"Your Arcane Core Has Shattered, Game over."
Sigh.
"Stupid! It's just stupid."
"No matter how much I try it's impossible, even after spending almost 100k buying credits I still run out of Arcane!"
"How am I supposed to defeat an army of 10¹²⁰ soldiers, that's not possible."
"I should've gone with the Heavenly Demon route, the under-realm has a bigger army…" I sighed while lying in the gaming chair as my eyes naturally found the clock on the wall.
8:47 p.m.
"She'll be here in a few minutes."
I stretched my body and got up.
'Lemme clean a bit and take a bath, I smell like sh##.'
9:06 p.m.
"Alright, I smell better. I hope she brings meat today."
Not long after, the doorbell rang as Safira arrived.
'You're probably wondering who Safira is. Well… you could say she is a close friend who has been taking care of me since I got sick. Bothering my family with this would not be fair, since I haven't visited them for years now.'
"What's on your mind?" asked Safira while moving to the kitchen with the groceries she brought.
"Just hoping you make meat."
She gave me a brief look and smiled.
"I know how much you hate Monday, so I got some high-quality beef, and… mashed potatoes." She held the mashed potatoes box with one hand while making a cheeky, mischievous smile.
"Thank you."
"Now lemme cook in peace and go take your medicine."
"Yes, Mom."
10:12 p.m.
Today seemed more like a romantic dinner than anything: a bottle of wine and two glasses, with beef and mashed potatoes for dinner. We sat opposite each other at a four-seat table; since it was only us, we used the smaller table in the kitchen.
Today was a pivotal day, because the treatment should start showing signs around this month. This new experimental treatment was hellishly expensive too.
"Have you seen the news?"
"What about?"
"Apparently they found the key to improving AI, something about chemical transistors?"
"Well… I doubt it, they have been trying to hype it up a lot since that time they tried calling it SAI."
"I see AI everywhere nowadays, it's so annoying when they use it for programming in Realmrium."
"Yeah, at my work around 40% of my colleagues are AI."
"They will eventually run out of money to finance it all."
"I hope, with how many people use AI nowadays it'll probably take some time."
"People are just lazy…"
The conversation trailed from politics to medicine until we decided to watch a movie, and before we knew it, Safira had to go.
"That was fun, I'll be back tomorrow. And don't expect a big meal, I have paperwork to do for a big case this week."
"Kisses, I'll see you tomorrow Clayton."
"Later Safira, be safe."
After Safira left I finished cleaning and made my way back to the bedroom. Now on my laptop, I logged into Realmrium Online.
11:47 p.m.
I was really tired of the Void Realm mission. Being the only Divine Rank mission, it was literally impossible to complete. No player has been able to, and most of the community basically gave up.
So right now I was trying the new Realm of Stories mission: a Divine Rank mission, open only to the top 10 players on the global leaderboard, launching today, Tuesday.
12:00 a.m.
'You are probably wondering what my number is on the leaderboard. It's 3 right now, but of course I was number one at the peak of me buying credits to boost my character and army.'
'But I'm more pissed than happy right now, this game has so much needless sh## in it.'
'The microtransactions are horrendous, even compared to the slow Arcane accumulation in game, let me not even get started on the stupid prices for the Arcane Cultivation and Breathing Techniques.'
'Basically, this game is an example of what happens when a big corporation buys a community-loved game, that's why most players right now are more focused on the lore and the single player part of the game.'
'Of course, I like the lore too but what I love the most about this game is the ability to show off online, call me whatever but that's what I like the most.'
'My character is Freyrin Lockstar, I created the backstory myself by spending some money and made his start as harsh as possible by making him start at the eastern forsaken continent.'
'But even though my character has one of the most broken builds and all, he still falls short at the end of the Void Realm mission because I run out of Arcane. The reason the mission is impossible is that the Void Army has the ability to stop Arcane regeneration!'
"Notification: new mission available — Realm of Stories."
"Finally, it's here."
"Start mission — Yes or no. Warning, no pause or log out permitted."
"Dammit, I have to pull an all-nighter if I wanna complete this? Does it disappear if I fail or don't complete?"
"Oh well, I have nothing to do tomorrow either way."
Click
"Starting mission…"
Suddenly a sharp pain shot through my body.
"Arghh, what the?!"
My vision started to blur and my body giving up as I fell to the floor.
"My phone…" I tried to reach for the phone but it was on top of the desk.
Seconds passed as my consciousness slowly started fading, and I couldn't stop coughing blood.
'Dammit, I couldn't even play it… so much work just to not even get to spend all the money I made, I couldn't even start a family, I wanted to make up with my family too, so much I could have done… more. Shouldn't have done that to my body, now it's failing me at 28 years old…'
12:21 a.m.