"Yaaaawn~"

"It's strange for you to sleep late. What were you doing last night?"

"I didn't expect Professor Wright's homework would be that time-consuming. New World got me busy for the whole night."

"New World as in the 'New World'?"

"Yea, is there any other New World that I don't know of?"

"How did you get one! I heard that it won't be released until 31. There are still five days left before they start selling it. I've calculated that if I only eat once per day until the release date, then I could purchase one. I made sure all my calculation were right, so if they really have released it today, then..."

The woman in front of me was my classmate and best friend, Aria. I had known her for eight years and she is currently busy calculating with her fingers.

She is always like that ever since I knew her. Due to her circumstances, she was always having troubles with finances. So when it comes to money, you bet no penny would be wasted when she holds it.

"I'll treat you lunch today. I can't let you collapse in the middle of class because you didn't eat."

"You're a lifesaver, Cherry!"

And for some reason, she calls me Cherry.

We kept on talking about minor things like how I was disappointed with her for not joining me yesterday and what was the latest news about New World until we have reached the room for our next class. It is Professor Wright's time.

Another day, another boring lecture of his. I planned to daydream for the whole hour while trying to act interested in whatever he was saying. I do not know why they pay him since I find it much better and easier to understand this subject's topics on MonoTube compared to his lectures.

Although not listening to his lectures could be a problem though when I want to pass his subject. But at least I have my homework which is Fifty percent of his grades. So I am safe, I think.

As I think of that and was daydreaming the whole time during his class, it still feels like forever has passed. Thankfully, he was our last class for today or else I cannot survive any longer.

...

When the bell finally rang, we immediately left the class and went outside the campus with our stomachs grumbling. We look for places to eat and since I promised to treat Aria to a meal today, I chose her favourite food shack.

"You didn't answer me a while ago. How did you get one of those ETHER Link?"

"My dad somehow got hands on it. He did not only brought one, but we have three in our house. One ETHER Link for each. My dad was even more excited having the Link than I am."

"Gee~ I'm so jealous. I'm still halfway to go before I can purchase it."

"Why are you trying so hard to purchase one anyway? I never knew for a gamer of some sort."

"I know you know it. People waste money on games like New World. And I am not talking about a hundred or thousand quid. We're talking about a big game here and ETHER supposedly plans to have this game in a long term."

"You really did your research, Aria. And you're confident people will spend big bucks here?"

"No doubt."

I was amazed by how much knowledge she has in New World considering she was not the type to be hooked into games. If New World has reached people like Aria, then I can't imagine how many people will be playing it. She might be on to something.

When our orders have finally arrived, I noticed that many of the other customers were either watching New World videos or talking about New World videos.

"By the way since we're in this topic, what weapon are you planning to choose?"

"I really want to start with a great sword. Just imagine swinging it makes me want to get New World more. But maybe I'll try to be stealthy as an assassin and use a dagger. How about you? You probably have already begun your journey."

"I have been experimenting with the bow and I'm planning to stick with it until the game is up. And to your point, the tutorial is the only thing I can do for now in New World."

"Hearing your stories really let me want to play it already. Promise me that we would party up when it begins. Let's aim to become strong fast to earn money faster."

Aria was happily sharing her expectation for the New World while I share mine. We chat until we finished our meals. Since she has a part-time job to go to after this, we did not take our time any longer and went in our separate ways.

With nothing to do for today, I went home straight

"I'm home."

This time, there was no response. It was unusual anyway that both went home early yesterday so I do not find myself having the house for myself strange.

Both are still working and as far as I am concerned, there is nothing college-related stuff to do. This means, I can play New World for the whole day without any disturbance and I would be doing that right now.

Changing my clothes quickly, I checked for any New World related news before entering the ETHER Link. I was not able to find anything new that was interesting although playing is more interesting than reading it anyway.

"Welcome back, Traveller"

RiRi showed up much faster than the first time I booted up the ETHER Link. I was already at the training room with the dummies in front of me, but today I will not be using the bow. Instead, I am more interested in what the other part of the dojo was for.

I went to the next room and the first thing I noticed was a flag on what looks like the starting point of whatever platforming game this is. I walked over it and a ping sound echoed inside my head.

[00:00:00]

When I looked up, zeros were hovering above with RiRi who was be floating around for a while now.

"Just say 'Start' if you want to begin the timer."

RiRi explained. Examining the course one more time, it just hit me how large it was and how far the top was. It will at least take thirty minutes to reach the top if I base it to myself. Not like I am that unfit or anything, but there are a lot of weird obstacles or some sort in the way. More importantly, it is going up.

"Since I'm already here, why not try. I have all the time in the world."

I decided to warm-up first before attempting the course. After five minutes of simple warming-up, I ready myself up at the starting point.

"Start!"