World Online

Jake was reluctant to wake up. His eye lids wouldn\'t open.

But he could hear a noise downstairs. Someone was awake, and he did want to speak with his father.

He finally got the energy to wake up. Looking around, he could see his computer, sleeping at the moment.

After some deliberation, he decided to do something first. He got up and walked over to the computer, stumbling over the pod on the way, and got to the chair.

He logged on to a website that he was quite familiar with. After all, it was a website that was only for the rich and everyone knew about it.

But Jake was going to treat his family for this one. It was going to be worth it.

He looked at the multiple nutrient supplements that were laid for him. If he connected them to the game pods that he bought, he would be able to stay in the game for much longer than the week and a half he stayed the last stretch.

A quick glance to the top of the screen told him the time. He had slept for a staggering fourteen hours.

"When was the last time I was able to comfortably get fourteen hours of sleep?" He chuckled as he thought to himself. The benefits of being your own boss showed themselves now.

He rolled back from the chair and got up, straightening his hair and trying to get those tiny irritating sleep crusts out of his face.

Walking downstairs, he could hear the sound of someone talking. It was his father, Peter, alright. And Peter was either talking to someone in the house, or he was on a call.

When he got to the ground floor, Jake saw that Peter was talking to none other than Michael. Michael as standing there, a frozen stick, while Peter was calmly asking him a few questions.

"Ohhh, $hit." Jake thought as he ran to the scene of the interrogation that was taking place.

"What happened, dad? What are you two talking about?" Peter asked as Jake glared at Michael, as if asking what was going on.

"Dad was asking me about the things that I was learning about in school." Michael explained.

"Oh? I am also interested. What did you tell him?" Jake asked.

"What? The usual. I need to log into class right now. Why are you guys on my back?" Michael huffed and ran back up the stairs, leaving Peter alone with Jake.

The moment that he found a scapegoat, Michael was gone.

"Thank god he didn\'t spill anything." Jake sighed with relief.

"Jake. You were in the game most of the last week. It looks like our schedules of waking up don\'t seem to match." Peter calmly said as he sat at the dining table, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Yeah. Our schedules don\'t seem to match. I can spend a little more time in the game because I am young, so the time schedules become a little erratic. I can go a day or two sometimes without much problem." Jake nodded.

This was only a half truth, but it was enough for now.

"Ah. I want to ask you so many questions, but I would rather live in ignorance about how the hell you got this place." Peter said.

This was the dream for a father like him. To get out of that hell hole where they could possibly become a red zone at any instant. This was a privileged district, where they could actually go out and breathe the air without wearing a mask.

How new was that?

"So what are you doing these days? Your brother doesn\'t seem to know a thing about what you are doing." Peter asked.

"Me? I joined a big guild for now. Soon enough, they will be paying us the top dollar, so money shouldn\'t be a problem." Jake said.

"What are you and mom doing? Are you joining any guild?"

"Yeah. Your brother told us that you had a few inputs on where to go?" Peter raised his eyebrows.

"Actually, I have a few friends around who tell me which guilds are more predatory. It is better we avoid them. The guild by Aries is one of them. The company I mean. It is called the War Temple Guild." Jake said.

"I have heard of it. But it is on the opposite side of the kingdom that we are in right now. We have no plans on relocating." Peter shook his head.

"So you haven\'t joined a guild yet?" Jake asked, smiling.

"Then why don\'t you do this? I will meet you in the game for now. I need to give you an in-game item that I have no use for." Jake said.

"Which kingdom are you in again?"

"The Uriel Empire." Peter said.

"You went to an empire? That is…. Ballsy."

"What is with your language? We may be going virtual, but that doesn\'t mean that you can run your mouth however you like." Peter chided, but Jake dismissed that as just casual banter.

So while Peter nodded, agreeing to meet up with Jake, Jake grabbed a few snacks over the counters. He was starving, and he had to eat before he could do anything at all.

A while later, he was back in his pod, activating the game.

[Enter World Online?]

The same title credits played.

[Welcome to World Online: Dawn of the Western World]

"Now that I think about it, I need to get all of the alliance members together so that we can start discussing what the next course of action is. I have been putting off a lot of things for a while. Looks like I am going to have to dip into the stash of coins that I have." Jake thought to himself.

He then logged into the kingdom, and the light returned to his world.

He was back in his familiar seat of power in the store that was all his.

"Alright. Now to Uriel."

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