Spook brought up the menu and logged out instantly.

Thanks to being in a safe zone, he didn’t need to wait the full ten seconds. This mechanic was put in place so that players couldn’t perform death dodging by force logging themselves. Before Inside Online introduced this update, there had been rampant abuse of the force logout, particularly in high-level raids and PvP.

[Player Spook has logged out successfully.

Please remove your Envision Module.

Thank you for playing Inside Online.

We hope to see you again soon Sean Fox.]

Feeling around for the headset straps, Sean unlocked them with fumbling fingers. Blinking his eyes, he found himself staring into the dim yellow light that poured down from the ceiling fixture. He prepared for the same wave of nausea to hit him again, but surprisingly there was nothing this time. It seemed his body had adjusted to the reality and virtual reality swapping.

A glance at the window told him it was completely dark outside. A second glance at his phone showed him it was 3:43 AM, and three missed calls from Jason.

Sean sighed and rolled his eyes. His friend had probably gotten wasted again and had tried to drunk dial him. The same thing had happened last week for the past damn month. Somehow, the conversation always steered toward’s Kathy, Jason’s ex-girlfriend. They had broken up a while back due to long-distance issues after being together for half a year.

That guy seriously needs to move on. Sean thought to himself as he slid off the bed. He shouldn’t spend the rest of his life moping every fucking Friday.

After brushing his teeth and taking a quick leak, Sean got back into bed and waited for sleep to take him. His eyelids were heavy with fatigue, and his body felt sore from laying in the same position for so long. Playing Inside Online felt akin to a whole body workout, except there wasn’t any sweating involved. Save for the initial log-in.

As he let his thoughts wander aimlessly, soon, his body began to relax, and his mind powered down for some much-needed rest. Then Sean drifted off, slipping into his dreams.

***

Bright.

No. Bright wasn’t the right word.

It was blinding.

Sean cautiously cracked open his eyes. Only to instantly shut them close again to avoid the beams of sunlight that were streaming into his room. A golden hue lit up the tiny apartment, reflecting off the shiny Envision Module that lay on the floor. Saturday morning had arrived.

He lifted himself into a sitting position and reached for his phone by the bedside.

1:00 PM. He had slept past noon. The initial plan had been to wake up at 9 AM so he could get a fresh start in the morning, but gaming all night had put a quick stop to that idea. It felt rather strange, waking up past midday.

“Nothing says college than gaming into the morning and sleeping at irregular hours,” Sean declared, nodding to himself. “Now, all I’m missing is some instant ramen.”

His stomach gurgled in agreement. It was appropriate after all since breakfast had long past, and lunch was just around the corner. Sean couldn’t ignore the increasing pangs of hunger any longer, so he quickly made himself a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. He added in a banana and yogurt to top him off.

As he munched on his honey oats, his mind wandered towards the game.

To be honest, the things I ate as Spook sort of tasted better than this stuff. I wonder if recipes from the game could be brought over here to the real world? And vice versa. Yimyo recommended I should find my own lifeskill in-game. Maybe cooking might resonate well with me? Especially since my skills are based on eating Scaling Ingredients. Hold on!

Wolfing down the rest of his brunch, he quickly grabbed his phone from the bedroom and pulled up a couple of guides on cooking in Inside Online.

It says here that cooking can be learned through the Npc located in any town. The requirements for becoming a chef are the submission of two unique types of ingredients and a downpayment of 2 silvers for the license. After that, there are multiple tiers of Ranks that can be acquired by gaining experience or completing certain events. Higher tiers will allow a player to access secret recipes, create better foods/buffs, and even potentially unlock access to the Gourmet Tower.

The Gourmet Tower. Sean recalled Yimyo had mentioned this place during their talk. What was this place? Was it some kind of special area? The orc had told him to try and eat at the tower, but Sean didn’t have a clue as to why. Maybe it was a hot tourist location inside the game. Or maybe Yimyo thought it was a good place to eat at.

One thing was certain, though. The answers would show themselves if he became a licensed Chef. Sean was confident that earning higher ranks would explain the different perks of the cooking lifeskill. The game system had explained to him his new skills and abilities, so the same should happen for lifeskills as well.

He turned his attention back to the guides, hoping to find more information on cooking. To his disappointment, a lot of the information he found was just copied and pasted but worded slightly differently. Inside Online was a relatively new game, which made information particularly valuable as everyone wanted to be the first one to discover something. Watching streamers play had taught him a lot about the game.

Inside Online promotes its system of real-world currency to virtual currency conversion. Hence, numerous opportunities for money-making sprang up. And among these opportunities is information broking. Brokers will sell buyers information on anything from details to triggering a hidden quest to the location of a specific guild’s headquarters. If it can be spoken, written, or recorded, it can be sold. That is, as long as you have the money.

That’s right. Money. Money is king. He of all people knew that. Taking a look around at this cramped apartment, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of dissatisfaction. AS much as he enjoyed being healthy and having a roof over his head, Sean knew this wasn’t his end goal in life.

No.

His end goal was to make it big.

Picking himself off the kitchen chair, he returned to his room and looked down at the Envision Module.

Maybe Sean Fox can’t do it. Not yet at least . . . But there is someone else who can.

It felt like clockwork. Getting into bed and putting the VR headset back on. The familiar bright light filled his vision and transported him back into the virtual world.

[Retina Scan Initiated …Verified 1/2

Facial Recognition Initiated …Verified 2/2

Identifying the player...

Hello Sean Fox.

Welcome back to Inside Online.

We hope you enjoy your time playing,

Player Spook.]