He was too late. Too slow. Too weak. Faust had never felt so helpless before. He barely even cared that this was a game. That boy had been laughing and talking with him just a few minutes ago, as real as anybody he knew. Faust’s mental state was crumbling. He was low on health, faced with two strong opponents. He didn’t see any way out, and Noah was already dead. So he spoke.

“Log out.”

[You cannot log out when enemies are nearby!]

“Log out.”

[You cannot log out when enemies are nearby!]

“Log out!”

[You cannot log out when enemies are nearby!]

“Log out!!!”

[You cannot log out when enemies are nearby!]

“Aaaahhhh!” Faust clutched at his head with his free hand. His eyes were bloodshot and his head was pounding.

‘Why? Why?! Why!!?’ Faust’s ears began to ring, and his focus was slightly restored. He could barely hear, but he had a newfound goal. Revenge. He would kill these damn dogs.

Noah hacked forward with his saber at the awakened wolf! If someone had been watching him, they would see that his speed had increased.

[Your agility has increased by 1. Your strength has increased by 1.]

The notifications were just getting in his way. His only goal right now was to hack and slash at the enemy before him. The wolf moved fast, dodging the saber. It currently couldn’t compare to the ferocity that Faust was displaying, so it retreated. Suddenly, Faust felt a pain from his back!

[-22! Bleeding has increased!]

He had forgotten about the wolf behind him! It had attacked him from the back, it’s claws digging into his flesh. But he didn’t care. He stumbled, but kept charging towards the awakened wolf. He swung his saber over and over, despite the pain he was suffering.

[Your agility has increased by 2.]

They say that humans can only show their true potential on the border of life and death. Faust was currently displaying all he had. His strikes, however, were starting to slow down.

“You damn dog.” Faust spit out as he attacked. “I’ll cut you.”

“I’ll cut you.” Faust began repeating the words to himself.

“I’ll cut you.” It started to grow louder.

“I’ll cut you!” It turned into a scream.

[You have unlocked a new stat.]

Finally, as he swung his saber horizontally, the wolf made a mistake. It tried to dodge below it, but it seemed like Faust knew it’s movements ahead of time. The blade’s angle curved, slicing into the snout of the wolf and cutting it clean off.

[You have dealt 92 damage! Critical strike! Bleeding effect activated!]

The nose and part of the wolf’s upper mouth had been cut clean from its body. It rolled across the floor as it landed, and Faust’s maniacal swinging stopped.

Faust barely had 12 HP left, but the wolf behind him wouldn’t give him any breathing room. It readied to attack once more, but Faust didn’t even move. He held his saber in the same position and looked at the grotesque body part that he had sliced.

‘I’ll find you again.’ He thought to himself. ‘’And I’ll cut you down.’

[You have suffered 24 damage. Your HP has reached zero. You have died. Logging out.]

The notification obscured his vision so he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was back in the real world. The blank ceiling of his apartment greeted him. His thoughts stalled for a moment before a sudden impulse overtook him.

He roughly took off his helmet and ran to the sink in the kitchen as fast as he could.

“Blaargh!”

The sound of David vomiting echoed throughout the apartment for quite some time. Finally, he managed to stop. His thoughts no longer occupied by the burning sensation in his throat, he was able to truly come back to reality.

‘It was just a game. A game. It wasn’t real.’’

‘But if that’s true… Why do I feel like this? I just watched as a kid was mauled to death by wolves. The game… is too real. I honestly couldn’t differentiate it from reality. It felt real.

David walked over and sat at his desk while he thought. His hands clutched at his head.

“Ah… I don’t know…” David’s mental state still wasn’t stable. Images of Noah’s lower leg being ripped off, the awakened wolf tearing into his jugular and his lifeless eyes kept flashing in his head. He lifted his hands away from his head and looked at them.

They were calm. They weren’t shaking in fear, or terror. David realised that while he was feeling guilt over Noah’s death, it was also a source of determination. Determination to never allow it to happen again.

Soon, the images of Noah were replaced by the wolves and his saber. How he could have fought better. How he could have slashed more effectively.

‘I wasn’t in the right mental state to fight, so it was unbelievably sloppy. I could have dodged multiple attacks and preserved my HP more efficiently. If I had sliced at the correct angle on that awakened wolf, I might have had a chance to pierce it’s brain directly.’

David booted up his computer while he thought about the fight. While most people nowadays had moved on to fully holographic computers, David still had an old-fashioned one with a tower and a monitor. It was given to him by his father on one of his birthdays when he was younger. It loaded quite fast, and his home screen was quickly presented to him.

Loading up several different forums and communities for the game, he began to browse. Most of the comments were superficial, lauding the game for its similarity to reality. All the senses were captured in the game, and freedom was unlimited. Only a short amount of time had passed since release, so most people were still inside the game itself. Only a few took a break, or were killed like David. He quickly found a post that talked about the penalties for death and opened it.

[What happens when you die?]

While the title sounded strange, the content was very helpful. As it turned out, the penalty for death in Chaos Realms was quite extreme. A 24 hour ban from the game as well as a 10% loss in total experience. David made sure he read that correctly. Total, not current for the level. While not very punishing at all in the lower levels, the higher your level the more devastating the loss for death would be.

David continued scrolling through the various topics before another one caught his eye.

[I unlocked a hidden stat!]

David remembered seeing a notification before he died about unlocking some sort of new stat, so he was very interested in the post. The creator of the post, someone using the name ‘King of the World’ talked about how they had gained a new hidden stat ‘Charm’ once they obtained their first class. They also claimed that they worked as a model in real life, and put forth a theory that your real life attributes can directly impact your status in the game.

This made David sit back and think. ‘What sort of skills do I have that would translate into the game?’

After a few minutes, a terrible expression overcame him.

‘None! I’m only good at video games!’

His thinking was correct, the only two things David had done since childhood was school and video games. Growing up, he had attempted to be competitive at multiple games but always seemed to fall short of the top player mark. He had promised himself that he would take the lead early on with Chaos Realms and become the strongest player, but what had happened? He had died in his first quest, and had suffered a mental breakdown. David scrolled through the web, looking at several different articles and posts. He learned that the sale of the headsets had skyrocketed minutes after the servers went online and the promotions were proven true. Hundreds of millions of headsets had been purchased, with millions more on the way. If this kind of trajectory continued, it wouldn’t be long till most of the population was playing this game.

He also learned that there were already several marketplaces going up trading in the currency of the game. For now, the most a player had earned seemed to be a silver coin but it was unknown how high it could go. Currently, a single silver coin was being traded for about $400 USD. As the game had only just been released, the only people who were purchasing currency would be tycoons looking to get an advantage. The possibilities of Chaos Realms were endless. You could be any profession, any job. All of them had ways to level up. Several wealthy businessmen had already sniffed out a groundbreaking opportunity for profit.

‘This game… Chaos Realms. It’s different from any game that has come before. It seems to be a true second world for mankind. If that’s so… then I’ll take it. I’ll take this world. I will become the strongest player, earn money and get out of this hellhole.’ He made a promise to himself once more.

David looked around. The walls of his small one-person studio apartment were reflected back at him. His determination increased.

‘The question is… how ruthless should I become? The players can revive endlessly, but the NPCs can't. Would I kill an innocent NPC to become stronger? I don’t think so. I can’t help but treat the NPCs as living creatures thanks to Noah, but…

David was surprised for a second. He had just thought about Noah’s death, but his heart remained calm. His head wasn’t pounding, and he felt normal. Of course, he felt guilty about what happened but it wasn’t exactly a remorseful guilt. It was more like… resolve. A resolve to become so strong he could protect someone he cared about, if that ever happened again.

David’s resolve would become the foundation for his ruthlessness.