It was a rainy Monday morning. Daniel had woken up and already reached for the nightstand to grab his phone so he could check the news and notifications.

  Little did Daniel know that the very first headline would ruin his day, for his former avatar, Dante, would be auctioned later that day.

  Despite the awful feeling building up, he got out of bed and stretched, making his joints crack.

  One hour remained before the shift at the new job began. The truth was that Daniel didn't get a job because he needed to support himself.

  Despite losing most of his savings in the lawsuits, he could live in relative comfort for a little while, but still needed a lot of money to achieve his new life goal: founding a professional organization to compete in the World Championship.

  But in order to do so, he ended up accepting the best job available, as an assistant at an accounting firm in downtown Florianópolis.

  Thinking about that, Daniel ate breakfast, watched the morning news on TV, and dressed like a corporate employee would. Then stopped in front of the mirror and sighed when he saw that unrecognizable figure.

  Suddenly, he remembered how fun the weekend had been. He had met Skiff, the cheerful newbie; Artic, the grumpy knight with a lot of initiative; and Niki, the crazy, but skilled assassin.

  But it was time to go to work, so he grabbed an umbrella, locked up the apartment, and headed out. Since the car was sold to cover part of the debts from the many lawsuits, he was left with the good old city bus.

  Daniel arrived at the bus stop soaked from the knees down. Everyone there had the same melancholic expression, staring at the urban landscape and the luxury cars passing by as their ears absorbed the comforting sound of the rain pouring over.

  Luck smiled over them; it didn’t take five minutes for the bus to arrive. Daniel boarded, looked inside, and groaned. He’d have to stand. But things got worse: everyone at that stop got on that same bus.

  “Shitty proletarian life!” he muttered, not caring if anyone heard him.

  But fate had a surprise for him. The bus took off abruptly, passengers stumbled backward, and once everyone regained their balance, someone decided to play music on their phone, without headphones.

  The sound spread through the air regardless of people's musical tastes. Half a dozen of them grumbled about the boy's attitude, but he didn't care.

  It was a long trip.

  ***

  At the office where Daniel would be working, he was introduced to his supervisor. An older man, perhaps in his mid-thirties, well-dressed and with the look of someone who took work seriously. Daniel assumed this job was the man’s whole life.

  God forbid I should live like that, he thought.

  His superior extended his arm and greeted him:

  “Hello and welcome. I’m Mario, I'm in charge of the company's tax department.”

  “Nice to meet you.”

  Then the boss introduced him to the rest of the team. There were twelve people in total, each in their own cubicle.

  At least it’s spacious.

  His cubicle was in the middle of the first row. He put his things on the desk, where there was a computer and a tablet.

  “Samara?” The supervisor called to the girl in the cubicle on the right.

  “Yes?” she said.

  “Could you show Daniel our workflow and everything else he needs to get started?”

  “Of course! It’ll be great to have someone new here with us.”

  Suck-up, Daniel said to himself.

  The girl looked like a younger version of the supervisor.

  Another one who lives to work and please others.

  “I'm going back to my office,” Mario said, turning his back on them. “If you need anything, you can come find me.”

  “Sure thing,” the girl replied.

  “Understood and… thanks,” Daniel said, pretending to sound cordial.

  Samara rolled her chair into Daniel’s cubicle, sitting beside him. She turned on the computer and adjusted the screen so it projected from one side of the divider to the other.

  “Shall we start?” she said with a smile, running her hand through her brown hair.

  “Sure.”

  ***

  The workday ended at 6:00 p.m., and by 6:12 Daniel was waiting at the bus stop. The rain had stopped, but the ground was still wet and full of puddles.

  It had been an exhausting first day at work.

  The time at the office had flown by, perhaps because everything was new to someone who had lived inside a game for most of his life, but what bothered him most was that he hadn't understood half of what Samara had tried to teach him.

  Daniel felt drained, mentally exhausted. All he wanted was to go home, lie in bed, and watch whatever was on TV, even a gossip show would do.

  Upon reflection, he considered not even logging into the game, as it would be quite late at night, but perhaps spending an hour on New Avalon Online wouldn’t be so bad.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  It was possible that Artic, Niki, and Skiff were online right now. That reminded him of the bet he had made with Artic and Niki. He would need to come up with a bold plan to reach level 20 before them.

  To his satisfaction, the bus didn’t take long to arrive. He boarded and dropped into the first empty seat he saw. Through the window, he watched the city at night. The people outside were either tired from work or happy to be leaving it behind. Daniel felt both, which made a faint smile form on his face. And to make things better, no one was blasting music on their phone.

  ***

  Back at the apartment, Daniel did everything that was planned, leaving time for that one hour in New Avalon. Just as he thought about getting up from bed after a brief rest, the phone over the other pillow vibrated with a notification, flashing a message from his former teammate.

  Júlia: Hey, Daniii!!! Can we talk?

  Extroverted even in text. Instead of replying to the message, he called her.

  “Dani?” Julia said as soon as she answered.

  “You wanted to talk?”

  “Yes...” She tried to find the right words. “I just wanted to know how you’ve been… after everything that happened.”

  He glanced at the immersion capsule in his room.

  “We can talk inside the game.”

  “Huh? What do you mean? Are you leveling a new account?”

  “Yeah... I thought about quitting after all that, but something really strange happened.”

  “Spit it out! You’re making me nervous.”

  “I'll tell you in-game. Send me your new account ID and I'll add you.”

  “Okay, I'll send it to you.” She hung up.

  Moments later, the message with her ID number arrived. Daniel went to the immersion capsule, settled into it, and entered the game world.

  ***

  Before adding his friend’s new avatar, Daniel, back in control of Ragnar, checked his friends list to see if Artic, Niki, or Skiff were online, but all three were offline. Still, he saw that Artic and Niki had been playing recently, since they had leveled up.

  Back to business, Ragnar opened the Add Friend window and entered Júlia’s ID. The invite was accepted within seconds. Her new avatar was named Julie, and soon a series of messages popped up.

  Julie: Send me your coordinates and I'll come find you.

  Julie: Wait, your new avatar’s name is Ragnar? Dante sounded way cooler!!!

  Julie: What is this druid nonsense? Ugh, never mind, I’ll save my rant for when we meet.

  He sent the coordinates of the city of Bremer. Although he was in the Sanctuary of Lilies, all business there had been taken care of when he reported the mission of the lost druids to the Protector the day before.

  Not wanting to keep Julie waiting, Ragnar turned into a bear and dashed toward the city. Thanks to the extra speed of his animal form and the fast pace he maintained, he reached the gates of Bremer sooner than expected.

  Dozens of players gathered near Bremer’s gate, some chatting, others talking to NPCs, and many taking a break from their adventures. Everyone wore the simple fabric clothes of the beginner classes.

  Ragnar returned to human form and walked into the city, but when he was twenty steps from the gate, a trio of adventurers stood out from the crowd. They wore expensive robes, polished armor, and carried silver weapons in their hands and waist.

  Ragnar ducked behind a cleric studying a map and fixed his gaze on the girl leading the trio. Her name was Havoc, a level 16 swordswoman belonging to the Black Paw guild.

  That was the guild hunting him. Since Ragnar knew little about them, he chose to keep his distance. He wasn’t looking for trouble with another swordsman, not when he was about to meet an old friend.

  Leaving the Black Paws behind, Ragnar walked to the coordinates sent to Julie and waited by the city gate, scanning every player to make sure none of them were lackeys of that damn guild.

  A loud voice called out:

  “Hey!”

  Everyone nearby turned to see who shouted. A silhouette dashed toward Ragnar from inside the city. The feminine outline became clearer as she got closer.

  Her brown ponytail swung in the wind, each step kicking up small clouds of dust, sometimes hitting an innocent NPC or an unsuspecting adventurer.

  “Daaaniii!” she yelled.

  Ragnar shuddered when his real name reverberated over the street. He gestured for silence and said awkwardly to the approaching figure, “Quiet!”

  Just a few meters from him, the girl skidded to a stop, or tried to. The result was a huge cloud of dust and Ragnar flat on the ground. Both coughed from inhaling dust.

  The cloud dissipated, Julie stood next to her friend and offered her hand in help.

  “Sorry, Dani.”

  He took it and said, “I’ll forgive you if you stop calling me that.”

  “Oh… I get it, Ragnar.” She put a hand to her chin. “You want to make a dramatic comeback announcement, right?”

  “Of course, but it's also to not attract the attention of the bigwigs from the major guilds. I won't have a moment's peace when they find out I'm back.”

  “Where do you want to go? Are there any decent bars or taverns in this town?”

  “There was an inn, but the place was crap,” he said, glancing at a sign that read “Moose-Kick Tavern.”

  “What happened to it?”

  “It’s a long story. Mind if we talk outside? I was thinking we could level up together, like old times. I’ll tell you the tavern story on the way, while you’re punching the snot out of some goblins.”

  “Deal, so it's an old-fashioned date.” She held out her hand to him and said, “Give me five.”

  But Ragnar stepped forward and hugged her. “I missed you so much.”

  She wrapped her arms around him. “Me too.”

  Then walked off together, leaving the city behind.

  ***

  Ragnar and Julie decided to hunt on a plain filled with insects and goblin camps. Between conversations, Julie punched some creature while Ragnar provided support.

  She was level 18, and he was close to reaching level 8. Because of the level gap, Ragnar only got a fraction of the total experience from each kill, but he didn’t mind.

  “I'm shocked by this innkeeper story,” she said as she knocked out a goblin with a punch to the forehead. “I’ve met plenty of jerks in this game, but I’ve never seen anyone scam newbies like that.”

  Then she changed the subject. “But tell me, do you really believe that mysterious contact of yours isn’t just someone messing with you?”

  “I was suspicious at first, but they reached out to me right after I made this new avatar. How did they even know Ragnar was me?”

  “If I were you, I’d keep my guard up and stay suspicious of everything they're saying.”

  Julie grabbed a snotty goblin by the leg and threw it at Ragnar, who casted a Lightning Bolt, killing it instantly while midair. With the last goblin in the camp dead, Ragnar paused to admire his friend’s new avatar.

  “Want a picture? It’ll last longer,” she teased, noticing his gaze.

  “I was just admiring your talent and patience in making an exact copy of the real-life you.”

  “It’s called authenticity.” She took a breath and asked what had been nagging her. “So, what’s it like being a druid?”

  Ragnar spun his spear between his fingers, passed it under his leg, tossed it in the air, and caught it with his feet.

  “It’s really fun. Even though the class doesn’t have the knight’s offensive moves, the animal forms make up for it, but some are hard to control,” he said, recalling how tricky it had been to master the serpent form.

  But her expression had changed. Her eyes narrowed, and she bit her lower lip.

  “What is it?” Ragnar asked, stepping closer.

  Julie replied, looking him in the eye, “I need to tell you something…” She scratched the back of her neck and looked away. “I accepted an offer a few weeks ago, an invitation from a professional team.”

  Ragnar canceled his healing spell. His eyes widened; a flood of thoughts hit him at once, but he asked the one that mattered most, “Already? Your avatar’s still too weak for the competitive scene.”

  “I accepted because I was afraid of losing relevance while staying away from spotlight. This way, I’ve got a contract that guarantees a paycheck if something happens.”

  The sadness on her face, the nervous tone, the hesitation, they all pointed to one thing.

  “You joined the Red Crows, didn’t you?” She confirmed with a shy nod.

  “I understand,” Ragnar said. “In your position, I’d accept a deal with our archrival too. When Dark Age died, we all walked away empty-handed because that bastard Emerich stole our avatars.”

  She turned sharply, eyes cold and firm, a stark contrast to her earlier insecurity. Without hesitation, she spat out the truth she’d been holding back, “Dante is with Gustavo.”

  He stayed silent for a few long seconds, staring at the grass before finally saying, “So they hired you and bought my old avatar for a fortune. You’ll make formidable opponents.”

  “Opponents?” she asked.

  “Yes. I’m going to form my own team.”

  |

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