a parallel or alternate universe. I am not a fan of racism and superior nationalism, so I will avoid writing that at all costs.