Sorry that it took so long everyone! Deepest apologies, really!

******

"Alysia?!?"

I had accidentally let her name escape my lips. Looking around to see if anyone had heard, I had noticed that no one had. Relieved, I had went back to watching her from the entrance.

"Are you going to come in or just stand there?" It seems that she hadn't recognised me. It was probably better that way...

"Ahh, yes. Sorry."

"What can I help you with?" Her business voice had set in and all trace of being alive was gone.

"I'm just confused. What is a GameShop doing in a game?" Her eyes had sparkled at my words and it seemed that she knew something about the topic.

"Ahh, so you're a user then? You do know that the majority of large businesses are setting up stores in VR, right?"

"No? Why?"

"You must be really new, basically, shops are migrating towards VR in an effort to not be left out of the economy. The companies hire staff that work from a VR Helmet in their own homes. They get payed the same and they don't even need to leave their homes."

"Really? That's interesting, stuff changes so quickly if you lose track for just a moment."

"Then there is also people like me. I work every second day in a GameShop in reality, then the next day I'll work in VR. I earn much more from VR because I'll work 8 days in here then one in real life." At this point I realise that I could slightly reveal that I know here.

"Do you... perhaps... work in Melbourne?"

Melbourne was the city I lived in, in real life. It is located near the bottom of Australia and right now, in 2027, had 15 million residents. The population had boomed in recent years after a massive rush in the technical industry had boosted overseas immigrants. Although I wasn't against them, it was weird when you would see less of your own kind in your hometown than people from overseas.

"Ah.. yes. How'd you know?" She was slightly surprised but also undoubtedly puzzled that I had seemingly guessed - out of the hundreds of thousands of cities - which city she lived in.

"Didn't you sell me the CNS Cortex Linker like yesterday or the day before?"

"I've been in game for 6 days?"

"I mean reality."

"Oh, well, I sell sometimes hundreds a day, but I probably did. What store?"

"South-side?"

"Wow, I did than. This is really weird... It's never happened to me before."

"Really?"

"Well yeah, what are the chances that you'd run into someone that you've met IRL? I can tell you now that it's not high."

"You're right. What was your name again, Alli? No, that isn't right..." I pretend to not know her name in an attempt to coax her into introducing herself.

"I have a name tag, silly. All GameShop employees do." As she announces the name tag she gestures towards it to back up her statement. I cry a bit on the inside because I was sure it would work.

"Oh, Alysia! I was pretty close, to be fair." She stares at me as if to ask why I was so excited about knowing her name.

"Yeah, I suppose. What's your name?"

"Charlie."

"Did you change your first name?"

"No?"

"Good, hardly anyone changes their first name. If you do, you're going to have a fucking terrible time. You never really get used to it. I kept mine too." Her sudden swearing caught me a bit off guard because she seemed to be quite sweet up until then.

"I see. Would you be able to answer a few questions for me? About the game?"

"Alright, but I'll have to go back to work after that unless you want to buy something. Alright?"

"Yeah, what's the name of this city?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's the name of this city?"

"Well... You realise that 60% of the land is covered in a city, right? All the oceans are also joined by thin cities the connect to all the others. This isn't a city, this is an Ecumenopolis. A planet-wide city. Get it?

"Huhhh? You mean it doesn't end?!?"

"Basically, why would that matter though?"

"If there's no end then how could there be any nature?"

"I said that it was only 60% right? There's government land for global parks that can't be touched by anyone."

"Oh... But, it must have a name right, right?"

"Well, yeah. It's called 'Sandresin' but it's not really applicable. It's like saying you live on Earth, get it? Basically 'Sandresin' has subsections which all have their own subsections. Think about how Earth has continents and then countries and then states and so on. You're currently in 'Haylin', it's about where Germany is."

"So I'm not in Australia?"

"No, after the tutorial you get randomly teleported to a spawn square with your entire group. You can just catch a plane back if it's such a big deal, however, when you get there you won't recognise anything."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Alright, is that it? I really need to go."

"Ahh, no. Last question, what happens when I log out?"

"It seems that you're quite intelligent, that was a good question. When you log out it is very important that you are in a safe place like your house or bed. Your character falls unconscious and doesn't respond to anything making you a potential victim for anything." I was really quite glad that I had asked. I was planning to logout outside my future workplace everyday, thinking that our character disappeared or something.

"Thanks Alysia, it really helped."

"Don't sweat it, see-ya Charlie."

Help

'Alysia' has sent you a friend request. Do you accept?

Yes.

No.

My eyes widen slightly but then I look over towards Alysia as she smiles at me.

I press 'No' with a cocky smile on my face and watch as she appears to get incredibly pissed. Laughing a little bit, I decide my fun is over.

Send a friend request to Alysia.

Help

A friend request has been sent to 'Alysia'.

She loses her frown and smiles, poking her tongue out.

Help

'Alysia' has accepted your friend request.

Friends Online:

Alysia Palestine

Crystal Valentina

Elizabeth Hawk

Leaf Wreston

Contacts Online:

Charlotte 3314

I was smiling warmly because I had managed to meet some 'Homo sapiens' that I could actually tolerate being around. The majority that existed really shouldn't have been granted life.

Finally leaving the store and getting back on the street, I begin walking towards some new buildings that I might be able to apply at.

***Perspective Change***

“Ahh, Crystal! Over here!” It was Elizabeth. She had called out to me as I finally made it to the front of the apartment building. It wasn’t that hard to find because I had a mini-map in the corner of my vision pointing me in the right direction, but it was still odd walking through such a busy city.

“Sorry I took so long!” It had taken me a good hour or so because I was too wrapped up in the city.

“Don’t worry about it,” She began, calming me down, “We’ll go get you your room now. Okay?”

“Sure!” I was excited because I could finally start playing.

Elizabeth lead me inside the revolving door and took me to the reception desk. All I had to do was sign a contract about insurance and then another one that showed that we would evenly split the cost of the room.

“Alright, let’s go.” Elizabeth then took me to the elevator. I didn’t really like elevators because they threw off my center of balance.

“What floor are we going to?”

“114.” My face paled, why do bad things always have to happen to me.

*****

I was in my room right now. The apartments were very simple but still nice. Ours had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and lastly a lounge room with a kitchen on the other side.

Elizabeth was in the other room while the one I was in was mine. Elizabeth had also previously informed me that the boys were in the apartment over and their layout was exactly the same.

“Crystal, what do you want for dinner? We start work tomorrow as well.” Elizabeth had called out to me from her bedroom. I headed over towards her room only to see her sprawled out over her bed.

“Uhh, maybe Yakisoba? Tonkatsu?”

“Huh? Oh, right. You’re Japanese, aren’t you?”

“Yeah?”

“I have no idea how to cook any Japanese dishes! I’m American! Tonight I’ll show you the delicacies of American cuisine.” At this point, Elizabeth had a wickedly evil smile on her face.

“Let’s go shopping, Crystal.” I had no choice but to accept.

“Alright…”

***Perspective Change***

It was 5:00 PM and I still hadn’t landed a job anywhere. I’m screwed. Just what the hell am I supposed to do?

“Hey Mister!” A little boy had called out to me, what did he need?

“What.” I called out in the most flat and emotionless voice possible to deter him. The boy instinctively backed away before a smile returned to his face.

“Are you alright? You look gloomy.”

“I’m perfectly fine kid, now scram.” The kid was starting to piss me off. He clearly didn’t care about me at all, so he must have had some hidden motives.

“Huh? Why? What did I do?” My face scrunches up a little but because the kid had outsmarted me, he really hadn’t done anything wrong.

“You were born.” The kid pretended like it was the deepest cut he had ever received. Judging by his age, it was probably just a paper cut.

“That’s harsh, mister…” He was tearing up at the eyes and everyone from nearby was staring at me with hostile eyes.

Notice!

For doing something shameful, your reputation has dropped by 6!

(A/N: When a stat or skill is 0 or neutral, it doesn’t show up at all on the stat page. Reputation will show up now.)

Fffuckkk! I needed to quickly salvage the situation. What can I do? Uhh.. Fuck… I grab the boy and bring him into a tight embrace. His eyes light up and devilish smile appears on his face, something only I can see.

Everyone around us that was previously emitting an aura of hate is smiling and I can hear ‘Aww!’ noises coming from some women. I fucking hate being in the spotlight.

Notice!

For showing positive actions, your reputation has went up by 7!

A wave of relief washes over me and I let go of the boy. At this point I have nothing else to do with the boy and crowd and simply walk away, back towards the apartments. The truth was that I was lost, but I had previously been to the apartments so I could simply bring up the location on my mini-map, easy.

******

Walking into the Apartment building, I begin walking towards the elevator to head back to my room so that I could begin getting a meal ready so my character didn’t starve to death.

*psshed*

The elevator doors open and I can hear some girls laughing together. It was Crystal and Elizabeth.

“Charlie?!?” Crystal had jumped back a little bit and the elevator doors had starting closing again. Elizabeth put out her hand and stopped it from closing so that they could get out of the elevator.

“Hey Charlie, how’d it go?” Elizabeth had begun speaking to me and asked me about what I could only presume was the job hunting.

“Terrible.”

“Oh, don’t give up though. You’ll find something for sure. Why don’t you call some of your contacts?”

“No, no. I don’t want to bother them.” I had covered up that I was secretly just too nervous to call them. I had received many contacts from the tutorial for what I assumed was my hard-work and effort.

“Charlie, why don’t you just come work with us? I’m sure you’d like it a lot.” Crystal had a innocent smile on her face but beneath it I could tell she just wanted to make me crawl under my skin.

“No, I’m good. I’d ruin your reputation, trust me.”

“Alright, I suppose.”

“Where are you girls going, anyway?”

“Shopping!” Elizabeth had called out almost too enthusiastically.

“Oh, I was going to go shopping soon. My apartment’s basically empty.” At my words, Crystal’s eyes had brightened with a spark.

“Why don’t you come with us then?” I didn’t have any problem with it and it was probably better of if I did, since I had no idea where any supermarkets actually were.

“Uhh, sure. Why not?” I added a question that didn’t need to be answered in an attempt to lighten up the mood slightly. It seemed to have worked.

“Let’s go then.”

With that, we had all begun walking outside of the apartments, once again.

***Perspective Change***

Elizabeth had sent some coordinates to Charlie as we left so that he could find his way every time after this if we weren’t with him. Seeing Charlie after so long was good because I hadn’t actually seen him since I had quickly logged out from embarrassment.

Charlie was standing off to the side of the path with me beside him, Elizabeth being beside me.

“Charlie, just how many places did you apply at?” He looks at me before showing me some upset eyes. I could tell that he wasn’t that happy about it.

Charlie lifts up his hands and shows 4 fingers.

“You applied at four places?” Charlie seems to jump a little bit. He shakes his head.

“No, 40.” I see him look down dejectedly and I can tell that he really wasn’t happy.

“Oh. Why don’t you just start your own business?” Charlie looks up at me blankly for a second. All of the sudden his eyes light up like a Christmas tree.

“You’re fucking right!” Charlie stops talking from this point on-wards and simply looks deep in thought.

All of the sudden a display of light appeared in front of us. The light started forming into the shape of short person. After a few seconds a little girl was standing in front of us. I look at Elizabeth and she shakes her head, apparently also confused. At that moment we both turned and looked at Charlie then back towards the little girl. It was now evident that she was definitely looking at him.

“Charlie!” The girl suddenly called out and leaped at him. I watch Charlie suddenly at an inhuman speed dodge her leap which I was assuming was supposed to become a hug of sorts. The girl went flying past him and face planted in the ground. She stopped moving and it had appeared that she had died.

Charlie let out a sigh and started approaching her. He didn’t look too thrilled but he certainly knew who she was. He reached out to her and started lifting her up only to have her literally teleport into a hug around him. His face dropped at the sudden attack.

“Charlie! I was busy~”

“Now you show up…” Charlie sighed but then shrugged it off as we directed looks towards him.

“Sorry I took so long! Some stuff came up!” The little girl had just apologised and we were confused. She was most likely around 15 or so years old. How could Charlie even know her? Were they related?

“Charlotte, do you really need to jump on me?” Charlie was really not pleased.

“Yes!” I guess he isn’t a lolicon? I am relieved because it would be terrifying if he was.

“Are you going to let go of me?” Charlie seemed to get slightly more irritated. Was he really that against children?

“No.” The girl that Charlie had called Charlotte had pouted like she was hurt and upset.

“Fine…” Charlie had given up and simply let her climb around on him. Charlotte then proceeded around to his back and sat on his shoulders. It reminded me of a father and daughter.

“So this is outside, huh?” Charlotte had just said something weird that I couldn’t understand. I look over towards Elizabeth and she also looks puzzled. Looking over towards Charlie, it looked like he was about to explain.

“Crystal, Elizabeth, this is Charlotte.” A simple introduction.. Okay.

“Haii Charlotte! I’m Elizabeth! You’re so cute!” Charlotte started nudging around Charlie’s head in an attempt to get away from the woman that had called her cute. She didn’t seem to like it at all. I guess I should introduce myself too,

“Hello Charlotte. I’m Crystal, Charlie’s friend.”

“Nice to meet you Crystal~” At my introduction, Charlotte had beamed a wide smile. She also seemed to like me a lot more than Elizabeth. Elizabeth had put on a defeated face.

“Charlotte is an assistant A.I, 3314 or something.” She’s an A.I? But she seemed so real…

“Really?” I asked just to confirm if he was actually telling the truth.

“Yes! This is my first time outside! It’s nice~” It was Charlotte that had answered.

“This is hardly outside, you should see real nature! This is a big city.” Elizabeth had suddenly re-joined the conversation and explained that this was hardly outside.

“Is it? I don’t really know anything…” Charlotte had a sad expression on her face. Nice going Elizabeth.

“That’s enough, we really need to go shopping, don’t we?” Charlie had intervened. Apparently he didn’t seem happy about her sudden appearance. I’d have to ask him about it later.

***Perspective Change***

“Charlie~!”

“Yeah?”

“What’s shopping?”

“You don’t know what shopping is?”

“No?”

“Do you know what food is?”

“Yes?”

“Do you know why people eat food?” What was Charlie getting at? I was confused.

“Yeah? So that they don’t die.”

“Exactly, now how do you suppose you get food?” What does he mean?

“Like this?” I summon a sandwich out of thin air to show what I mean. Everyone suddenly stops talking, “What’s wrong?”

“How did you get food?” Charlie had suddenly asked me while looking confused. All the others were also looking at me.

“I spawned it?” I answered while putting my pointer finger at the corner of my mouth. I then proceed to eat the sandwich.

“How did you spawn it?!?”

“You mean that you can’t spawn things?”

“No? Is it an assistant command?”

“Maybe?” I wasn’t really sure. I thought anyone could do the same things as me.

“What do you mean maybe?” It was the girl called Elizabeth that had asked this time.

“I don’t know, alright?” I could feel tears coming on from the barrage of questions. It was overwhelming so I dug my face into Charlie's shoulders from behind.

A hand? What is this amazing feeling? I let out a soft sound expressing pleasure.

“Uuu..”

Looking around I see that Charlie had put his hand on my head. It was amazing. I can’t stop my cheeks going red as he keeps patting my head to comfort me.

“It’s okay.”

“Charlotte, you go to the shops to buy the food. You’re just special and don’t need to go the shops.” Charlie said I’m special… I smile and blush uncontrollably. It’s too much. I stuff my face back into his shoulder so no one can see. It’s too embarrassing.

“Sp-special…”

***Perspective Change***

It was really quite inconvenient that she had showed up but it was fine in the end. I did kind of promise her that I’d show her the world, in a way…

Currently I was in a supermarket with Elizabeth, Crystal and of course Charlotte - who was still on my back -. We had started looking for different things to purchase but every time I walked past anything Charlotte would inquire about what it was. In the end I just bought simple things like bread, milk, cheese, sugar, salt, assorted meat, and of course, instant noodles. I didn’t really need anything else because Leaf and I weren’t really planning on sharing food, although, we probably would in the end.

As far as I was aware, Leaf and Elizabeth were both Americans. I had my suspicions on what kind of Asian Crystal was, but I had settled on Japanese. Walking through the isles, Charlotte had once again asked about what something was, I looked towards what she had pointed at, only to have my eyes widen and a smile appear on my face.

“VEGEMITE!” It that salty black shit that any true Australian just adored. Charlotte had jumped back from my sudden shout and countless other shoppers had looked towards me. I was going to have so much fun with this salty jar of black death.

The girls had settled on getting lots of different types of meat and sauces and additionally, the basics, just like me. They even had hot dogs. Elizabeth likes them that much? I couldn’t really see Crystal eating something that was so Americanized.

“Are you guys ready?” It was a simple question.

“Almost, we just need to pay for it all now.”

“Same.”

“Pay for it?” Charlotte had suddenly asked me what I meant.

“Spend our money to make them our own.”

“Ahh, okay~”

“Can I have this Charlie?” Charlotte had suddenly grabbed a candy bar off of the area near the cash register.

“Ehh…” I let out an irritated groan but give in because I don’t want to upset her. It was her first time in the ‘real world’ afterall, “Fine…”

“Yayyy~”

Placing all the stuff I was buying on to the Supermarket Conveyor Belt, I grab my wallet.

Notice!

Balance: $1420

Huh? That isn’t right… I check my money again.

Notice!

Balance: $1420

What the fuck is going on? I should have $2650! My mind starts racing through the entire day trying to figure out where my money had went. The boy! It was that boy that kept talking to me on the street! When he hugged me and pick-pocketed me…

“THAT LITTLE SHIT!” I yell out, to no one in particular.

***End of Chapter***

Thanks for reading everyone! I actually got a bit of writer's block so it took a while to write all this. I was planning on making it around 5k words. Sorry to disappoint :c If you have any questions then feel free to ask!