Royal Realm

A large divot in the forest had begun to develop, as hours of magical logging resulted in stacks upon stacks of logs piling up.

"Good work, young master! This should be plenty of wood for the rest of our current projects."

Both the stable and the garden fence would need wood, so rather than going back and forth between gathering and building I decided to collect it all at once. Vines to secure the joints of the stable and the fence still needed to be collected, along with crops for the garden, but a glance at the real world clock revealed that my time in Royal Realm was long since spent for the night.

| 12:53 AM |

~Sh*t, and I have to be in early to work tomorrow…~

"Daen, please lead the girls in procuring basic crops from the area during my absence - don't stray into any monster-occupied regions."

"Yes, young master. We will eagerly await your return."

Daen bowed to me, glancing over towards the maids, who had already been looking around for herbs during my logging spree. Satisfied, I began the logout sequence, and watched the virtual world fade from my view.

The headset retracted once more, and I blinked a few times, the harsh artificial light of my room a stark contrast to the natural sun of the Royal Realm. I stood, bending backwards to stretch my back. Despite being unconscious during my time in the game, my physical body was still present in the real world, so muscles growing stiff after being stationary for so long was inevitable.

~I'll check the group quick, but then I'd better get to sleep quick…~

I scrolled through unread messages in my gaming chat from earlier. Several of the unread messages were remnants of the outrage at my apparent luck before, so I skipped forward by a hundred or so messages, looking out for mentions of my username.

| TiredGod | > @DeepFreeze You never added me in-game, I added DeepFreeze but it was some random guy. Doing basic adventurer's guild quests, just add me whenever.

~Sh*t, right, yeah…~

I resolved to remember to add him the following day, not that he would be able to make it down to me immediately - the teleportation circle had sent me far South of the city, easily several days' ride by horse.

| VeryAngryChicken | > TELL @DEEPFREEZE TO START INVESTING IN A TELEPORTATION FORMATION SO WE CAN COME BUILD A MA.S.SIVE EMPIRE AND KILL SOME SH*T

| MajorDomo | > +1

| Okkult | > +2

| Mr. Mundane | > +3

| TallTale | > +4

| TiredGod | > .+5

…

Well, first of all, I wasn't even sure what the requirements for a teleportation circle were - that would be a ways away, if it even happened at all in the near future. Second of all, how did VeryAngryChicken even @ me with his caps lock typing? It was supposed to be case s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e… I shook my head. I had learned long ago that questioning the VeryAngryChicken would only be met with embarrassment or total disaster, if not both. The best course of action was simply to accept its existence as a fact and move on.

Acknowledging that they were all most likely still in-game, I began my process of going to bed for the night, taking care of various personal hygiene necessities before finally slipping under the covers. I closed my eyes, and the dull hum of the VR machine behind me became somehow soothing, barely noticeable but definitely present. Sleep took me quickly, and my consciousness faded.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Streaks of light from the morning sun pierced through my window, drawing lines across my face between the breaks in the window shade. My eyes opened just a crack, head tilting sideways to check the time.

6:31 AM

I scrambled to my feet, throwing on a random t-shirt and a pair of jeans from my dresser. My normal work time was 8:00 AM, so the "early" that I promised my bosses would imply 7:00. In otherwards, I really should have been ready to head out. I raced into the kitchen, not pausing to greet my startled mother, instead grabbing a yogurt from the fridge, along with a disposable spoon and a bottle of orange juice. Rudimentary breakfast ow in hand, I dashed for the door, headed straight for work.

"Bye Mom!"

"Bye Sammy!"

The brief exchange between us was all I had time for, so it would have to be enough - getting chewed out by my boss for being late was bad enough as-is, but when that boss is a lawyer reprimands became exponentially worse. I had only been late to work once before, and the stern talking-to I received for that on its own was something that I would never forget. Instead of tempting Lady Luck to make a fool of me, I made an attempt to get to work early, despite my late start.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I pushed through the revolving glass door, glancing at the time once more for a final check.

6:58 AM

It was a good thing I left early. A civil rights protest had covered the nearby streets connecting my home with my workplace, resulting in a massive detour that nearly made me late - but all was well. I commenced my normal daily activities, starting off by troubleshooting the conference room projector that I had ignored the day before. Like most of the issues I faced during my current job, the projector had nothing wrong with it - a simple reboot of the attached computer solved whatever problem Mr. James had been facing. The rest of my duties proceeded in a similar fashion, but despite being done within an hour of arriving, I was stuck hanging around and doing odd jobs for the rest of the day.

~Eventually I'll return to Royal Realm...~