It was an awesome sight.

  Buildings upon buildings towered over one another, connecting each shop, house and alley through spiraling bridges and twisting staircases. It defied conventional architecture yet it all came together harmoniously and buzzed with life and personality all around.

  “C’mon, we gotta join the others—” Annie tapped him on the back, bringing him back to his senses. “—And pick your jaw off the floor dude.”

  Kol blinked. “Right...Yea, sure,” he mumbled, shaking off the daze as he moved.

  Down on the balcony below, Akira stood with her arms folded, surveying the group. As soon as everyone gathered, she let the moment settle before speaking.

  “Welcome to Arsuuna,” she announced, her voice easily overcoming the ambient noise of the city. “Here, you can find anything you’re looking for—be it food, ale, people, or NPCs. But for now, your priority is simple: get adjusted to the game.”

  She turned slightly, gesturing to the sprawling city below. “Explore. Learn the yout. Familiarize yourselves with how things work.” Then, she faced them again, her eyes narrowing slightly on Kol. “Then in two hours, Mr. Hoover, return here to end the session.”

  Before anyone could ask questions, Akira’s image flickered—her body blurring before vanishing completely, leaving the group to their own devices.

  ***

  Exploring Arsuuna on foot was an even grander experience than seeing it from above. Each street and alley led to somewhere new—be it higher grounds or just a simple celr beneath the city’s surface. Even seeming dead ends weren’t truly dead and had one or two pces that were worthwhile visiting.

  Right now, Kol was waiting in front of one of these pces, waiting for Annie outside.

  It had already been well over an hour since they were sent to explore the city, and all that time he spent following Annie high and low, sometimes even losing sight of her for a while. It was nothing new to him, though he wished she would quit this sort of antic at least this once.

  Then again, if she wouldn’t be dragging him everywhere, he’d just walk aimlessly, barely thinking twice about what he saw, at least in the real world.

  He scoffed, because for all its realism, he had not seen one tobacco shop. Lord knows he wanted one right about now.

  Kol smiled inwardly at the thought. This wasn’t the real world. This was a whole new world—an endless one—with so many new prospects. It filled him with a sense of excitement he rarely felt before.

  “Aight, I’m done,” Annie strolled out of the bar, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

  Kol pushed himself off the wall. “Where to next?”

  “Dunno. We got time before meeting up, so... What do you wanna do?” Annie stretched her arms over her head.

  “Nothing in particur,” Kol said with a shrug.

  Annie slumped her shoulders and sighed. “Why did I even bother askin’?” She shook her head. “Fine, since you’re hopeless, we’re going to the market.”

  “What do you want to find there?”

  Annie grinned. I just wanna see some eye-candy. Y’know, cool stuff for sale and such. Nothin’ in particur, though.”

  Kol gave her a look.

  “C’mon! Like you don’t wanna see!”

  Annie took off. Kol shook his head and sighed but followed soon after.

  The market district assaulted the senses the moment they stepped into it. The smoky aroma of sizzling meats mixed with the tang of exotic spices, while the scent of freshly baked bread lingered in the air. Stalls neatly packed the streets, their tables dispying everything from tools, weapons, potions, and intricate armor sets. Merchants hollered over one another, their voices competing in an endless battle for attention.

  Annie stopped in front of every weaponsmith booth she saw, practically drooling over the bdes and daggers on dispy.

  “These look sick, dontcha think?” She waited for a reply, but didn’t receive any. “Kol?”

  She turned around, but Kol was nowhere in sight. She looked around, confused, until she spotted Kol standing in front of a nearby stand—one selling maps.

  “You gonna buy one?” Annie asked, peering over his shoulder.

  Kol shrugged. “Nah. We don’t have any currency as of yet, it’s just something that caught my eye. Besides, I gotta return to the balcony.”

  Annie huffed. “Lame. But fair point.” She gave one st wistful gnce at the weaponsmith’s stall before following Kol as they wove through the bustling market.

  “You don’t have to see me out, y’know.”

  “What’re you talking about? Of course I do! I’ll be logging off with you!” Kol wanted to say something, but Annie cut him off. “And before you protest, no, this is non-negotiable.”

  Kol sighed.

  “You will probably miss out on some stuff.”

  “So will you. Besides—I’d be no fun without you.”

  Kol smiled slightly, happy with her reasoning on the inside.

  They turned onto a smaller street, onto the path which led to the stairs, dimly lit by nterns that cast long shadows on the walls.

  Kol kept his pace slow, hands in his pockets as they moved through the narrowing street. The further they walked, the more the noise of the market dulled, repced by the occasional murmur from passing NPCs and the sounds of steps on the balconies above.

  Annie walked beside him, stretching her arms behind her head. “Whatcha think Akira’s got pnned for us after this?”

  “Dunno. But you probably do already, don’t you?”

  “Maaaybe,” she grinned while blinking rapidly in the most innocent way she could.

  They continued up the stairs in retive silence, until they reached the balcony, where Akira was waiting for Kol to guide him to one of the many exit portals. She barely acknowledged Annie’s presence as she led them to a portal.

  They went in and disappeared.

  ***

  Darkness filled Kol’s mind again, though this time it dispersed much sooner, like waking up from a dream. Before his vision returned, he heard a constant faint hum. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the Sarcophagus.

  The air was colder now. He climbed out of the Sarcophagus stiffly as his muscles allowed it, cracking a few bones in the process.

  Someone began knocking on the door. Then stopped. Then started again relentlessly.

  Kol shuffled toward the door and opened it.

  Annie stood in the doorway. “Hey, how’re y—Woaaaah—What is this suit?!” She whistled and began inspecting him from every corner. “It looks so cool!”

  “Didn’t everyone get one of these?” Kol asked.

  “Yea, we did, but they don’t look nearly as good as yours!” She pouted.

  Kol grunted, then noticed something on her hand.

  “What’s up with your arm?” He asked.

  “Oh this? This is PIVC, for the IV fusion,” She answered. “Now that I look at you, you don’t have one? Why?”

  “Ask me like I know. When did they put that in you? I thought we were supposed to immediately log on. That’s what Dr. YeEun told me to do.”

  “Oooohh,” Annie excimed. “Now it makes sense! They said the IV fusion lets us stay in the game longer—but since you don’t have a PIVC, you can’t stay in as long.”

  “Your intuition is correct Miss Hoover,” YeEun said as she arrived at the cubicle.

  She walked into the room with the clipboard she always carried around, writing something down as she spoke. “Mr. Hoover’s vitals are a bit different from the rest of yours, so we opted out of the IV fusion for his first session. His neuro-sync rate is higher than expected, meaning his body requires less external support to sustain long-term immersion.”

  Annie blinked. “So… he's just naturally built different?”

  Kol sighed.

  YeEun smirked. “More or less. But after the readings we received from this session, we can now confidently implement a PIVC without worry, so he will not need to log out more frequently.”

  She cleared her throat. “You’ll both have half an hour before your next session starts. Despite the circumstanced, the body can only stay in one pce for so long. I suggest getting food, and rest, and come back in twenty minutes to install the PIVC. That will be all.”

  “Understood,” Kol answered solemnly.

  YeEun nodded and took her leave, then stopped at the doorway. “Don’t forget to take out your card.” She said, before leaving.

  Kol turned around and did as he was told. Much to his surprise, the card that was pure white and neat now was instead red in, with bright yellow highlighter and bck outlines.

  “Dang, that looks nice!” Annie wowed. “Check out mine!” She pulled out her own card. It had a silver base and grey outlines with no highlighter colour whatsoever. At first gnce it was visually the same but had just enough details to make it unique.

  She cpped her hands together.

  “Alright! You heard the dy, Mr. ‘Built Different.’ Let’s get something to eat!”

  ***

  Annie walked ahead, skipping carelessly like a child. “I swear, coming outta the game is like waking up from a really good dream, isn’t it?” she said, twirling mid-step before continuing forward.

  Kol shrugged. “Not really. It’s more like I was never asleep to begin with.”

  Annie gave him a sideways gnce. “A weird way to put it.”

  He didn’t eborate, and she didn’t press.

  The duo soon found the mall and wandered inside until they reached a fast-food restaurant. They ordered their meals—a couple of burgers and fries—and found a quiet corner table in a corner, secluded from people.

  They ate in silence, comfortable one, and just listened to the quiet music pying in the background. Annie was thinking of the experience she just had within the game. The thrill of exploration had left her with a lingering sense of enchantment. However mediocre it was to just walk around for two hours, the prospect of such a thing being possible was fantastic.

  Kol on the other hand had much different things on his mind.

  Once they finished their meal, they hurried back underground to resume their session. But before that YeEun was waiting for Kol, to install PIVC. Annie in the meantime went to her own cubicle to log on.

  After the PIVC was installed, Kol undressed and put on his suit—which now hand on its right side adjusted to accommodate PIVC—and got in the Sarcophagus to log in the game.

  ***

  Logging back into the game felt different this time.

  There was no dream, no darkness, just a seamless transition from ying in the Sarcophagus to the hub of Arsuuna, almost as if he never left in the first pce.

  Annie was waiting for him.

  “We missed it,” she said.

  “Missed what?”

  “Akira’s speech,” Annie answered. “We’re about half an hour te. She gave it right after we left.”

  “What was it about?” Kol asked.

  “Some sort of exploration mission, I gather—”

  “A crude simplification they gave given you, Miss Hoover.” Akira materialized behind them.

  Annie yelped. She took a deep breath to compose herself.

  “The ‘mission’ I’ve gave out was for each person to find something they enjoy and explore all the possibilities it has within the game. Some people find entertainment in architecture while others indulge an adventuristic experience. It’s up to them what they choose. The only condition is that they have something to show by the end of the term, which is in a month’s time.”

  “And what if someone doesn’t find anything?” Annie asked.

  “Then that is their failure to own,” Akira stated coldly. “However, I do not expect such an outcome from you.”

  “Why’s that?” Annie asked curiously.

  Akira tilted her head slightly, as if the answer should have been obvious, and smiled. “Call it an educated guess. Your time is yours. Make use of it.” With that, her form dissolved into thin air.

  As she did, a notification directed Kol attention to an inbox he previously had not known about, stating the session was to end at 12:30. He gnced at Annie, and she too received the message from the looks of it.

  Annie sighed, then let out a low whistle. “Man, she really knows how to put pressure on people.”

  Kol sighed. “I don’t even know what I want to do here.”

  “Then maybe that’s what you should figure out first,” Annie grinned, jabbing him lightly in the ribs.

  “C’mon, we only have two and a half hours left—let’s go talk to some people.”

  Kol sighed but followed as she pulled him with her once more.

  On the balcony below was a small group of people just talking and enjoying the view. One of those people was Mervin.

  “Heya there.” Annie greeted as they approached him.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t my favorite stragglers,” He greeted back. “Where were you two at the briefing?”

  “Complications,” Annie answered. “Anyways, we know the assignment. You found anythin’ you’re interested in?”

  Mervin hummed thoughtfully. “Why yes, I did! Exploration and cartography. Turns out, this pce’s got secrets. Hidden paths, unmarked zones, pces NPCs don’t talk about without a tip. If I can map them out first, I could make a name for myself. It’s the perfect way to get ahead.”

  “That’s all fine and dandy but heads up. We saw a stand in the market that sells maps.”

  Mervin ughed. “That’s where I got the idea, so I bought everything they sold.”

  Kol crossed his arms. “So, you crashed their business to monopolize on it?” he asked in a heavy tone.

  “W-well, when you say it like that...” Mervin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

  Annie snorted. “And here I thought you were an honest guy. You tryna be an entrepreneur now?”

  Mervin grinned. “This game’s economy is Pyer-driven. If I can be the guy who knows those paths, people will pay for the info. Besides, the NPCs only sell the basics—I’m aiming for the hidden stuff.”

  “Smart move. But it also means you gotta put in the work. If someone else finds those pces first, your monopoly dies.”

  Mervin’s expression faltered. “Yeah… I kinda figured that out.” He sighed. “Turns out, getting accurate data is a pain. Some areas shift over time or have conditions to enter. It’s not as simple as drawing lines on parchment.”

  “Welcome to the world of business, buddy,” Annie teased, giving him a light sp on the back. “But hey, if you need help, maybe we can tag along sometime.”

  Mervin’s eyes lit up. “You serious?”

  Kol looked at Annie, who smirked. He sighed, already seeing where this was going. “I suppose,” he grunted.

  “Sweet!” Mervin cpped his hands together. “I’ve got a lead on something already—a tunnel system below the city. Half the entrances are sealed, but word is, there’s a way in through the slums.”

  “And you know this how?” Kol asked.

  “Talked to some NPCs,” Mervin replied. “Mostly generic responses, but one old guy mentioned ‘the old veins of Arsuuna’ before he got all weird and shut up about it.”

  Annie’s eyes sparkled. “Sounds interesting!”

  “Then let’s do it!”

  “Not yet.” Annie perked up.

  Mervin froze in pce. “What?” he asked. “Why not?”

  “We’re putting together a team!”