Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Daily life
Derek stood up from the dead boar. After he stood up some vines sprung up from the ground and covered up the body of the boar. There was a rustling sound and someone appeared in front of him. The person in question was a man who looked to be in his twenties with blue hair and some sort of a mark in the shape of a leaf on the middle of his forehead. He looked a bit like Derek but carried a friendlier expression.
Derek grinned widely when he saw the man. The man covered his nose with a handkerchief. "Why did you kill him if he's who we think he is?" he asked. Derek walked to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Don't be naïve, brother." Derek said. "His death was necessary for his rebirth." The man shoved him away and he landed on his butt. "Don't touch me after sitting on that dirty animal, you pig!" although he looked younger than Derek he was taller and had a more mature air to him. He stared quietly at Derek for a while and walked away. Derek immediately stood up and shouted after him. "Don't leave your big brother behind, you idiot!" But he was long gone. Derek smiled and muttered to himself.
"And now he will be reborn." soon he also left the forest and the other corpses were buried by the vines.
***
Ba-dump. Troy slowly opened his eyes. His head was throbbing with immense pain. Everything felt hazy to him. 'What time is it and how long has it been?' A bunch of questions came to him when he remembered what had happened. He tried getting up from the sweat stained rug. Ba-dump. He felt a sudden throb and sat on the ground again.
Troy still didn't get how dying in-game had messed him up so much. The reviews had never mentioned anything about such a thing. It didn't even seem possible for such a thing to mess him up to this extent. He checked the golden Rolex on his hand and tried to make out the time but his eyes were still blurry. He sighed and dropped his hand. There were birds chirping so he figured it was the early hours of day. The things he had to do only today just made everything more difficult. He had to submit a report which he was supposed to start yesterday and he promised his mother he would visit her at the beach house.
After several minutes of staying like this, Troy felt the pain had left a bit for him to take a cold shower. His whole body felt hot as if he was being burnt alive. Although he didn't know how that felt like, he was sure it was not very different from how he felt now. As, he stood up his eyes fell on the VR helmet which had fallen on the ground. He slowly picked it up and studied it. There was a red light blinking on the side indicating it was still on. He turned the power button down and the light went. After placing the helmet on a table, he left the room switching the blue LED lights off and locking the door. He probably wouldn't come back here in a long time.
***
At work, Troy shifted uncomfortably on his seat. His head still throbbed and his chest still hurt. Luckily, he had managed to finish the report so his cranky boss didn't get the chance to shout at him. There was a knock on his office door. "Can I speak with you for a moment, sir?" After hearing the sweet sounding female voice, Troy smiled and spoke, "Come in." The door opened and a beautiful lady walked in. She was in an office suit and had a rosy smile. "Hi, Tiana." Troy said smiling at the lady.
"Sorry for my rude interruption, sir." She said bowing her head. Troy blushed with embarrassment. "It's fine don't worry about it." The lady lifted her head and stared at Troy for a bit and burst out in tears.
"I'm sorry f-for rudely offering those grapes t-to you yesterday." She stammered.
Troy was confused. What grapes was she talking about? Was it what he received yesterday inside the game. From what he remembered he received grapes from someone named Kara the farmer. Oh, so that was it.
"Do you play Terra, Tiana?" Troy asked in genuine shock. He couldn't believe his assistant was the girl he met yesterday inside the game.
"Yes, please." She said with a red nose, "But I promise to stop playing and focus on my job." She bowed her head again. "So please forgive me, sir." Troy was baffled. Why was she apologizing when she had done nothing wrong?
"Don't worry about it." He said standing up from his seat and stretching his hand for a handshake. "Let's all do our job well while leveling up in-game."
She sniffed and studied the hand for a bit. After some time, she shook it and said. "I'll do my best, sir."
After work, Troy went to the beach house where his mother stayed. She had always loved luxurious things. One time when Troy was little she had appeared one day with a porch car even though the family was going through a financial crisis at that time. He knocked on the wooden door and waited for an answer. "Troy is that you?" An elderly female's voice answered. "Yes, Ma."
He tried opening the door and realized it wasn't locked. His mother was wearing an apron and the was the nice smell of something in the oven. he put his lab coat on the clothe rack and gave her a warm hug. Even though she looked a bit young, her voice was like that of a 60 year old woman. "It's nice to see you, Ma." She looked nothing like Troy and had black hair with a grey streak down the middle. Troy had blond hair which fell to his shoulders. She playfully hit Troy in the shoulder. " I know you don't actually miss me." Troy smiled. She was right about that since he visited her almost every week. He sat down on a sofa in the living room and turned his phone off.
After meeting his mother, Troy made a decision. No matter what, he was still going to keep on playing 'Terra'. He had realized it earlier but it seemed his assistant had a bit of an inferiority complex. For her qualifications, she could easily be in Troy's position as the chief technician but she decided to remain a mere assistant. She had even changed her appearance in game although she was very pretty. Troy had wanted to ask why but decided against it.
Everyone had their reasons for playing 'Terra'. Some people played for fun while others played to find love or just for peaceful life like for those who chose to be farmers. That was also another reason why the game had such a high rating. It suited everybody. Players were given the option to have any appearance they imagined or retain their original appearance. Troy had chosen to remain as he was since from many past experiences he knew tall with blond hair and a symmetrical chin was the definition of good looking and luckily, he fit that description.
Staring at the VR headset made him want to change his mind but he had decided to keep on playing so he slowly put it on. It was a black helmet with a visor that wasn't see through. He felt the sides and switched it on.
Beep.
*Welcome back, Langreve. The female computer voice said to him when he logged in.
Troy was now standing in the forest he had died in previously. Suddenly there was a ringing sound as countless error signs distorted his view. "What the-?"
*Error in assessing player.
*Reassessment has began.
*All [][][] are doubting player's reassessment.
Ding.
The error signs slowly disappeared from his view and the thought cloud which represented the game's system appeared. Troy was completely shook by what just happened. He couldn't here clearly come of the system's words. It seemed that something had distorted it.
[Player has been assigned a new status]
[Would you like to confirm your status?]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone