Waking up after a good night’s sleep, Kai still felt restless. He was an early riser, even on weekends, so waiting until late afternoon to get back into the game felt like an eternity. He had already retrieved the helmet from his mom's room, though the whole situation left him a bit uneasy.

  His mom had gone to bed still wearing the helmet. Normally, she stayed up much later than he did if she was feeling well, but this behavior was unusual. With the game’s time acceleration, she must have been logged in for over 12 hours straight. Kai could understand someone like Mai—a dedicated player—spending that much time in the game. However, his mom barely touched video games and could never tolerate an RPG for more than an hour.

  That morning, she was utterly exhausted, lying in bed and not waking up even when he opened her door or touched the helmet. It was a slight relief to find the helmet turned off, meaning she wasn’t still playing. She looked so drained that Kai worried she might be sick, but after checking her temperature and breathing, he decided she was probably just extremely tired. Quietly, he took the helmet and closed the door behind him.

  Before heading back to his room, Kai stopped by Tsuno's room to check on her as well. He carefully removed her helmet, which was also turned off but felt slightly warm—likely from being used for so long. Tsuno had noticeable bags under her eyes, as she always did when she got obsessed with a new game.

  I really hope I didn’t bring something terrible into this family, Kai thought. It’s bad enough trying to keep up with whatever my dad decides is a breach of the custody agreement every few weeks.

  Still, so many hours till the party... Guess I’ll get a workout in while I have nothing better to do. At this rate, with how often I keep dying, I might end up with abs before I hit max level.

  Another run to the Center was as slow and exhausting as yesterday's. Kai stood in front of the snack store. He had resisted going in yesterday, but today, he didn’t hold back. He went in and bought a bottle of cola and a sour lollipop. Then, he walked to the grassy hill. This early on a weekend, the place was mostly empty, save for a family with their toddler enjoying the relaxing breeze and some fruit.

  Now standing alone on the hill, with a few onlookers in the distance, Kai started to feel nervous about training on his own. However, going back home just to wait felt pointless. At first, he stuck to simple kicks and the basic exercises he had practiced with the group yesterday. He skipped the back-and-forth walks, telling himself he’d save them for later once he had rested a little. Deep down, though, he knew he was just trying to avoid them.

  Instead, Kai substituted the awkward back-and-forths with upper body athletics, starting with cartwheels for a solid 10 minutes. He had to be reminded to put away his glasses after almost crushing them on his third cartwheel. After that, he made sure to clear the area of all thorns—most of which had already stuck to his hands and feet. After the cartwheels moved on to make his way across the hill a few hand steps at a time. Then, he attempted to relearn a one-handed back handspring for 15 minutes. This entire phase of training took about 40 minutes.

  By the end of it, Kai felt exhilarated. Part of it came from being able to perform the moves again, and part of it came from the claps and praise he received from the couple watching with their toddler. The child seemed intensely focused on him, which made him smile. In the end, Kai practiced for a full hour and 20 minutes. He didn’t let himself stop until he had completed at least four back-and-forths. On that front, he had improved massively from yesterday. Thanks to the corrections he had received from his workout buddies, his form was better, and he could keep his balance more easily. This allowed him to practice longer, though he nearly collapsed from exhaustion in the end.

  Sitting on his hands and knees, Kai glanced at his watch. It was only about 12 a.m. That left three hours until the death penalty expired, and then 40 minutes or two hours in Dendro Time to gather everyone and head to The Silly Daredevil, - With what he now realized was likely a small fortune - everyone would bring their loot to examine at the party.

  What are the chances someone is selling us out for all this loot? he wondered. Wait… are they going to invite Phantasm? He’d probably try to kill someone before we even sit down.

  Putting most of these thoughts aside, Kai let himself collapse onto a softer patch of grass. He rested there, somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, completely exhausted, for about 30 minutes. When he finally convinced himself to get up and head back home, Kai sprang up with energy but was immediately struck by the cold breeze. The family from earlier had long since left, and now he stood alone.

  Satisfied with his workout, he walked back home, arriving just in time for lunch. However, he was surprised to find his mom in the kitchen. She was making eggs and sipping from a mug of black coffee. Her hair was completely disheveled, which wasn’t unusual for weekends, but waking up after 10 a.m. definitely was.

  What really caught him off guard was Tsuno being awake and sitting at the table. Usually, she slept in for as long as possible. Not that she looked fully awake—her head drooped constantly, and the massive bags under her eyes were still there.

  "Hey! You’re finally back. Where have you gone to?" his mom asked good-naturedly.

  "Went for another workout. Still can’t play, after all. How long have you been up after dinner?" Kai answered and shot a question back.

  "Not too late, only three hours. Thanks for taking the helmet off me. I was just so sleepy I fell asleep with it on. It’s pretty tight."

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "There’s an adjustable strap on the back. I just fit it for myself. I’ll get the last helmet tomorrow, don’t worry. I didn’t expect you to take to the game so much."

  "Well, I don’t know if I’d call it a game. The people are very nice, and what I saw was just amazing. When you get me the helmet, I want us to go on a little trip. I found a wonderful, quiet pastry shop hidden in the tree. Did you know that the city is actually split into three parts?

  "The largest part is where most people live and do business—it’s on the ground. Then there’s the upper city, built directly into the magic tree. It’s as large as the main city but has a lot fewer people. Apparently, it’s closed to most people. Only people from the Seelie Court—I think that’s what Frieda called it—or those invited by a member can enter. And then there’s the undercity, built in the tunnels of the tree. Frieda said the entrance isn’t forbidden there, but it’s controlled by some bad elements, so there’s not much point in going. The environment there is dreary."

  "Didn’t expect you to go deep into fairy history—or I guess, at least basic info about the city. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what you were doing. Wouldn’t it be a problem to go to the bakery if you need someone to invite you?"

  "Well, hopefully, I’ll settle that by then. Don’t worry, there are plenty of other things to do in the city."

  "Well, what about you, Tsuno?" Kai asked.

  "It was miserable," Tsuno replied. "We got a quest out of town from some Unseelie Court lady who loves pranking players. We were supposed to hunt down another player who could put you to sleep, but she completely forgot to tell us that he does it by spreading some sort of disease!

  "We thought it’d be a breeze since all the monsters he beat in the dungeon were asleep, so no new ones spawned. But then Kurt accidentally grazed a monster with his foot and just dropped immediately. We tried to convince Kaizo to go back, but he wouldn’t listen. We ended up fighting the master, who had giant golems carrying him—and he was asleep the whole time!

  "When his golem barely grazed me, I fell asleep too. It was awful." Tsuno had so much hatred in her voice that their mom interjected.

  "Well, maybe if it’s so bad, why not take a break? Come have a shopping trip with me!"

  "Mom, we barely have enough money to buy healing potions," Tsuno replied, sounding annoyed. "I asked about food, and apparently, a good meal costs like 10,000 lir. We have enough between us for one meal."

  She sounded frustrated, though it might have been because she was so tired.

  "Well, I found a way to talk to the people from the raid in the real world, and we’re going to a party today. I’ll see about saving you something then," Kai said.

  "Okay, but Kaizo wanted to regroup around 2 today," Tsuno answered.

  After finishing his late breakfast, Kai went back to his room. He checked the forums and discovered that in the hours he was away, they were completely on fire with a new topic dominating every subforum and chat: Superior Jobs.

  Before yesterday, information about Superior Jobs had been sparse. What the community did know was that certain special NPCs were considered masters of their professions, an entire caliber beyond other NPCs. These Tians were usually stronger than players, even if their expertise was something as simple as cooking.

  Now, something groundbreaking had come to light. A player who trained under such an NPC challenged their master to a duel to the death. The details were murky, but after an intense fight that reportedly wiped out an entire city block, the player emerged victorious. Both combatants were said to be ninjas or something similar. Once the battle ended, the player went to the Adventurer’s Guild and, moments later, proclaimed himself the "King of Sabotage"—the best infiltrator player in Infinite Dendrogram.

  Since then, the Wiki Editors Alliance—a coalition of player clans spread across every country—had been working tirelessly to compile as much information as possible. They gathered intel from players who supposedly had been pursuing Superior Jobs even before the news about the King of Sabotage broke, as well as from NPC experts suspected of holding Superior Jobs or knowing how to acquire them.

  So far, there had been no other known incidents of players killing NPCs to obtain their jobs. However, speculation ran rampant. Some questioned whether the Wiki Editors would even reveal such cases or if the game’s publisher was censoring information to prevent a total collapse of the in-game simulated society.

  As Kai scrolled through the forums, trying to keep up with the flood of information—none of which anyone knew for sure was reliable—a new thread popped up. Its title read: "Royal Family Declaration."

  The post was short. The poster, claiming to be a paladin employed by the royal family of Altar, explained that the recent rumors and fights surrounding Superior Jobs had reached the royal family. In response, the king had declared it a crime for any master (player) to attack a resident Superior Tian (NPC). Such an offense would brand the offender as a wanted criminal.

  The post further elaborated on what being "wanted" meant. Beyond being hunted to death by the country’s law enforcement, a wanted master could not respawn at any save point within the country. Worse still, if a player had no respawn point to return to after dying, they would be sent to The Gaol, a prison server. This server was a desolate place populated only by other wanted players and low-level monsters.

  The company behind Infinite Dendrogram had clarified that the only way to leave The Gaol was to serve one’s sentence.

  As expected, the comments section was immediately flooded with speculation and dissent against the royal family of Altar for targeting players in such a manner. Many players hid behind arguments that Tian crime lords were being given a free pass, but it was clear that most of these arguments weren’t made in good faith.

  Meanwhile, others demanded proof from the poster, questioning his identity and claiming that anyone could make up statements supposedly from the royal family. Credit where it was due—the poster didn’t cave in or lash out. Instead, he edited the post to include a measured response, addressing key concerns in a series of points:

  1. I do not know what the royal family will do if criminal elements were to be targeted.

  2. Players employed under the crown are not exempt from the law.

  3. For all those demanding proof, simply wait a little bit for the news to make its way through Altar.

  4. No, this is not a uniform declaration by any other region or entity, but I stand with the royal family on this. We cannot let players hellbent on becoming powerful destroy the game in the process!

  Finally, the hour came, and Kai put on the helmet.