Back to the Village
After a long sprint through the forest driven by the urgency of escaping the beasts that were beginning to emerge from their caves as night fell the four finally crossed the wooden palisade that marked the entrance to the small village. Their breathing was still heavy except for Lua, who remained as serene as ever"as they began unloading their backpacks, stuffed to the brim with leaves and stems.
Lua stopped by a stone fountain, her gaze fixed on the horizon. She raised her eyebrows slightly, as if evaluating something unseen. Then, without a word, she crouched down and began to take out the vegetables she had collected, placing them on the ground with meticulous precision. Her expression remained neutral, as usual, but her movements were so fluid and deliberate that they carried a subtle sense of pride.
Loli, Bert, and Sig immediately copied her, and soon a mountain of vegetables of every color and shape had risen in the center of the village: thick roots, aromatic leaves, tubers that gleamed as if still holding the forest's magic.
"Now they'll be able to plant them and build farms for cooking," Lua said calmly. She didn't offer it as a suggestion, but as an absolute statement, almost a natural law of the world.
"Wait! Loli, what did the lion give you?" Sig asked, completely forgetting about the vegetables, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Lua frowned ever so slightly. Not because the question was inappropriate, but because, to her, nothing could be more important than freshly gathered food.
Loli, feeling the expectant gazes of her friends, rummaged through her bag. Her fingers trembled slightly, still overwhelmed by everything they had experienced. Then, one by one, she began pulling out the items:
20 medium-quality hides
50 kg of lion meat
1 Cooking Recipe: Lion Stew
1 Puppeteer Recipe: Small Spider
1 Profession Recipe: Farmer
7 high-quality claws
2 high-quality scales
1 Spellbook: Tornado
1 Spellbook: Wind Wall
1 medium-quality cooking knife
2 demonic beast cores
The three of them stared, mouths agape, at the final list. But what truly shocked them were the two beast cores. Finding one was rare enough... but two?
"Well, it was a mid-tier beast and a zone boss," Lua commented with her usual serenity, as if there was nothing extraordinary about it. Her eyes passed over each of them, carefully reading their stunned expressions.
"Mid-tier?" Bert repeated, confused.
Lua nodded, unfazed.
"Yes. In fact, it was one of the weakest of that tier. Don't you remember what I said? The truly powerful beasts are on the other side of the forest. They're the ones keeping humans and demons from crossing."
"Right…" Bert murmured, more serious now. "So… these were the weak ones."
But his eyes, fixed on the two mana cores, gleamed with determination. They were real. They could be earned. And that changed everything.
Loli looked at them, her excitement barely contained. Her fingers clutched the cores like they were tiny stars.
"We can bring Grandpa with us!" she exclaimed with a radiant smile. The hope in her voice was so intense that for a moment, they all forgot their exhaustion.
Sig and Bert nodded, swept up by her enthusiasm.
"Not just that. We've got two new profession recipes," Sig added, visibly more intrigued by that detail. His eyes locked on the Puppeteer recipe, and his imagination ran wild. According to Lua, it was one of the rarest and most difficult classes to obtain"but mastering puppets… that sounded like something made for him.
"Let's go get Grandpa. I want to show him this world. Even at night… it's amazing. I'm sure he'll love it," said Loli sweetly.
"Yeah, let's all go. While we're at it, we can check how much energy we have left to keep exploring," Bert added with a grin.
The three of them held hands and, with a soft pop, vanished after confirming the system logout.
Lua was left alone in the middle of the village, in silence.
Her cheeks puffed out slightly, forming a faint, almost imperceptible pout. She didn't say it, but she had really hoped someone would cook the stew. Especially now that they had a new recipe that sounded even more delicious. But they'd just left.
Without a word, she lowered her gaze. A round potato, lying near the edge of the vegetable pile, rested by her foot. With a small, almost resigned gesture, she gently kicked it, sending it rolling a few meters before sitting down on a stone.
The night was quiet. And Lua, without showing it, waited. Because she knew that when they returned… someone would have to cook.
…
As soon as the game environment vanished, Loli opened her eyes and jumped to her feet. She wasted no time"her first thought was of her grandfather. She ran to the dining room, and as she opened the door, a golden shaft of light pierced through like an arrow, forcing her to squint.
"Eh? It's already morning?" she murmured, rubbing her forehead. "How long were we playing…?"
They had started around two in the afternoon, but in that world, time passed strangely. At eight at night, they went to get Sig. Then, after securing the mana vials, they logged back in past midnight. Between exploration, hunting, cooking in the village, and their nighttime stroll with Lua, they had easily spent over ten hours inside the game. In real life, at least five had passed.
"I'm not sleepy," Sig commented, stretching. "In other games, after a few hours, you'd get a headache."
"It's different now," Bert replied, in his usual calm tone. "The magical virtual reality system keeps our bodies resting, as if we were asleep. Only the mind enters the game."
"So… could we play forever without sleeping?" Sig asked, a spark of excitement in his eyes.
"Of course not. Even if the body doesn't get tired, the mind does. And our minds are what's inside the game. We'll still need rest… even in the game. We just don't feel it now because of the excitement of the first day, but later on… it'll be necessary."
"I see… that makes sense," Sig admitted.
"If it's already five, Grandpa must be waking up," Loli said, a renewed smile on her face. "Let's go invite him."
She knew her grandfather had the habits of a different era. He would go to bed at sunset and wake before the sun rose. She walked quietly to his bedroom door and opened it gently.
There he was. Sitting in his wheelchair by the open window, bathed in the soft light of dawn, gazing at the sky as if reading its secrets. The cool breeze moved his gray hair slowly, and a cup of tea was gently steaming on the small table beside him.
"Grandpa…" Loli called tenderly.
The man slowly turned his head. His timeworn face lit up when he saw his grandchildren.
"Strange to see you all up this early. Did the world end and no one told me?" he said with a teasing grin, though his eyes were full of warmth.
"We want you to play with us," Loli said with a big, almost childlike smile.
"A game? I'm too old for that nonsense, girl." He waved a hand as if brushing the idea away. "You all go play. I'll stick to enjoying the sun and the silence."
"But this isn't just any game," Bert chimed in with a smile. "It's magical virtual reality."
The old man raised an eyebrow.
"Mmm. One of those modern contraptions that suck more energy than a thunderstorm. I'll pass."
"Come on, Grandpa, this one's special. It doesn't use much power, and it's easier than walking to the garden," Loli insisted sweetly.
The old man looked at each of them in turn, as if weighing their intentions. Finally, he sighed.
"And why do you want to drag this old man into your fantasy world?"
"To share it with you," Sig answered bluntly. "And if you don't like it, we promise we won't insist anymore."
"Yes, please," Loli added, with that look that always melted his resistance.
The old man let out a long, deep sigh"resigned, but amused.
"Fuuu… I suppose you won't stop until I try it, huh?"
The three of them shook their heads at the same time, just like when they were little and begged him to read the same story for the tenth time.
"Fine. Let's see what's so special about your little game," he said, turning his chair as Loli rushed to push it down the hallway.
But when they reached the room with their computers, they realized there was a problem.
"There's no computer for Grandpa…" Sig murmured, looking around.
Gilbert, who had followed behind, looked up with resolve.
"I'll go get the one from our parents' room."
The words hung in the air like a stone falling into a still lake.
That room had been closed for five years.
Both his and Sig's parents had been forcibly chosen for an exploration mission to an unknown planet. A random selection by the elves, who preferred sacrificing humans over risking their own. They never came back.
Grandpa lowered his gaze. His expression didn't change, but the silence after his sigh spoke louder than words.
"Yes… go ahead and bring it," he finally murmured. His voice was calm, but there was a slight crack beneath the surface.
Gilbert nodded and walked away. Sig felt a tightness in his chest, while Loli, shaking her head as if to chase away a bad dream, brought her smile back.
"Come on, Grandpa! You're going to love this game. You just have to see it for yourself."
A few minutes later, Gilbert returned with a slightly dusty but intact computer. They searched for a place to set it up, but space was limited.
"You could've just taken me straight to my room and saved me from being carted around like a piece of luggage," the old man joked with a crooked smile.
Everyone chuckled awkwardly. So they returned to Grandpa's room and set up the equipment on a desk beside his bed.
From her own computer, Loli sent the invitation.
"Just click there, Grandpa. We'll log in right after you," Gilbert said, quickly double-checking everything before rushing back to join the others.
The old man sat in silence for a few seconds. He looked at the screen with suspicion, then at the door, as if expecting something to stop him. But nothing did.
"Let's see what you've cooked up this time…" he muttered.
And with a firm finger, he clicked the icon.
A blue light lit up before his eyes, growing until it completely surrounded him. In that moment, his thoughts weren't on computers or games… but on forgotten memories. On what he had lost"and maybe, just maybe… on what he might still be able to find.
His body remained still.
But his mind was crossing the threshold into a new world.