It was a day where the wind was blowing like it always did, the sun rose like any other day, the air was crisp as it should be during fall, the clouds overhead were dark and flowing swiftly through the sky prepared to rain on the city, and the water was flowing downstream as it is intended to do. Yet today was the day a legend will take his first steps onto his path of fame and fortune.

Skrrrrt!

On the side of the street there was a man that looked roughly in his late twenties lying with a petite woman in his embrace. Next to him was a car with a shattered headlight and bent bumper that looked to have directly shattered the back of the man.

The woman still had her eyes shut, it would be hard to have known if she was still alive if not for how hard she was trembling within the embrace of the man. She only realised she was still alive after the cold pavement was replaced with a warm liquid that flowed between herself and the man that was holding her. She suddenly opened her eyes, seeing the pale face of her beloved which was directly in front of her.

“Sora.”

It’s the only word she could find to say under the slightest of breaths.

“Sora...Sora! Sora!” She scrambled out of his embrace and started feeling around his body, trying to get a response. She suddenly stiffened in place as she drew her hand back which was soaked in a crimson colored liquid.

He remained still as a drop of liquid splashed on his face. It was hard to determine whether it was a teardrop or the first drop of rain from the storm due to the sudden downpour from the sky.

Within the middle of the street was a heart wrenching sight of a woman clutching onto her beloved, sobbing loudly as she didn’t even notice the large downpour that has already soaked every inch of her.

The man tried his best to open his eyes but couldn’t muster the strength to do so, the only thing he could do was slightly curl his fingers into the woman's hand before falling limp.

…..

Sora suddenly woke up yelling “Sumi!” while lurching forward with his hand making a clutching motion. When his hand made contact with nothing he suddenly had a look of surprise as he slowly relaxed his body.

Sora suddenly looked around rapidly to try and figure out where he was while also checking his body's conditions for any damages. After a quick inspection he realized that his body didn’t feel damaged at all, in fact it felt better than he’s felt in a while. The place he was at felt very unfamiliar yet also extremely familiar to him. It was a large room with grey and white furnishing and decor. He was in a large bed that could easily fit three to four people.

“My… old room?”

Sora suddenly got up from the bed and noticed that his computer was still on and had a page opened with the headline saying “The Divine Path” along with a countdown timer under it that was left with four days-two hours-forty seconds.

“Hmm? Is it an expansion or something?”

He looked toward the bottom of his monitor to check the time and suddenly froze. According to the date it was September 26th, 2031, four days before the launch of “The Divine Path” and 10 years before the accident where he was hit by the car happened. Sora suddenly bolted to a mirror in the adjacent bathroom.

“I’m...I-”

Knock knock knock

Sora splashed his face with some water, wiped the water away, and ran to the door. He was still being wary so he put up his guard and slowly opened the door.

“Package for Sora Yazuki.”

“Yes that’s me.”

“Please sign here and put the date here.”

The man handed Sora a small device with a plastic pen attached to it which he used to sign his name. When he saw the blank space for the date he hesitated for a moment, maybe he had gone crazy, he wanted to confirm it.

“Do you happen to know the date today?”

“It would be September 26th if I’m not mistaken.”

“And the year?”

“... 2031. Are you okay mister?”

“Ah, yes of course, sorry for the wierd question.”

Sora loosened his hand slightly as he wrote the date down and handed the device back to the delivery man. In return the delivery man gave Sora a box with an intricate logo printed on the top of it. It was the logo for the creators of “The Divine Path”. They go by the name of System Synthesis Inc. and gained mass popularity at the reveal of a brand new state of the art VRMMORPG called “The Divine Path” that boasted in the perfect combination of realism and fantasy. Lately there have been many company that have fallen into the virtual reality bandwagon and have gone overboard in the amount of realism they put into a game. One company that went by the name of RealTech released a VRMMORPG by the name of “Days of Death” that centered around ultra-realism and ended up going bankrupt due to the fact that it was so realistic that it became more stressful than fun. The biggest complaint was that the game had a system where you only have one life. If you die in the game then the entire system you bought was basically garbage. The account would be shut down and the VR helmet would be deactivated.

“The Divine Path” was a game that was able to blend the feeling of realism and the experience of a fantasy world to near perfection. You could be a fierce warrior that would rush into battle to annihilate his opponents, or be a brilliant mage that controlled the battlefield with large spells that would cause chaos, or even just a simple fisherman that would tread into dangerous waters to try to catch legendary fish. Almost anything was possible through the genius development of “The Divine Path”.

There wasn’t much of a story behind “The Divine Path”, the main goal was to join a faction and do whatever you can to raise the power and expand it's territory. This gave players a large amount of freedom to do what they please but also gives a goal that people could rally together for.

Sora was a somewhat famous player in “The Divine Path”. He was able to slowly build a powerful guild from the ground up, there were not many players who didn’t know about his guild called Eternal Glory. They were one of the main forces when fighting against many demon generals and even secured 1st place in many major events and championships. Eventually a lot of guild members started to rebel against him and he ended up being betrayed by people he thought he could trust, thus being kicked out of the guild and forgotten.

Sora was busy recollecting his thoughts as he slowly opened the box that was in front of him. He was thinking about where he was, what to do, but mainly his thoughts were focused on one thing… Sumi. They were lovers before the accident, but now she probably doesn’t have any idea that he exists. They met in “The Divine Path” a year after it’s launch and ended up meeting in real life two years after that. She was a gentle girl who he had stumbled across while hunkering down in a cave during a large scale battle with a demon general. She had long straight black hair with a small nose and mouth, brilliant clear eyes that shined a beautiful green and a small stature that barely came up to just below his chin.

Sora finished collecting his thoughts as he pulled a helmet and many other wires and straps out of the box. He stared intently at the reflection on the visor of the helmet. Dark hair, dark eyes and a straight jawline with a feminine look apparent. He could definitely be called a stunning man, but there was a cold aura that hovered around him making him seem unapproachable.

“This time… I’ll do things differently.”

…..

For the next few days Sora was doing things like figuring out bills, straightening up his house, stocking up on food and other necessities, checking his bank account, and making a plan for what he should do in the future.

His bank account had just over one hundred thousand dollars and the house was already paid for so he didn’t have to worry about that. His main concern was the startup and monthly fee for playing “The Divine Path” which was fifty thousand dollars for the startup fee and a thousand dollars for the monthly fee. It may seem a bit steep but the game had many ways in which you could make money, so the only heavy cost is within the first couple months of gameplay where everyone is trying to get on their feet.

Sora didn’t have anybody who depended on him and he didn’t have a job. He has been self sufficient since he was seventeen years old after his parents died. Right now Sora was twenty and accumulated many skills so that he could defend and feed himself. Everything was done by himself because he didn’t see the need in hiring many different people when he could just learn how to do a job himself.

Right now he had no concern for getting a job, with the knowledge he has about “The Divine Path” he could make a fortune just by selling the locations of some secret quests and areas. Sora checked the time and quickly went through a checklist of what he needed to have done before making a quick breakfast and setting up his VR machine. He slowly put the machine on before laying down and closing his eyes.

Welcome User… Please wait while we do an initial startup.

A very familiar female voice was heard in the darkness. Sora used this time in order to adjust himself to the VR machine, and change certain settings such as the pain sensor, smell sensor, ect.

Initial startup successful. Please enter a username…

Sora quickly entered the name “Ethereal”.

Thank you Ethereal. Welcome to The Divine Path. Please select a faction…

Factions were a huge part of “The Divine Path”, they not only determined where you start, but each faction also has to go against each other to win important areas within the game world. The factions were The Eastern Legion, The Western Kingdom, The Northern Summit, and The Southern Flames. Sora selected The Eastern Legion, mainly because it was the same faction he and Sumi were in before the accident.

Please allocate equipment points carefully, then select “confirm” when ready.

“The Divine Path” wasn’t like most MMORPGs where you select a class to start with. Here is where you set up your starting equipment based on how you want to play. Each player has 50 equipment points to start with and each item in a list costs a certain amount of equipment points. You can choose any basic item from swords and bows to pickaxes, sculptors tools, and even food. If you have any equipment points left over, they are converted into one job point for every 5 equipment points which can then be allocated into job stats, increasing the effectiveness of various occupations. When you reach level 15 you can swear loyalty to an order to obtain a class. This lets each player experience the game before deciding which class that would suit them the most. Sora selected a fishing pole for 4 points, an axe for 3 points, a shovel for 2 points, and a knife for 1 point. The remaining 40 points were converted into 8 JP.

Thank you for your interest in The Divine Path. Please enjoy your gaming experience.

Time until launch - 2 minutes 34 seconds

Most people would look at Sora like they were looking at a fool if they had been told what he spent his points on. Most people would start the game using every single equipment point on armor, weapons, potions, and food. Little do people know that this simple little trick will go down in history as the most efficient way to start the game.

Time until launch - 3 seconds

Time until launch - 2 seconds

Time until launch - 1 seconds