Dawn broke gently over the horizon, painting the sky with a gradient of soft, pastel hues.
The inky darkness of night gradually gave way to deep purples and blues, which then melted into shades of pink and gold.
The first rays of sunlight peeked over the landscape, casting a warm, golden glow that spread slowly across the land.
"Mmm…"
It reached the windows of the room where two certain individuals had spent their first night in this game as well…
"Hmmm."
The air was crisp and cool, carrying the fresh, earthy scent of the town's morning and blooming human interactions.
A serene stillness enveloped the world, broken only by the gentle rustling of carriages and the distant chirping of early birds greeting the new day.
"Morning, pretty human."
Elio awoke to the first light of dawn filtering through the small window of his room at the inn. And unlike usual mornings, he greeted his partner first.
"Why are you… ughh."
She was not happy to see his happy, smiling face first thing in the morning.
She was used to seeing his still asleep face that she adored so much, seeing him up early did not go well with her.
"What's up?"
She was trying to get up after seeing his ugly face the first thing on this fine morning, but she could not do so and fell back with a painful expression.
"Aww… aw aw aw. Why the hell is my back hurting?"
For a moment, she was confused. She could not understand what was happening all of a sudden… but then fuzzy memories of their Games returned to her.
And, she understood the reason for her current condition and looked angrily at the bastard smiling at her.
"Don't look at me like that now. You wanted it, and I warned you. Thrice."
He looked a little too happy.
It wasn't like he was merely enjoying her expression, beyond that anger, he could see the regret hidden behind those pretty blue eyes.
It was an even rarer occasion than her previous embarrassed expression so, he found this a little too fun.
"..."
But she kept looking at him with that warm angry expression, thinking back to everything that had happened a few hours ago in this room that had become a mess now.
Most of the things were wooden here, but thankfully, nothing broke down after all those Things.
Their bed survived as well…
"Wanna go ag-."
"Shut the fuck up dude."
She obviously knew he was teasing her but even though she would not have minded it, she was in no condition to play around once again.
They had a lot of things to do today, and she needed to at least walk properly without a hunched back.
"Ribbons were a bad idea-."
"Half of the things were a bad idea. And I warned you, Thrice."
He was still smirking at her, finding this new kind of morning a little too fun.
"And doing all that with Az present? Man you were loud-."
-Dhum.
She pushed him out of the bed and got up from the bed while enduring all that pain.
"You're chatty today, hun?"
Then she looked down at him from their bed, the upset expression still present on her face.
But the pleasant smile did not leave his face.
"Don't you think something's wrong with this situation?"
"Hmm?"
She did not understand what she was saying all of a sudden, so he smirked again and elaborated.
"Shouldn't you be the one on the floor? After all-."
-Dhum!
He shouldn't have done that.
"Ughhh!"
He wouldn't have had to take a kick directly to his chest from a higher level player if he was a little less chatty.
"Just fucking stay on the floor, bastard!"
Alex got out of the bed while holding her lower back.
She was in pain as well, but unlike the one on the floor who could only endure the pain, she had ways to feel better.
-Ooooooong.
She took out an (Intermediate) grade potion that healed physical conditions from her inventory and downed the entire vial.
She stretched around a little and not long after, she had returned to her peak physical condition.
"Ughhh…"
Her boyfriend, though, was still struggling on the floor while holding his chest.
"That's why being higher level and overgeared is important."
She pitied the poor guy and helped him get back up on the bed. But she did not give him any potions to help him.
She knew that the kick would have only affected him a little and he would get better in an hour or so.
There was no reason for her to waste her potions on him, and more than that, she wanted him to suffer a little as well.
"Just take a nap, we will be back with some breakfast."
She got back into her clothes, cleaned up the room a little and repaired a few things with the help of basic (tier-1) scrolls before picking up Az– the innocent little slime who ended up witnessing a little too much last night– and walked out of the room, leaving her suffering partner all alone.
"That girl…"
Elio did not like pain and yet he had suffered a lot of it throughout his life.
Pain did not leave him alone in this game either, but at the very least, he was not going to endure it when he had no need to.
'Open otherworld market.'
[Ding.]
Various kinds of currencies were used in the real world but with the growth of digital currencies, in everyday life, [V-coins], a digital currency that was now almost used all over the real world, had become a prominent common form of money.
It was also used on large scales in the virtual markets to purchase the currencies of this other world and to use the Otherworld market for item purchases, he first needed to get the currency that was commonly used in this world.
============
[UniQuinn bank: ]
Total funds: 120,000 V
***
[Lion Internationals: ]
Total funds: 60,000 V
***
[IPC: ]
Total Funds: 150,000 V
…
============
He had various bank accounts and all of them were connected to his Bio-ID.
Though, he still did not keep too much funds in any of them and preferred having them invested in various profitable areas.
'Hundred thousand should be good for now…'
He had no need to purchase game money with his real money since he just wanted to enjoy this game with Her but he wanted to invest a little in this game just in case he needed to spend it somewhere.
He knew he could not be with Alex all the time, so in case he needed money to purchase things on the marketplace, or in the shops around the town, he placed the first order for his in-game currency.
============
Copper: 140 (Exchange rate: ~200V: 1Copper)
Silver: 40 (Exchange rate: ~1800V: 1Silver)
Total: 100,000 V.
After Tax pay: 109,890 V.
[Confirm purchase: Yes/ No.]
============
"Yes-."
"Oh, I almost forgot my pretty sword."
Right when he was about to place his order for his initial funds, Alex suddenly came back and saw her boyfriend, who should still have been grumbling in pain, playing with some status windows before him.
"What… are you doing?"
She was confused for a moment, but it did not take her long to realize what he was up to and a new angry expression clouded her happy face.
"You little mosquito."
He couldn't purchase his coins afterall. And instead, had to endure another round of pain for the next few minutes.