In a certain small thatched house where golden rays of sunlight permeated, laid on the wooden bed was a handsome young man.

His eyes slowly fluttered open and revealed a pair of brilliant emerald green eyes, observing the unfamiliar wooden ceiling that first greeted his line of sight.

The young man blinked and sat up, uttering a pained grunt, "Ugh… where am I?"

It was basically an empty room aside from the common things you could find in a room like a desk table, chair, and a wooden staff…

'A wooden staff…?' he squinted, taking a closer look at the long, glowing object.

It was then that a flash of realization dawned upon him, "Ah, right... I was about to play a game a while ago!" he exclaimed.

He was referring to the recently introduced virtual reality game called "Dystopia."

In the next moment…

As if a certain mechanism was triggered, he heard a mechanical click in his head and a semi-transparent black game screen appeared in front of his eyes.

———————————————

[ Character Information ]

Nickname: Mirage

Race: Human

Level: 0 (10 EXP required to level up)

[ Attributes ]

Strength: 1 || Dexterity: 1 || Wisdom: 1

[ Remarks: What are you looking at, bug? Hurry up and farm! ]

———————————————

Mirage's brows twitched in annoyance upon seeing the snide remarks aimed at him.

After his examination, he dismissed the game panel and grabbed the hand that was offered in front of him and used it to stand up.

"Well, thank you for…"

He abruptly stopped talking when he realized something was wrong and instinctively threw a punch to his side only for it to encounter a soft resistance, akin to a cotton ball.

"Ah?" he blurted, his voice filled with surprise.

His gaze then landed on a tall, old man clad in white silk robes. His presence felt so small that it was almost nonexistent.

Currently, the mysterious old man's gaze was also directed at him, kind and sympathetic to the point it made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Mirage suppressed his discomfort and softly asked, "Who are you?"

Although the old man appeared kind and benevolent in his eyes, it didn't make him lower his guard down toward him at all. 

'This old man doesn't look quite as simple as he looks,' he thought, feeling the unfathomable prowess that the old man was hiding.

When he saw how timid Mirage was, the old man let out a chuckle as he replied, "You don't have to be so nervous around me, young man. I am no one, but I am everywhere and anywhere you need me to be."

Mirage's lips twitched upon hearing this. He laughed, his smile not reaching up to his eyes, "Haha… I see. It's nice to meet you, craz- kind sir."

The old man winked at him in response and continued, "Don't worry, I know well what you are worried about, but as long as you behave, you'd be safe from me." 

Seeing the meaningful look that the old man was directing toward him coupled with those 'amiable' words, Mirage couldn't help but shiver.

"That is… I…" he tried to open his mouth to say something in return, but found it difficult to do so.

It was then that Mirage's skin turned into an unhealthy white pallor as he realized that there was no way for him to resist the old man if he really did something to him. 'What do I do?' he surmised.

However, he didn't let this bother him that much as there was a possibility that the old man was only employing the "Carrot and Stick" strategy.

'Now that he's finished intimidating me, it's possible that he'd offer some sort of reward for me now in exchange for doing something for him…' he pondered as he waited for the old man to speak.

Upon witnessing Mirage's silence, the old man finally opened his mouth again, "I'm impressed about your ability to stay calm faced with my threat, boy. If it's you, then I think it'll be possible…" he softly muttered by the end of his sentence.

[ A quest has been generated! ]

———————————————

Quest Details:

You'll never know what danger lurks within a seemingly peaceful city. You have been entrusted by a mysterious old man with the job to find the traces of said danger and protect the city from utter destruction. Time Limit: 30 days

Quest Reward/s: 

Red Maple Staff (Epic), x150 Gold Coins

Failure Penalty:

Unknown

———————————————

While he was reading the content of the quest, it was then that the old man interjected, "Did you get it? Good, I'll send you on your way now." 

"W-What do you mean by…?" Mirage couldn't even finish his sentence when the old man flicked his finger as he was teleported out of the room in the blink of an eye.

"..."

After a while, the old man sat weakly on the chair and suddenly started a violent coughing fit.

"Cough! Cough! Cough! Argh…" he took out a white handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped off the blood on his lips.

"Haa…. I don't have much time left now, Mirage," he muttered as he closed his eyes to rest.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Mirage squinted his eyes when he was suddenly met with a sudden change in brightness.

It didn't take him long to adjust to the light as he slowly opened his eyes to examine the place he was in.

It was a bustling plaza that made him feel surprised.

'Crazy! How can a game be this realistic?!' he exclaimed in his heart as he continued to survey his surroundings.

After he got tired of looking at the place, he immediately went to a bench to sit down and thought about the mysterious old man he met earlier.

'However, that crazy old man, really... how can he kick me out like this when he didn't even explain what help he and this city needs!' Mirage silently swore in his heart.

He was thinking about the problematic quest that he received when he suddenly received a notification.

Mirage then opened his game panel in a hurry thinking that it might be some sort of hint for the quest.

[You have unlocked the 'Inventory' function!]

Upon seeing this notification, Mirage's enthusiasm went down in almost an instant.

"What the hell..." he muttered.

Mirage sighed as he clicked open his inventory and took a look at what was inside.

As expected, the space inside was quite small and could only contain at least ten different items.

Though, what made him feel a bit better was that it could actually store any item inside no matter the size as long as it was not a sentient being and something that he could carry.

He saw at the corner of his eye an item that was silently occupying a slot of his inventory.

Mirage took a closer look at the item and it turned out to be an exquisitely wrapped gift box.

"Hm... this thing must be the Beginner's Giftbox that this game gives out to the players here."

He tapped on the item silently sitting in his inventory and its name as well as its details was then revealed in front of his eyes.

[Beginner's Giftbox]

[Description: A mysterious box that contains quite a few surprises.]

Indeed. It was a gift box that was given to all newbie players for free as a reward for playing their game.

Mirage did not wait any longer and clicked the box open.

[You received a 'Beginner's Armor'!]

[You received a 'Beginner's Dagger'!]

[You received a 'Loaf of Bread'!]

[You received a 'Bottle of Water'.]

[You received 10 copper coins!]

When Mirage saw the items that he received from the box, he didn't feel that disappointed since he had no expectations, to begin with.

"Well, it's better than nothing, I guess..." he muttered before wearing the armor and weapon.

Mirage quietly fiddled with the dagger for a while before he took a look at the description of the armor and weapon.

[Beginner's Armor (Common)]

[Description: An armor made of poor-quality leather.]

[Effects: Physical Resistance +2, Magic Resistance +2]

[Beginner's Weapon (Common)]

[Description: A dagger made of low-quality iron.]

[Effects: Physical Attack +2]

[Additional Effect: A 0.1% chance to inflict 'Bleed' status on attacked enemies.]

[Bleed]

[Description: A negative status condition that decreases the HP of the affected unit by 1 per second. It also decreases the HP Recovery Rate of the affected unit by 25-50% depending on the unit's resistance. This status effect lasts for 5 seconds.]

Mirage felt that the increased stats given by the equipment weren't too shabby. He felt quite satisfied with his current equipment.

He then closed his inventory with a slight smile and started to look around the place he was transported to.

***

Time passed by in a flash and it was almost nighttime.

He had already explored most parts of the city that were accessible to him.

While Mirage was exploring the city, he asked some of the people whom he met on the way about the situation of the city.

It turned out that this city was called Maplewood City. It was located to the far south of the continent and was surrounded by thick, towering trees that protected them from any form of invasion.

However, it was also due to the said forest that their ability to move in and out of the city was heavily restricted and made it difficult to communicate with neighboring cities around them.

He just found it a pity that he could not find any information with regard to the quest that he received from the old man.

"It's too bad, but at least I also received some minor quests from the people that I talked to earlier. They're not that hard to accomplish and the rewards are not too shabby either..." he said to himself as he walked toward the exit of the city.

A few minutes later...

Mirage was already standing before the huge gates of the city. He had no idea what awaits outside the city, but he never felt this excited before.

Although the idea of exploring the unknown was terrifying in and of itself, it nevertheless was still accompanied by the excitement of discovering strange yet fascinating things.

Mirage couldn't even contain his smile as he gripped the dagger attached to his waist tightly and finally exited the city. 

Author's Note: