In another luxurious high-rise building a young lady was putting on a fine red coat, her long blond hair bound above her head.
A voice came from behind her back:
"Cynthia, are you going out today?"
"Yes, mom. I'm meeting a few friends for dinner."
"Please take some security with you. It's quite dangerous today."
"Sure, sure.
I'm off then, bye."
"Bye!"
Cynthia left through the escalator, reaching a lower floor. A reception took the center of this floor, handling all kinds of miscellaneous matters for the inhabitants of the building.
After a short talk she organized her favorite bodyguard, who waited with a luxurious limousine before her home.
Cynthia got in, greeting the tall man responsible for her security. The limousine started, rushing along the highway, soon reaching a smaller building in a middle-class district.
Cynthia left the car with her bodyguard, entering the building. She bought it as soon as she turned eighteen, serving as an escape for herself.
Her parents didn't know about it. And to make sure this wouldn't change Cynthia casually handed her bodyguard a thousand credits, which he received without comment.
A short while later the young woman left her house, now dressed in a white shirt, and ripped jeans.
The car continued, soon reaching a famous nightclub. This was still in the middle-class area. The nightclub wasn't shabby and had a good reputation, but for a high-class lady like Cynthia it had a wicked flair.
Coming here might be considered an act of rebellion.
Cynthai smiled eagerly as she entered, her appearance immediately drawing eyes.
Her bodyguard followed inconspicuously from behind, making sure nothing happened to the young lady.
Finally, Cynthia entered a private booth.
"Look! Cy is here!"
"Cy! Damn girl, you look grate today!"
Cynthia was warmly welcomed by a few young women. Judging from their getup and the drinks on the table, those women were well off but couldn't be counted among the high-class citizens.
"Cy, have you played already?"
"Of course. Mel, you won't believe it!"
"What? Tell us!"
"I made it into the first server announcement!"
"Haha, stop joking!"
"Yeah, don't boast! We have been playing games together for years. Shouldn't we know it if you're a hidden bigshot?"
"Hey! I'm not bad, alright! But we wouldn't have been able to do it without meeting an expert."
"An expert? Is he cute?"
Thinking of Liam's face in the game, Cynthia couldn't help but scrunch her face.
Joyful laughter rang in the booth.
"Hey, Cy, if you make it big one day, don't forget about us."
"Of course, of course! Didn't we always dream about our future guild? Maybe this is it! Let's rise to the top in Crunaboul!"
"Hah! That's the spirit! Cheers, girls!"
"Cheers!"
The mood was great as the girls clinked their glasses.
Liam would've been surprised if he overheard the conversation. Cyclone in the game indeed behaved like a newbie most of the time.
But who could expect that Cynthia even hid her secret hobby from her best friend Silva.
***
Meanwhile the mood was oppressive in another nightclub.
Boom!
"Bullsh*t!"
Serin the Butcher shouted angrily as he threw his VR console through the room.
"Too old?! TOO OLD?! Who put an age limit on this sh*tty console?! What are those b*stards planning?"
"F*CK!"
A few of Serin's subordinates shivered at the side, not daring to let out a single noise. Their boss had rarely been this burning with rage.
But this week was indeed going purely. The target they had been looking out for hasn't returned. On top of that the people on lookout missed the start of the virtual world, as well as the subsequent looting.
A few other gangs even mocked them after a large harvest.
And as if one misfortune wasn't enough, they were still hit by the subsequent sweeping done by the army, costing them a lot of money.
But Serin was actually the most enraged by the age limit placed on the virtual world, preventing him from playing Fate of Crunaboul.
Many reliable sources stressed the importance of the game multiple times. Even their VIPs placed a lot of focus on it.
Serin's chest heaved. He took a large sip of some unrecognizable liquid, his eyes cloudy.
Unfortunately, he didn't see the growing ambition in the eyes of some of his subordinates. Those who got their hands on a console could already feel the newfound strength of their bodies, looking forward to a bright future.
***
A tumultuous night passed, sending a ripple through the entire human federation or even the entire world. Many plans were set into motion.
The real extent of change can only be judged in the future.
But Liam didn't think so much as he woke up the next morning. He was only glad as he felt much better already.
Standing up early he threw his old clothes to the ground. He stopped for a moment, wondering where the pile folded neatly atop a chair came from.
However, he had a lot of his mind, ignoring the issue.
Liam grabbed a quick breakfast, reading some news.
"Everyone is going crazy for a console.
The government confirmed that strength ingame can be reflected in reality.
Every planet is their own server.
They even congratulated those accomplishing server announcements. The attention put on the game is obvious."
Liam was deep in thought as he finished eating. Without waking the two women he left the apartment and headed for the martial dojo.
Yesterday Merida confronted him about the VR console. Liam apologized multiple times for keeping it secret.
Merida didn't know what to feel about the virtual world, but she was glad that Liam at least didn't accept some dangerous job.
After the conversation Liam could've stayed at home to play, but he didn't forget Master Baker's words, still trying not to neglect his martial arts training.
Thus, Liam arrived at the dojo early.
He was surprised as a luxurious car stopped in front of the building. Silva and Felix got off, both seemingly lost in thought.
"Morning guys!"
The siblings snapped back to reality from Liam's greeting. Felix immediately showed a bright smile.
"Liam! Hey! Damn, you still came. Haha, the master will be glad!"
"Morning Liam."
"Of course I came. Strength from the console is only external after all."
"Right. I took it off once yesterday. The feeling was terrible!"
"I didn't feel that much difference."
Felix rolled his eyes as he felt as if his sister was boasting.
"You are playing as well, Silva?"
"Of course. There's no way around it right now."
The trio conversed happily as they reached the large training gym.
Master Baker was already waiting, not showing any emotion on his face.
"Good. You are here.
Silva, Felix you can train by yourself for a while. I will teach you later."
"Yes, master!"
"As for Liam, you come over here."
Liam was surprised by the treatment but complied. Subsequently Master Baker ordered him to take off the console before beginning to teach him a new posture.
It looked easy but all of Liam's muscles burned after just a few minutes.
However, when Master Baker explained that this was necessary to reach the first stage in martial training, flesh strengthening, Liam swallowed his complaints.
From Silva and Felix, he already knew the stages of martial artists. One's body must be strengthened first, beginning with flesh, bone, marrow, and blood strengthening.
Afterwards one was ready to draw starlight into the body and awaken the constellation inherent to every being, officially becoming a starlight master.
Every constellation consisted of ten stars. Filling them up with starlight, one would enter the corresponding 1-star to 10-star ranks, eventually reaching the top.
But after knowing all of this, Liam couldn't help but doubt it in his heart.
Because after reaching level 100 in the game, one would also awaken a constellation.
Unfortunately, C refused to answer his questions and he couldn't ask anyone else.
But now it seemed as if Master Baker had accepted Liam, teaching him the genuine Winding Dragon Art.
Maybe this would allow Liam to solve his doubts on his own one day.
For now, he could only train diligently, ignoring all the pain.
After an hour Master Baker sent Liam away to train on his own, focusing on Silva and Felix.
Liam returned to his training room. With some time left until the game opened, he pondered how to kill time.
Eventually he settled on replicating a training from his old life.
Liam liked to perform the skill from the game in the real world. It would allow him to perfect his movements, making his skills difficult to block or evade.
Thus, Liam focused his mind and performed [Double Slash] and [Sidestep] continuously until his arms and legs grew tired.
Finally, 9:00 approached. Liam sat on the floor, sweat sticking to his body. But he didn't care as he put on his VR console, eager to return to Crunaboul.
Suddenly Liam's vision grew dark as the console sent him to the virtual world.