It was early morning when Leo stirred. His body shifted beneath the linen blanket. His eyes blinked open. A faint breeze slipped through the shutters, stirring the curtain just enough to cast flickering shadows across the floor.
He stared at the ceiling, still hazy, but a strange sense of rhythm settled over him. Not the rhythm of this world, but Earth's. Like his old body clock had snuck in while he slept.
Back home, he always woke up early. That sacred window of time before the rest of the world intruded. It used to be for games—checking in, collecting offline rewards. And anime. Always one episode at a time.
"I can't let society and its problems beat me," he remembered saying more than once, laughing into the quiet of his room. News. People. Noise. It never ended.
His gaze drifted to Amanda. Still fast asleep beside him. Chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm. One hand tucked under the bundle of clothes they bought yesterday.
She looked peaceful.
Leo smiled quietly and turned away. Time to focus.
He opened the interface.
A rush of notifications spilled across the display like digital confetti.
About 90+ new messages.
He chuckled. "Just like old times." The screen kept stacking icons, a nostalgic mess. "Offline rewards piling up again, huh?" He tapped Receive all items, watching the familiar red and blue potion icons fill his inventory.
"Thirty red, thirty blue," he read, nodding. "Not bad. These'll come in handy."
But something didn't add up.
He frowned slightly, eye scanning the message count. Over 90 messages... but only 30 days' worth of potions?
A sigh slipped through his nose. "Rewards expire after 30 days," he muttered. "Sixty days down the drain…"
Still. Better than nothing.
He quickly hit Delete all read messages. The screen cleared.
Then he noticed something glowing.
A pulsing circle on the bottom-left corner of the screen. He tapped it.
Four icons stacked upward: crossed swords, a golden crown (locked), a gift box, and a shopping cart (also locked). The first looked familiar. Quests.
He tapped it.
A window slid open with a clean header: VIP Quests. There were two tabs: Daily and Weekly.
Under Daily:
Hunting Quest: Kill 100 slimesMaterial Hunting: Obtain 50 wolf fangsProgressive Quest: Kill 100 slimes
He skimmed the first two—standard stuff. Obvious rewards.
Games from his past still acted as oracles here. That wasn't just a hunch anymore, it was practically a cheat sheet.
On Earth, software testing uses oracles. Ways to confirm if an output was correct. Here, Leo had his own: every system, menu, and function mirrored what he'd already seen before.
With that confidence, he tapped on the Progressive Quest.
Progressive Quest I
Requirement: Kill 100 slimes
Rewards: EXP, unlock Progressive Quest II
His eyes lit up slightly.
"A chain quest…" he whispered. "Nice."
He swiped to the Weekly tab next.
Kill 1,000 slimesKill 1,000 wolvesComplete 5 guild questsClear 2 non-VIP dungeons (1/2 complete)
Real content.
Each line meant something now. Not just achievements or progress. A pathway to real strength.
Every slime. Every wolf. One step closer…
He didn't need to be a hero. But he needed to be strong enough.
Amanda shifted beside him.
Her eyes blinked open, unfocused and bleary. He turned to her with a warm smile.
"Morning."
She mumbled something unintelligible, her voice a fuzzy murmur. She sat up slowly, hair slightly messy, half-asleep.
Leo chuckled. "Take your time."
She groaned softly and stumbled her way into the bathroom. The sound of water running followed moments later.
He returned his attention to the quest menu, tapping the Kill 100 slimes entry.
A new window popped up.
Move to the Slime Sanctuary?
His eyes widened. "Teleportation?"
His finger hovered.
Where was it? How far? Could he come back right away?
He glanced toward the bathroom. I should tell Amanda first…
But curiosity won.
He tapped Yes, then flinched.
[System Notification] You are not yet subscribed to the VIP Services.
A new prompt replaced the error:
[System Notification] Activate VIP Services?
He exhaled.
Right. That was a feature.
He tapped Yes.
[System Notification] Subscribe to VIP Services for 1 month for 100,000 gold coins?
That gave him pause. But then again… the benefits. Teleportation alone was game-breaking. That meant he could skip half the travel time most adventurers struggled with.
He hit Confirm.
The notifications rolled in fast:
[System Notification] Successfully subscribed to VIP Services for 1 month!
[System Notification] Professional Services Activated!
[System Notification] Storage Service Activated!
[System Notification] VIP Dungeon Unlocked!
[System Notification] Warp Service Enabled!
[System Notification] VIP Store Access Granted!
[System Notification] 1,000 VIP Coins Received!
His heart thudded. It felt like opening a top-tier loot box.
He barely contained his grin as he opened the new menus, options now glowing with soft gold borders.
But then… a pause.
Even here… VIP. Premium tiers. Special access.
The rich still got richer. The idea lingered for a second before he shook it off.
Back to the list.
Leo tapped the golden crown icon, now unlocked.
VIP Services
There was only one item inside:
Personal Assistant: Aether
He blinked.
"…Okay. Didn't expect that."
He tapped it.
Personal Assistant: Aether
Name: Aether (customizable)
Gender: Select upon summoning
Appearance: Customizable
Functions:
Comprehensive World KnowledgeTask ManagementAdvisory RoleInstruction Processing
Leo skimmed, then doubled back.
"Instruction processing?"
He tapped it.
[System Notification] Aether could receive and execute complex instructions.
Not just a menu navigator. Real-time support. Analysis. Guidance.
"Just like AI back home," he whispered. "Only better."
Then he caught the word: Summon.
Not just interface-level assistance. Aether would appear. Tangible. Visible. Like an actual companion.
He felt a twitch in his fingertips, itching to try it.
But then—
Drip. Drip.
Wet footsteps. Bare feet against wood.