"Adrian, this dungeon exploration was jointly organized by the Government and the Cross Guild. By offering that item, you'd be helping the country, and many other people you know."
Davis, the party's exploration leader, stood tall and calm, but his voice carried an edge.
"Hand it over, and you'll be rewarded for it."
I tightened my grip on the vial in my hands. "But I want to upgrade myself too." This thing could change everything for me.. I thought.
Davis's eyes turned cold for a fleeting second before the warmth returned to them instantly withoutme noticing it . Too smooth, Too fake.
"Alright," he sighed shaking his head then questioned me with a gentlemanly smile looking at me. "How about this, you come with me. I'll let you choose an item from the guild storage treasury. Something that'll help you more in exchange for the Mythical item you have. Sound fair?"
I hesitated, this was a good choice I was a weak solo player who joined the game very late. Keeping such item with me was dangerous if known by other I would be killed. Now that the game has merged with the real world, it was akin to real death. Exchanging this item for something good that can help me increase my level fast was a good option for me.
But the problem was I wasn't a member of the Cross Guild, only guild members can know and enter the guild bases. Other won't even be able to see the base even after Standing right before it due to the game protection mechanism. Soo entering their base was out of the question.
Davis offered a workaround seeing me in dilema. "We'll do the exchange at my place. In Varmor Kingdom's capital. What do you say?" he asked.
I nodded back to him, as this was possible to do.
Seeing this he tossed me a return stone linked to Varmor and another appeared in his own hands. Giving me a smile he activated the return stone in his hands, disappearing before my eyes.
With a mix of doubt, anticipation and greed brewing in my chest, I followed him activating the return stone in my hands.
A big mistake. I tell you.
I arrived just outside Varmor but never even made it into the city.
Seeing me arrive Davis struck the moment I teleported. Without hesitation, without a word he attacked me with a sword. I was caught unprepared under his attack. The vial was knocked from my hands during the struggle, shattering it's content spillin all over me. A faint green glow flickered, then vanished.
Mythical item... the Tears of the Goddess of Time, Gone.
He killed me like it meant nothing. Before my eyes closed all I saw was Davis cursing getting angry and frustrated about how can a Mythical item break so easily.
I died with rage in my heart due to being killed but also happy that the item was destroyed.
But fate wasn't done with me.
December 25, 4028.
I woke up, gasping for air.
The ceiling above me wasn't the crumbling stone of a dungeon... it was my old room neat, a little messy, with posters on the wall and the familiar hum of city life beyond the window. The same room that was destroyed during the riots a few months after Eternal's launch due to financial crash.
I sat up slowly, heart pounding.
This can't be…
I scrambled to the desk and tapped my old holotab. The screen flickered to life.
Date: 4028-12-25.
My breath caught.
Six days before Eternal launches. Six days before everything begins.
I stood by the window, staring at the skyline of Miami, the artificial lights glowing under the pale winter sky. The same view I used to see every day… before the world began to change.
This time, I knew what was coming.
And this time, I wouldn't be a fool.
I clenched my fists.
Davis Cook.
The name alone filled me with a bitter taste. I replayed that moment in my mind—his fake smile, the false promise, the cold stab of betrayal outside Varmor. The way he tried to snatch the Tears of the Goddess of Time from me, just so he could have it for himself. He didn't do it for the Cross Guild. He did it for himself.
I knew the truth now.
The Cross Guild had no knowledge of what he did. In fact, none of the Six Great Guilds were bad. They were genuine, at least on the surface worked with the governments, to bring order to the chaos that would come after Eternal's release.
Yes! the governments of various countries seem to have prior knowledge of what Eternal may cause on Earth, they even had officials playing the game and even actively promoted the game. I was a fool before who tried to focus on my low earning job instead.
But like anything with power… they had their own rot hidden beneath the gold. Every system does. I can't blame the whole for the sin of one. There were many guilds in Eternal but only six Guilds came out on top stabilizing the situation when the game came to reality.
But Davis? He would pay.
This time… I'll enter the game early. I'll get stronger faster. I'll take every advantage I can. Because I know what's coming.
I looked at my handsome reflection in the window, my eyes sharper, heart colder than the boy who died that day.
And this time, I won't die like a fool.
But I couldn't just ignore reality.
Even if I knew the secrets of Eternal, even if I had six days of prep time, the truth remained. I needed money. In the early stages, every little advantage counted. And advantage... cost credits.
In my past life, I was broke. Slaving away at my soul-sucking office job, grinding out just enough to buy the cheapest entry-level virtual reality pod. I slept less, ate poorly, and convinced myself I was doing the "right" thing by staying humble and hardworking.
What did that get me?
Betrayed. Killed. Forgotten.
I sighed, my fingers tightening into a fist.
Then I remembered her, 'Aubrey Carter.'
The company owner where I worked. My boss's boss. A rich and ridiculously hot woman in her thirties, definitely not the old hag cougar type people joked about, but the kind that looked like she walked out of a fantasy gacha banner: curves, class, confidence. The type of woman who didn't just turn heads, she owned the room the moment she walked in.
Back then, she asked me to be her companion. Promised me comfort, luxury, and yes also herself. All wrapped up with a smile that could ruin kingdoms.
And like an idiot, I said no. Said I wanted to build something for myself.
What a joke.
Now, with the memory of death still fresh and the world reset before me, it didn't seem like such a bad deal to accept her proposal. Comfort, resources, and more importantly a high-end gaming pod with maxed-out neural sync, real-time feedback, and an AI assistant.
Thinking it through for a whole five seconds, I grabbed my old phone lying beside the bed.
No hesitation this time.
Let's change the future... with a single call.