“The shop?”

All Mickey could see was the shop’s title banner. The rest of the page was overtaken by a big white pop-up with “SPECIAL OFFER” plastered on it. Below that title was an image of the Tralas Headset and below that was the “Claim Your Free Headset” button.

Mickey couldn’t believe it. He clicked on that button and read through the next pop-up.

***

Claim Your Free Headset!

A Special Offer For New Trailblazers!

Don’t Be Held Back By The Reality Of The Fragmented World!

Offer Details:

The Hidden World will send YOU a Tralas Headset using your future Excia(EXC) earnings. By taking this offer, 100EXC will be deducted from your Tralas Bridge account, leaving you at -100EXC.

Accept Offer?

[Yes]

[No]

***

“So, by putting myself in debt with in-game currency, I’ll get the headset? 100EXC for $20,000? That means that 1EXC is worth $200… Okay, crazy… Is this for real? They must really think their game is great if they think I’ll be incentivized to make back the in-game currency. Is this just some weird way of saying that their gear is cutting edge and they're being generous? Is this a marketing scheme?”

Mickey clicked back and went to the landing page. He looked through the news feed, trying to get a sense of how active the community was.

***

Trailblazer Mepholo discovered a new Skill! For such a momentous occasion, 3EXC was distributed to Mepholo and their party.

Trailblazer Jonah_Jonah found three new chambers in the eighth dungeon of the Analais Realm.

A new dungeon has been found in the Beruchas Realm. Get on it, Trailblazers!

…

***

It was a stream of accomplishments and usernames celebrating going-ons in the game and the player’s accomplishments. Mickey couldn’t help but feel like the game had an active population.

Maybe it’s not a scam? I wish there was a way to communicate with other players, but I don’t see any forums…

Mickey navigated back to the shop page and took the plunge. He took the offer and just as quickly groaned when the obvious page came up.

“Guess I’ll have to give them my address if I want to play.”

Mickey weighed the pros and cons as he leaned back on his chair. He also admonished himself for taking a game he found out about—through a bird carrying a card of all things—seriously. But, despite the strangeness, here he was contemplating whether or not to take the risk.

This could all be one giant scam. They might just want my address… but for what? Identity theft?

Mickey looked at the screen once more. It was asking for his name and address, but only the address field was required.

They’ll let me get away with not putting my name in? I can’t think of what the scam might be other than sending me junk mail… I mean, anyone can find out my address. Will it matter if my name isn’t attached?

Mickey took a leap of faith.

Come on, Mickey. This might be the world giving us a break… What’s the harm?

He was curious enough. He entered the information—his address and nothing else and was surprised when it was accepted with a green check mark appearing on the screen.

The pop-up closed leaving Mickey to look at the shop screen properly. The first thing he noted was the very striking “-100EXC” at the top of the screen. He then looked around the rest of the screen. To the left-hand side, there were multiple tabs, but only one was clickable, the one that led to the page he already was on. The others seemed to be level-locked.

I’ll probably get access to them once I progress in the game… Looks like my next unlock is at Level 10.

Mickey looked at the offerings on the current tab to get a sense of what he was going after.

***

Shelter-20EXC

Personal EXP Bonus-5EXC

Extra EXP Bonus-10EXC

Convert EXC to $$$

***

“Hold on, what!” Mickey jumped out of his chair. “Is that the cash prize? Converting EXC to real money?”

Mickey quickly clicked the button and was taken to a new pop-up. There, right in front of him was the window for converting the game currency, Excia, into his currency.

If I had any, I would be able to test it right this instant, but of course, I'm in debt.

Moreover, Mickey noted that the exchange rate was what he calculated. 1EXC to $200.

Mickey caught his breath and calmed himself down.

“Don’t get excited. This might be one elaborate ruse. Of course they would have this here… right? But if it was a scam, they would have had me pay for the headset then they would have run away with my money, just like how the scams that target seniors do it… Would they have this be findable by that promotion card if it was a scam, though?”

Mickey picked up his blue card and looked it once over.

“There’s not a name on it… What if this is really exclusive? Did I walk into some insider-club-money-laundering scheme? Is that a thing?”

Mickey looked at the events feed, the news feed, and the screenshots that populated the first page. By Mickey’s estimation, the strangest thing was how realistic the exotic characters, all armored up and with colorful weapons, looked.

“Is this really our lucky break? Did I stumble upon something amazing?”

As he wondered about his good fortune, a buzz went off in his pocket. He was receiving a call from the hospital.