Vol. 1 - Chapter 13 - Finding how to cheat

After exiting the capsule, Mathias, who suffered a headache from all the drinking he had done in-game, walked to the kitchen and opened the window wide open. He felt the breeze of the wind blowing on his face while admiring the sky that slowly was losing its brightness. He took a deep breath before walking to the sink to get himself some water.

Getting back to the window, he started to drink the water slowly until he could notice that the headache was starting to lessen.

"I wonder what caused me to get a headache. I clearly didn't drink anything before starting to play the game. I only drank in-game. This is really bizarre. Could it be a bug? I should note this experience somewhere and make a report to the support team."

Waiting for a bit more to recover from the effects that the game induced. Next, Mathias took some simple biscuits from the cabinet, he stored his pastries away to prevent them from molding, and started wolfing them down while sitting down in front of his laptop.

Mathias started writing down his experience with Michael and how he woke up with a headache, similar to one a drunken state would give, so he could make a report to the support team later. Stretching his body a bit after finishing the report, he focused on the forums flooded by people of all sorts of origins who praised the game's immersion and all different aspects of this new reality.

---- "This will be the game of the century! Mark my words, you bums, you better promote the game around your dumps so more people can join because this is the L.T.S killer. Leave the Tzedakah and Giant Guild kids to their thing in L.T.S because it is no longer enticing." posted a member of the decently sized new community who was called Katz.

---- "The one above is probably some noob who couldn't even reach the late game content of L.T.S is butthurt and jealous of the biggest guilds in the game." commented a person with the name tag 'Atlas'.

Mathias scrolled down to check other comments but come back to the Katz guy's comment, who replied to the one who tried to make fun of him, with a screenshot of what seemed to be a Character Status Screen along with the Equipment bar.

The character's name was Katz, and he was max level, capping at level 300 while his equipment was composed of end game content legendary equipment.

--- "Tell me, you scrub, who is the noob? You better keep your mouth shut if you don't even recognize my in-game name."

--- "Heh, so you are that big ass whale who enriched the LTS company? How much did you pay for those legendary items? A million dollars? Whale, sucks being you. I heard from a friend who has connections inside S.A Group that they will not offer any features such as letting people buy end game items from shops and other boosting items. I will wait for your comments when the game turns live.

Meanwhile, as those guys had their online war, in Tokyo inside Toranomon Hills Hotel, a young asian man in his twenties was staring at a big screen with the same forum page opened that Mathias was looking at and felt his anger accumulating.

"Motherfucker, you dare to make fun of me? 'Atlas' is your name? I will keep that in mind, you bastard, and once I stumble upon you inside Satisfy, I will crush you."

.

Mathias moved past the forum thread since he knew nothing about the L.T.S game, only hearing that it was a popular VRMMO that used the old technology of headgears and was very successful for about 5 years before it slowly started to get less popular, yet maintaining a big following of loyal players.

He saw all sorts of different forum threads as he looked over the players' responses, from the most infuriating reviews that would poke fun at the LTS players to those who discussed the potential of 'Satisfy'.

.

After 30 minutes in front of the laptop screen, he turned it off and entered the capsule to start another session until it was 1 AM, then he would go to sleep.

After the game's loading sequence, he started to feel his body going numb the moment his senses were linked to his avatar. This numbing sensation was similar to what you would feel if you slept in one position without shifting for hours. Apart from this, he also felt his headache and some dizziness.

The floor was cold, and he could hear the sound of roosters crying out, signalling that a new day had started. Because of the roosters crowing, some citizens situated close to where the roosters were located started swearing at them.

"SHUT UP, YOU CHICKEN! I WILL ROAST YOU ALIVE. JUST YOU WAIT!"

Many other voices, some were familiar to Mathias, some weren't, kept cursing the rooster.

.

He slowly raised his body from the porch, but he felt unbalanced and grabbed hold of the shop's wall to keep himself straight.

"Wew, don't tell me I am still under the 'Drunken' state. Also, why does my body hurt so much?"

While balancing himself using the wall, he started to think of what happened, and shortly after, things began to make sense to him.

"So, when I am disconnected, my body doesn't just vanish like smoke, instead it is forced into a slumbering state where the environment I am in will affect me. I've slept on this stone porch for like what, 3 hours."

'Turn on notifications.'

The instant Mathias opened the notifications again, he was assaulted by the warnings that he was drunk.

However, as he cleared the notifications, he started noticing another round of notifications.

[Successfully kept your balance under the effects of Poison Beer]

[Stamina has risen by 1]

[Stamina has risen by 1]

[Stamina has risen by 1]

[Stamina has risen by 1]

.

"Wait, what? I gained stats for drinking beer? This game is bugged for sure. Should I report this to the team or keep it to myself? Mmm, they will for sure fix it, so let's leave it like that. I am a proud Romanian, alcohol runs in my veins, so I guess that is my reward for staying awake after drinking this 'Poison Beer'?"

Clearing those notifications, he reached the last part of the notifications that reminded him of who he talked with and how he viewed him after their talk.

[Affinity with Michael has risen by 10]

"I guess we hit it home when it comes to beer and talking about magical creatures and other crazy stuff that I barely imagine opening about to talk."

.

The route toward the Gravelmark Heights was fresh in his mind, along with the various dangers it held in store for him and other people who were daring enough to adventure there. The drunken state didn't affect his memory of the route towards the mountains or what monsters he might encounter there.

Slowly regaining his body functions, he walked around the courtyard a bit to stretch his body before deciding to enter Fayrene's shop.

Getting to the door and taking out the key from his inventory bag, he moved to open it but soon heard the door opening itself.

'Fuck, she is the early bird type. I haven't even got the chance to clean up the vomit, and it is a mess to behold.' thought Mathias when he saw the door opening from inside.

Then he saw Fayrene look at him with a perplexed expression without donning any make-up on her face. She looked at Mathias' haggard appearance, then looking past him, she noticed the vomit puddle at that point. Her expression changed slightly.

Before she could say something, he interrupted her.

"I thought you were a sleeping beauty. Why are you up so early?"

"Hmmm, you know that I used to live in a rural village before moving out. I am used to waking up early to help out on the farm, which is still ingrained in me. Any problems with that?"

"What problem? No, no problems here. I think it is perfect. I also wake up early in the mornings. I just imagined you doing stuff noble ladies would do." explained Mathias, while visible still affected by the 'Drunken" Status.

"I'm not that rich that I can afford such expenses. But enough of me, you tell me why do you reek of alcohol? I thought you were broke without any money in your pockets. Did you go into debt to buy alcohol?"

"Aghh, no, it's not like that. I couldn't sleep and got out to take some fresh air and see for myself how "dangerous" the district truly is at night." explained Mathias to Fayrene's question.

"I see. You still haven't explained how you got money to drink."

"I met a returning adventurer Michael, he was the one who offered me some shots."

When Fayrene heard about Michael, her expression softened a bit before pointing at the vomit, saying with disgust.

"You better clean that up, otherwise, you will really sleep on the streets. Also, once you clear your head and that filth, we will go to buy some fabrics for my shop."

"Aye, my Lady. Don't worry, all is good with me. I am not drunk or anything." said Mathias standing straight while facing Fayrene. (A/N: Just a tiny bit)

Fayrene turned her gaze back at Mathias and saw that his body was swinging with each blow of the wind hitting his body, to the point where she started giggling while departing inside.

"Phew, I was almost thrown out the first night in the game after finding a home."

.

Slowly entering, he moved to the counter, and he noticed that his made-up bed was still in place, only with a slight difference. The pillow he made from Fayrene's ruined clothes was moved a bit from the position he remembered.

'Hmm, she noticed the pillow. Well, if she didn't comment on it, it means there's no problem with it.'

.

After he took the made-up bed down, placing the components in the closet that contained discarded fabrics, next he had to clean in front of the shop, so he started to search for a shovel and a bucket.

Fayrene, who was in her room drinking tea and casually eating some cookies, used her magic to create a mirror that showed Mathias and what he was doing in the front part of the shop.

"What are you looking for, that it caused you to desperately search around the shop? This isn't funny at all. Just ask if you need help since I can't imagine that you know where I placed all the common tools."

This continued the entire period Fayrene was drinking her tea. Mathias searched for about 10 minutes like he was looking for gold.

Fayrene, who observed Mathias all this time, finally had enough and got off her chair. She moved to the front part of the shop and asked the searching treasure hunter.

"Stop looking around everywhere for no reason. Tell me, what are you looking for?"

Mathias stopped in place, turned his head at Fayrene and with an embarrassed tone, he said to her, as he was fixing his long hair.

"Fayrene, can you tell me if you got any shovels in here? I found a bucket, but there are simply no gardening tools here."

She looked dumbfounded at him and asked back, perplexed. "Shovel?"

"Yes, shovel. Do you have any?"

She felt speechless when Mathias repeated himself. Her face turned left and right, and she slowly walked around the places Mathias was looking through in the first place.

'Have I ever bought a shovel since I moved here? I can use my magic as a substitute, so I probably never bothered to.'

"I think I never bought a shovel. But why do you need one?"

"Well, I need to dig a hole to cover that mess I made before I wash it away. That's the ethical way to clean such a mess."

"Really? Why don't you use your magic to substitute the shovel? This is the way I do when I need some gardening tools for the courtyard." calmly replied Fayrene to Mathias, revealing how she was taking care of the courtyard garden.

"Magic? I doubt I can do such advanced stuff yet. Sigh, stop looking at me like that. I will try doing that because I believe buying a shovel might be a bit expensive here. Pleased? Also, this is my mess to clean. Ahh, before I take off, is there any water source in the vicinity where I can fill this bucket?" asked Mathias with a resigned face.

"If you want freshwater, there is a fresh spring outside of the walls, not too far from here. But the one used for daily activities, you can use the one from the fountain." (A/N: Freshwater – something you use to drink / the one in fountain could be translated as one you would use to wash clothes and other stuff)

Getting his answer so directly from her, he remembered the fountain in the square he was drinking all night long, which made him facepalm himself.

"That is right. I might still be drunk after all."

"Indeed."

"Hey, don't make fun of me because who knows when I will see you in an uncomfortable situation." reminded Mathias as he was moving outside with a bucket in hand.

Fayrene gazed at Mathias's face, and with a broad smile, she replied back.

"You wish. You have already seen the scars. Something more uncomfortable than that can't happen to me. So good luck. Now, hurry up because the market will turn busy if I wait for you." (E/N: What market?)

Fayrene clapped her hands while Mathias could see her left arm around the loose white blouse she was wearing.

She noticed his gaze but didn't hide it and react like last night, appearing much more relaxed this morning.

Nodding his head after Fayrene clapped her hands, he moved to the fountain and could see that the people here also started going to the fountain with buckets in hand. To his surprise, the vomit left by the guys last night, on the square, was already cleaned up.

"They took care of their mess. Now it's my turn."

Saying that, he walked back to Fayrene's shop with the bucket filled until it was spilling. Placing the bucket down, he stared at his mess and began to think of how to use his magic.

As he was standing there silently, he imagined a shovel in his head, and while concentrating his mind, he could feel some energy being stirred up inside his body, coming straight from his chest.

"Huh, there is a response from my chest. Is it the Mana Core? Let's see if it wants to move from my body."

Extending his hand, he stared at his palm and concentrating on this energy moving inside his body. He could feel that it reacted to his wishes and slowly began to move to his arm.

"Come, buddy, help me out. Do you want me to look like I am some idiot?"

Still, this energy that was gathering around his arms didn't budge at all and kept stagnating. However, Mathias could feel the mana inside the arm, and after condensing it more, it slowly began moving to his right palm.

It stagnated again after reaching his palm. It got to a point where the palm began shining with a light purple color which surprised him, almost scaring him to the point of making him lose his focus.

"Just a bit more."

.

Five minutes later, Mathias was sweating like a drenched dog, turning his rags into a wet mess.

Fayrene, who was by now watching Mathias from the shop's window and looking at his first arcane experience without any guidance, showed a smile.

"Only a bit more, and you will succeed. Don't give up now, Mathias."

Meanwhile, Mathias, who detached himself from any distraction, concentrated on the feeling of the mana being gathered in his palm that came from the Mana Core, until another minute later, he said to himself.

"Shovel"

When he said that, the mana started discharging from his palm and created a white-purple shovel smaller than what he envisioned in his mind.

[You consumed all your mana]

[You succeeded in using your mana to cast a primitive magic construct. It will hold in proportion to the mana spent]

Seeing the notification appear in front of his face, he could feel as if something was missing inside his body before the notification even came up.

Yet, he ignored it and grabbed the white-purple shovel and waved it in the air, exclaiming like he won the lottery.

"This is what I am talking about! First, attempt, and it was a success. I shall be called Merlin from now on!"

"Haha, congratulations, but don't let it get to your head. You still suck at magic. It already took you about 10 minutes to make that small shovel. Here let me show you how it is done right. Watch." said Fayrene, congratulating Mathias for his small success in arcana, while she walked toward him.

Mathias turned his head at Fayrene and could see the black-haired beauty move in his direction while her hand started shining with a white-purple light that felt far stronger than his own.

While she was slowly walking to him, the white-purple light around her right hand started to fly off like fireflies and start gathering around one another to morph into the shape of a shovel that was precisely what Mathias had in mind, while it only took her one minute to make her's.

"Here, use this one." added Fayrene after finishing her spell, with a sly smile on her face.

"Hey, are you trying to taunt me again? I shall use my own creation." replied Mathias, a bit annoyed and at the same time impressed by Fayrene efficiency.

'She is a magical genius and gifted with the SS ranked Mana Core. No wonder she leaves me in the dust when it comes to these magic feats.' thought Mathias, while masking his emotions with a smile.

Fayrene noticed Mathias' attempt at smiling, but her expression didn't change. She only kept watching him from the side as he dug a hole close to the mess he made.

As he was digging, suddenly, the stability of the shovel and its shape started to shift/change, and when he was halfway finished, it suddenly scattered in the air, making him almost drop into the vomit.

"Huh, I didn't expect this so early. I take my words back, Fayrene, give me that shovel."

"Haha, sure, there you go." said Fayrene while hanging the shovel to Mathias while laughing softly at him, revealing a bright smile.

'What am I doing man, I am embarrassing myself too much lately. Should I turn like those sages in fantasy stories and train myself until I am unmatched?'(E/N: Of course you should do that ^_^)

Thought Mathias while finishing to dig the hole, next he used the same shovel to start cleaning the mess, then with the dug out dirt he covered the hole again and with the water, he had in the bucket he began to wash the leftovers and then level the ground.

"Here, take the shovel back. It is all clean now." stated Mathias while giving the shovel back to Fayrene.

Fayrene looked at the tip of the shovel that had some vomit on it, and with a disgusted expression, she waved her hand, making the construct shatter in the air.

"Clean yourself, change your clothes and follow me. After we buy the fabrics, I shall teach you tailoring. No question asked."

"No, wait, you are moving too fast. I don't even know how to sew a button properly."

"Hmph, excuses, and yet again excuses. Don't worry, you will learn it whether you like it or not. Having free workers for my shop was always my dream." replied Fayrene, with a grin on her face, to Mathias, whose face turned pale.