“98…99…..100”

“Hu! Hu! That was hard. Finally, I’ve completed my morning routine. Let’s take a bath now!”

A handsome man pants for a moment while holding a blue towel in his hand. His upper body was naked but he was wearing black trousers. He walked towards the bathroom.

.

.

Ten Minutes Later,

He walked out of the bathroom wearing black pants and a black shirt. He went to the kitchen and prepared a meal. While preparing a meal, he shouted.

“Lily, turn on the news on TV!”

A few seconds later, the TV turned on and automatically changes to the news channel. It was an advanced home controlling system that he created for fun. He named it Lily for simplicity.

ɴ(O)ᴠᴇʟ His name was Brian Jackson. He was a twenty-five years old graduate who studied Data Science. He was currently unemployed. Of course, it’s not because he wasn’t good at studies rather he was interested in UMA._{-ɴ(0)ᴠᴇʟ.}

Universal Martial Alliance!

A powerful alliance that is currently ruling the post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies, vampires, werewolves, aliens, and the most common race, humans. To enter the Universal Martial Alliance, a person needs to have supernatural abilities.

But, Brian was a human, not a superhuman. Since UMA consists of humans, vampires, and werewolves, he could join with other skills but he doesn’t want to. He wanted to join it with pure strength but unless a miracle happens, it wouldn’t possible.

And, this miracle came in the form of a virtual game known as a New God. It was a breakthrough for human civilization. Once a person enters this game, he must create a character and land in a supernatural world of magic.

The person can level up by completing quests and dungeons. Each time a person levels up, the one-tenth of the strength given by that level will merge with the real body of the human. And, each time a person dies, his level will drop by ten and the real body will lose ten percent of his strength until he regains it through leveling up.

Brian put the toast on the plate, an omelet with it, and a glass of juice. He took his breakfast to the living room and placed it on the table.

“Breaking News!!! The war between Vampire and Werewolves in Zone G has ended with no sides taking a major win.”

“Vampires and Werewolves have signed the peace treaty under the regulation of Universal Martial Alliance.”

“Breaking News!!! The VMMORPG New Gods have finally announced the real-life currency exchange system will start from noon.” _{ɴ(O)ᴠᴇʟ}

“The players from all over the world have been waiting for this feature. And now, everyone can enter the game without any worries of money.”

Hearing the news, Brian put the toast in his mouth and thought ‘Did they complete the Food Generation Mechanism? Otherwise, they wouldn’t announce the real-life currency exchange. After all, Food is something that keeps us alive.’

‘Well, this has nothing to do with me anymore. I just hope the parcel will arrive soon.’

Unfortunately, the parcel didn’t come. He finished his breakfast and stretched his body a little.

‘Maybe I should go out for a walk.’

Thinking so, Brian asked Lily to turn off the TV and walked out of the house. He locked the door and moved on towards the elevator. He was currently living in a two-room apartment though he lives alone. His parents died way early during the vampire breakout in his area where thousands of people died as well.

Now, this little town has expanded into a Zone named Zone B. When the vampires attacked his parents, they sacrificed themselves for him to live. He lived and found himself in the hospital.

Doctors said that he was found five days after the war in Zone-B ended and for some reason, he has no memories of that time. Doctors concluded that he was unconscious for five whole days.

After his elevator hit on the bottom floor, he walked out of a twenty-storey building. There were few people walking around the buildings. Some of them were hairy beasts with a facial structures like wolves and body structures like humans. While some had hairy bodies, some had clean shaved bodies, especially women. The only way to distinguish them from normal humans would be through their fluffy ears.

They were werewolves. Due to the rules and regulations of the Universal Martial Alliance, humans and other races live together in peace and harmony. Of course, it was only for Zone B and a few others. In some Zones like Zone F and J, the war is still going strong.

The recent peace treaty in Zone G was due to the successful involvement of the Universal Martial Alliance. While walking towards the train station, Brain couldn’t help but think ‘Maybe I should stock up on more meals. If possible, I would like to play New Gods as much as I can and grow stronger. Anyway, I don’t have anyone else to take care of.’

Thinking of this, Brian stopped at the Shopping Mall Station. Zones were divided into several stations and most of the transportation was done by trains. Shopping Mall Station was nearly fifty kilometers big.

It had every kind of shopping mall and thus, it was also the most crowded station. As soon as he got off the train, he stumbled against a group of people. Because the crowd was huge, he had kept his pocket safe. After all, thieves are most common in the places like these.

Brian walked while doing his best to dodge people. He made his way to the grocery lane. After reaching in front of the grocery lane, he entered a small supermarket and took out a cart. Then, he went straight toward the food section.

“Yo Brian! I thought you had already done enough shopping for a few days.”

A voice came from behind as Brian turned around and saw a man of his age. He was slightly short and had a brown face. His shoulders and chest were wide though. It looked like he exercised a lot.

“Hey, James! I am just doing some additional shopping. What about you? Aren’t you prepared to enter New Gods?” Brian asked while walking towards the ramen corner.

“Don’t worry, I have already prepared everything for a month. By the way, I heard our parcels will be delivered today, is that true? I couldn’t track the location of the delivery. It seems to be related to security. I called Barry but he said that he can’t reveal the exact location.” James patted his chest and proudly spoke.

“Yeah, that’s the case. Nobody can reveal anything related to New Gods to the outside. If he reveals anything, he might lose his life. New Gods was made by Universal Martial Alliance. Instead of delivering them each day, UMA delivers every ordered gaming pod once a month. Although the products have arrived in our zone today, it might take one or two days. Or, it could even take an hour if we are lucky enough.” Brian nodded his head while putting two big packets of ramen into the cart.

Then, he walked toward the cookies section and vegetable section. He also visits Bottle Nutrient Section. It is a place where bottles filled with nutrient juice are kept. He picked up nearly fifteen bottles and went to another corner.

After twenty minutes, his shopping spree ends. He walks up to the counter together with James while they discuss New Gods.

“Bro, I heard the New Gods will soon release Mega-Dungeon where even players less than level twenty and more than level ten can enter. I will choose the Warrior Class with Barbarian Race and try to level up as soon as possible. What about you? What class and race are you going to choose?” James excitedly explained his plan while asking for Brain’s idea.

“I am still not sure. I heard they will add a new class and a race at noon update. I might change my mind if those new updates are good. By the way, I suggest you choose Giant Race with Warrior Class. Unless you are going for Berserker, you don’t need to choose Barbarian Race.”

“Of course, Stone Race isn’t bad either. But, they are more inclined towards defense and have fewer chances for leveling up as you want.” Brian swiped his credit card and walks away with the bags while speaking to James.

“Hmm! You are right. I should definitely think more about this. Heck! I am not even sure if I am going to choose Warrior Class. I heard there are more than ten races and classes in the New Gods. Unfortunately, they don’t have Vampire or Werewolves Race.” James nodded his head and sighed with regret.

“Don’t worry, just do your best in the game and improve your strength. Remember, New Gods is not our destination. It’s just a path. Anyway, I need to catch the first train. Bye!” Brian finally bids farewell to his old buddy.

“Don’t worry! Call me whenever you are free to play as a group.” Knowing his friend and his behavior, James didn’t invite him immediately.

Brian nodded his head and walked away. He reached the station, and luckily, the new train had just arrived. He hurriedly got inside and the train drove him to his apartment area. After walking out of the train, he heads straight toward his apartment. He basically knows very few people.

Although he doesn’t hate interacting with people, he basically enjoys staying alone. Taking an elevator, he heads to his apartment. But, just as he reached in front of his door, he saw a package but, it wasn’t alone. There was a small girl sitting over the package.

‘Did I order a girl? Pretty sure, I didn’t. Who is she? Why is she sitting on my package?’

Brian walked towards his package while staring at the small girl. Hearing his footstep, the girl turned her head at him.

‘Wow!’ When Brian sees her face, he falls into a deep illusion for a second. The red eyes, silver hair, a pale complexion, and a small mouth with red lips. The girl seems to be seven or eight years old. She stared at Brian and asks “Are you, Brian Jackson?”

Hearing her words, Brian immediately comes out of the illusion and nods his head. He found some similarities but he still doesn’t believe in his own thoughts. His brain was literally shooting neurons giving him different viewpoints about her.

Receiving his response, the little girl bows her head and says “My name is Elenor Bathory. From now on, I will be in your care, father.”

“Huh!”

……..

Thanks for reading my new story. If you like it, then add it to your library and support me with power stones. It will help me a lot.