The aroma of freshly brewed coffee lingered in the air, mixing with the faint st of pastries from behind the café ter. Sunlight streamed through the windows, casting long shadows across polished wooden tables. Outside, the city hummed with life—people moving in waves along the sidewalks, the distant sound of traffic blending into the background noise of daily routi was a familiar atmosphere, ohat hadn't ged despite the world inside Ast stantly evolving.

  A week had passed since Eclipse cshed with Twisted Demons, in a friendly capture-the-fg event. Despite the casual premise, the match had been anything but easy. Twisted Demon was a well-established guild, full of skilled pyers, but in the end, Rael's team had pulled off the win. It wasn't just about the victory, though. The experience had strengtheheir coordination, f everyoo trust in one another under pressure.

  Now, Eclipse was surging forward. They had spent the past several days grinding non-stop—dungeon runs, fa quests, and resathering—all pushing them closer to Guild Level 3.

  Sittihe window, Rael took a slow sip of his coffee, the warmth spreading through him as he skimmed through his phone. Under normal circumstances, he'd be logged in, pushing for that st stretch. But Ast was currently under maintenance, preparing for a major update.

  The patotes hadn't dropped yet, but Kepler Inc. had just released a gamepy trailer, and the forums were already on fire. The biggest reveal? Official au houses.

  For the first time, a structured trading system was being introduced, allowing pyers to exge items and gold more effitly. The catch? Real-world money ractically worthless in parison to in-game currency.

  Unlike most MMOs, where cash shops dominated, Ast's unique design had flipped the ey on its head. Gold was king. Pyers weren't looking to cash out—they were desperately trying to acquire mold. With fas waging wars, establishiories, and seg influence, having gold meant having power. The version rate between real-world money and in-game gold was ughable, and discussions on the forum were filled with pyers pining about how pointless it was to even sider buying currency with cash.

  For most, Ast wasn't just a game—it was like a sed life in a new fantasy world, and gold was the blood that kept everything moving.

  Aside from the au system and currency exge, there was another rumor stirriement—the First Championship Cup. Discussions across forums and social media suggested that an official tour was on the horizon, with internal sources g that firmation would e within six months.

  Rael, however, wasn't vinced. Kepler Inc. was notoriously secretive. They never revealed their hand too soon, and most of the so-called "insider leaks" turned out to be nothing more thaion. It ossible that a tour was in the works, but until there was an official annou, it was just aheory floating around.

  Still, if a petitive circuit was introduced, Ast would evolve once again—not just as a fa-based MMO but as a proving ground for the best pyers.

  But that wasn't the only major ge.

  Another feature showcased irailer had pyers losing their minds—the introdu of Hybrid Csses.

  Previously, subcsses served as enhas to a pyer's core abilities, specialized perks that plemeheir main css. Now, once a pyer hit Level 40, they would gaiion to fuse their subcss with their main css, creating a Hybrid Css instead of keeping both as separate paths.

  It wasn't just a simple bination of skills—hybridizatio a plete transformation of how abilities worked. The trailer had given a brief but jaw-dropping preview: a hybrid Arist Mage, her hands wreathed in sm grey fire, ung a spell that withered everything in its path.

  Theories exploded instantly.

  Most pyers specuted that she was a hybrid of Pyromancer and Neancer, bining fire magic with death energy to create somethiirely new. If this was the level of ization being introduced, then Ast was about to bee even more uable.

  More flexibility meant more freedom—and if there was ohing gamers loved, it was freedom.

  A light tap on his shoulder pulled Rael from his thoughts. He barely registered it at first, still lost in the endless calcutions of how the game's bance would shift. But then, the tap came again—more insistent this time. With a sigh, he turned around, expeg a waiter or some random stranger.

  Instead, he found himself face-to-face with a familiar silver-haired woman, her arms crossed, lips pursed in a knowing expression.

  Without thinking, the words left his mouth.

  "Crazy dy—"

  The moment it slipped out, he realized his mistake.

  Her frown was instant. "SABRINA! Not 'crazy dy'—SABRINA!!"

  Rael blihen gave a half-hearted, robotic, "Apologies."

  She rolled her eyes but didn't press the issue. Instead, she crossed her arms and said, "We meet again at this café, huh? Last time, you ran off before I could repay my debt."

  Rael wryly smiled, already shaking his head. "It wasn't—"

  Before he could finish, she pulled out her phoapped it against his, and a sed ter, his s lit up with a transa notification. His fingers hovered over the absurd number.

  He stared at it. "…This wasn't needed."

  "I don't care." She slid into the seat opposite him, the sunlight filtering through the window making her silver hair shimmer.

  Rael was tempted to protest again but decided against it, taking a long sip of his coffee instead.

  After a beat, Sabrina tilted her head slightly and asked, "By the way… I never caught your name. You know mine, but I don't think you've ever told me yours."

  Rael blinked. It wasn't something he had expected, but it wasn't as if he had ever pnned on giving it to her. He didn't really care about making an impression on her. "Rael."

  Sabrina grinned “o meet you, Rael.”

  Her eyes flickered to his phone, where the patotes thread was still open. "You're cheg the forums? You're actually ied?"

  Rael shrugged. "Nah, not really. Doesn't matter to me."

  Sabrina leaned in, clearly eager to expin. "Well, the big ge is hybrid csses. You know, once you hit level 40, you mix your subcss with your main one. So, imagine a Ranger who also takes the Beastmaster subcss. You could summon a panion to fight by your side, like a hawk to scout ahead or a wolf to attack. It gives you more versatility—you focus ed attacks, but you've also got a pet helping out with the melee when things get too close. Kind of like having the best of both worlds."

  Rael's eye twitched, but he nodded along. "Right. Cool."

  She beamed. "Yeah, I think it'll be awesome! You bine all kinds of abilities and make your character totally unique. I'm pretty sure it'll break the game in the best way."

  Rael, not really ied, gave a small shrug. "Sounds… fine."

  Sabrina didn't seem to catch his ck of enthusiasm and tinued, her excitement bubbling over. "I 't wait to see all the new bos. I bet pyers are going to go crazy with it."

  Rael took another sip of his coffee, silently agreeing with her but not letting his true feelings show. "Sure."

  Sabrina tialking for the five minutes, her excitement for the hybrid csses and updates never slowing. Rael found himself zoning out, staring at his coffee, pting whether he'd ever step foot in this café again. It was getting harder to ignore her stant rambling.

  Finally, Sabrina leaned forward, her tone suddenly curious. "By the way, what's your username in Ast?"

  Rael blinked, caught off guard by the question. "Eh, I don't really py that much. Doesn't matter."

  She wasn't having it. "e on, it's just a game. What's your 'd be fun to team up sometime."

  Rael shifted unfortably. "I'm not human ray at anyway, so not like we could meet up in-game."

  Sabrina cpped her hands together with an odd enthusiasm. "That's perfect! I could power-level you to level 20, so you get the mark, and then we'd be even. Easy, right?"

  Rael wi the idea, already feeling the weight of the request. "I really don't—"

  She cut him off, her grin widening. "You know, if I wao, I could probably find your ID easily, right?"

  Rael froze, eyes narrowing as he thought about her words. She wasn't serious, of course—Sabrina was just trolling. But the way she said it still sent a chill down his spine. He couldn't let her find out he'd been lying about not pying much.

  He quickly scrambled to make up something that would stop her from digging deeper. "Uh… it's EzPz4040."

  Sabrina stared at him bnkly, her expression b on disbelief. "...EzPz4040?"

  Rael squirmed, defensive. "What? By the time I logged in, all the other names were taken, alright? It was the best I could do!"

  Sabrina shook her head slowly, clearly unvinced. "Right..." she muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "EzPz4040. That's cute."

  Rael's eyes darted awkwardly around, and without thinking, he blurted, "Oh, hey, my squirrel needs food. I, uh, I should get going. You know, priorities."

  Before Sabrina could respond, he grabbed his things, stood up, and made a hasty exit from the café.

  Sabrina blinked, staring at his retreating back. "Squirrel?" she muttered under her breath, her brow furrowing. "Huh. He ran away again... and he has a pet squirrel, too?"

  She shook her head, a small grin tugging at the ers of her lips.

  * * *

  Rael walked into the room, still fuming from his awkward enter at the café. Elias was near his pod, watering the phe one he kept near his immersioup. Rael couldn't help but stare at it, raising an eyebrow.

  "Why do you even keep a pnt near your pod?" Rael asked, his voice tinged with fusion.

  Elias didn't even look up, a small smirk curling on his lips. "Motherly tendencies."

  Rael blinked. "What?"

  "You know, I like nurturing life." Elias shrugged casually. "What's it to you?"

  Rael shook his head, muttering under his breath. He was about to say something else when Elias suddenly turo look at him more closely.

  "You okay? Why do you look out of breath?"

  Rael hesitated for a sed before ung into the eory—how he'd met Sabrina, how she'd insisted on paying him back, and how she had dragged him into the versation about hybrid csses, pletely ign his attempts to act like a clueless noob and then ering him into giving her his username.

  When he finished, Elias was doubled over in ughter, barely able to catch his breath. His face was red, his hand clutg his stomach.

  "Wait, you told her your name was EzPz4040?!" Elias gasped between chuckles, his voice crag with the effort to breathe. "Oh man, that's priceless."

  Rael's face flushed with embarrassment. "Shut up."

  Uo take it anymore, Rael walked over and bonked Elias on the head. "OWW!" Elias yelped, hands instinctively flying to his skull.

  Rael shot him a gre, but Elias's ughter didn't die down. After a moment, he mao calm himself, wiping his eyes.

  "Okay, okay." Elias grinned mischievously. "Now seriously, what's up with that name?"

  Rael sighed, leaning back against the wall. "I didn't wao know I was Noctus. I told her I was a noht? So I have to make a new at. Ast allows up to three ats per person. There's no iory sharing or anything, it's just a ste. Plus, I needed something unique, just in case somebody had already taken the name. And, you know, a name like EzPz4040 sounds like a casual pyer, not someone serious about the game."

  Elias stared at him, clearly unvinced. "Uh huh. Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy."

  Rael just sighed and rubbed his temple. "It's the best I could e up with on short notice."

  Elias snickered again, but this time, he seemed to let it go. "Alright, Noctus... or, should I say... EzPz4040?" He gave Rael a wink, and then turned back to the pnt, humming tentedly as he tio water it.

  Rael gred at Elias for a moment, his frustration evident.

  Without saying another word, he turned on his heel and headed for his room, feeling the weight of everything from the café enter to the ridiculous versation about his new at.

  As he passed by Elias, the ughter still eg in the background, Rael muttered under his breath, "I'm going to take a nap."

  * * *

  Three days passed, and the servers were finally balier the update. Rael wasn't in the mood for a drawn-out character creation process. This time, he decided to speedrun it.

  He breezed through the race sele, quickly choosing Lunaris. The Lunaris were a night-based hybrid css, with boo their abilities at night and an innate skill freater vision—perfect for his needs. Their glowing, ic skin during the night was a little fshy, but it added to the character's appeal. He didn't mind standing out, especially not in a world where he'd be blending in most of the time anyway.

  , he selected his css: Ranger. Since he was making a new at, he figured it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with the ranger css.

  He briefly sidered if it'd be possible to rolepy as a cowboy with this setup, but dismissed the thought. The Lunaris race already gave him glowing skin at night, so a cowboy with an alien twist would have to wait for aime.

  With a few quick clicks, he accepted his choices. The character creation s fshed, and the firmation appeared.

  Rael leaned back as the world around him began to materialize. The familiar melodic voice ringing in his ears:

  ["Wele to Solmora."]

  Unlike his previous spawn as a human, Rael found himself in a wet marsh this time, the ground soft and squelg beh his feet. The air was thick with the st of damp earth, and the trees towered above him, their trunks ed in vines and low-hanging brahe grass arse, mostly just small tufts poking through the murky water. Nighttime had settled over the area, and the sky above was deep with stars, the moon faintly glowing.

  Rael gnced around, his eyes narrowing as he took in the unfamiliar terrain. The enviro was nothing like the bustling cities or familiar ndscapes he'd growo in-game. This felt different. But he was in the game now, and he o focus.

  He opened his interface, his fiapping through the ss quickly. His character's profile popped up. He took a moment to i it.

  Lunaris had a ic aura about them, and Rael had to admit, it looked pretty damn cool. His skin now shimmered slightly, with a faint, almost ethereal glow uhe moonlight, like the steltions were woven into his very flesh. His eyes were darker too, almost midnight bck, adding to the alien vibe.

  Rael quickly closed the interface, shaking off the lingering thoughts about his appearance. He didn't have time to admire his ic skin; he had levels to grind.

  Rael knew he couldn't stay at level 1 for long—it would be too suspicious, especially with Sabrina around. He o level up fast. He pushed deeper into the marsh, moving cautiously through the s's eerie quiet. He kept his senses sharp, ready for anything that might help him get at least to level 10 before his cover was blown.

  Every step felt like a race against time.