MMORPG: Rebirth of the Shadow Mage

Leo was running through the street dimly lit with lanterns. Everywhere he looked there were things that'd make a normal person go bankrupt.

Expensive pools, sports cars, artificial lakes in the backyards of even more luxurious houses.

Leo was jogging through the neighborhood he lived in. Its already been 3 weeks, since he defeated the Basilisk and he hadn't played the game once during the time.

Leo spent most of his time with family, away from the house. They spent some quality time together in various expensive hotels, visiting popular objects and of course indulging in pleasures like SPA or swimming.

Leo wasn't too worried about being left in the dust by the other players, because one day after his and David's successful dungeon raid the game servers were shut down.

Previously disparity between real and in-game time was huge and since the Fragmental's launch many had pointed this out. After some time scientists have found out that this feature can damage user's brain making the game developers take quick actions.

The game immediately went offline and was being updated for a whole two weeks before becoming accessible to public once again.

All the update did was make the time almost similar to the real world. The slight difference was that a single day in game was 20 hours.

'Should I Stop?'

Feeling his leg muscles twitching Leo made a small smile. He had already spent a few hours running without a single break.

"Another lap!"

Hyping himself up Leo recalled how important it is to have an athletic body and picked up his pace. Having a lean body will make one's hitbox smaller.

Running towards the Preklin University he saw a girl with white hair jogging on the other side of the road.

Almost everyday Leo has seen her excericing, but not a single time they passed near each other, Leo always chose to run on a different side of the road than her.

He wasn't sure about her character and if she will exploit him if she founds out his identity. He was at least 70% sure that she wouldn't, but the other 30% were making him uncomfortable. There was also the stupid competition he had to somehow win.

'It is what it is...'

Focusing on the path before him Leo put the wireless airpods back into his ears, listening to music he downloaded beforehand.

While running he felt Ava's gaze land on him for a second, but soon her eyes left him, going back to looking only forward.

After a few minutes of running, Leo was nearing the University.

His courses will start in one week and he wasn't playing to skip it, especially when Ava was 100% attending them.

Clicking his tongue Leo felt that listening to the professor will be a waste of time, especially when he could grind levels in Fragmental.

"Why would you go to university this early..."

Mumbling under his breath Leo scratched his neck. Entering the yard of the University he noticed some people playing a game of basketball. Leo could even recognize some of them from his past life.

Throwing them a last glance he made a full circle around the University before going back home.

By the time he saw his house it was already midnight. Looking at the house on the other side of the road Leo noticed two cars parked near each other. Was one Ava's an the other one was Eli's.

While the game was updating Ava bought herself a nice jeep. He was certain that the other car was Eli's, because it was the exact same model she bought in her pas life.

'Just to make sure...'

Going back inside his house Leo noticed no lights, hence thought that his parents were asleep.

Going into the kitchen he opened up the refrigerator and took out a pair of mango ice cream.

Leaving the house he walked to the other side of the street and put the on the plate he carried with him as well.

'How should I proceed?'

Leo was now feeling troubled about his plan. What will he say?

'Oh yeah I just brought you some ice cream!'

Ava would probably immediately call the police. Looking around he noticed a rock lying nearby the road and a small smile appeared on his face.

Thud...

Putting the plate on the ground he distanced himself away from Ava's house and threw it at her door.

Dashing inside his house he quickly turned off the lights and looked through the window.

Soon a head with a bunch of brown hair emerged from the door and seeing the ice cream jumped in joy.

Following her was another female with White hair with an irritated expression on her face.

Looking at the ice cream her expression turned slightly confused seeing that they were mango, Leo knew that they were her favorite.

After making sure that her guest was really Eli, Leo sighed and went to prepare himself some dinner.

He was slowly becoming a night lurker. Since he slept during the whole day, he was not tired and was planning to spend his time efficiently. He promised his parents not to play the game until the University starts, hence he had a lot of free time.

Eating the dinner Leo quickly packed his things and left for the car. Jumping inside his expensive vehicle he quickly drove it into the main road before leaving the rich district.

In half an hour Leo was walking through the city going through shops of various technical stuff, he was searching for a newer version of VR Pod.

Since the game Fragmental has exploded the product was very scarce and their price was inflated.

Not that it mattered to Leo who has already made up his mind to spend up to 100,000 Dollars if needed.

Thinking about money he recalled that the bounty for his head suddenly jumped over 1 million dollars. Leo was almost certain that Angry Bird, Theo had something to do with this.

'Not like it'll effect me...'

Shrugging his shoulders Leo entered the fifth store that was yet to be closed. Walking deeper into it he scanned the contents of the shop expecting to see nothing useful, but suddenly his eyes stopped on a box with a huge price tag glued onto it.

'Found it'

Going to the cashier Leo quickly led him towards the product, quickly signed some papers before writing down his address.

With a smile he left the shop slowly going back towards his car.

"What the hell?"

Approaching his car Leo noticed a group of people around the car posing and taking pictures. Looking at them Leo suddenly got an idea.

"Hello, is this your car?"

Tapping the closest man on the shoulder Leo acted as if he was very interested about the car. He even tried to make his eyes glister.

Hearing Leo the young man also turned around and seeing Leo quickly threw a glance towards his friends. Leo even noticed a small small playing on his lips.

"Yeah... A beauty isn't she?"

Petting the front of the car as if it was a pet the man gave Leo a smile before winking towards his friends who soon followed his lead.

Leo couldn't help, but smile inwardly seeing how the situation was unfolding. Nodding his head he gave them a thumbs up before unlocking the car and getting into the driver's seat.

As soon as the group heard the car bring unlocked their faces went slightly pale looking for the owner of the vehicle, but their blood was completely drained from their faces when they saw the man who previously complemented the car entering it.

"What..."

The man's who claimed that the car was his cheeks went Bert red form the embarrassment while his friends turned away their gaze as if avoiding to meet Leo's eyes.

'I should do this more often...'

Feeling good about his purchase Leo drove off the car to his next destination. Moving through the city he noticed many people taking pictures of the car, but since car windows were tinned he didn't mind.

Parking the vehicle nearby the huge building. He lifted his eyes trying to see the tip of it. Unfortunately the structure was above the grey clouds disallowing him from seeing it's full height.

Paying the entrance price, Leo chose the lift before ascending to the top of the huge tower-like building.

As soon as the elevator's doors opened he felt a gust of cold wind ruffling his hair and put on his hood.

Approaching the barrier at the side of the huge terrace Leo looked down towards the City. Even though the clouds were obstructing his vision, he could still see some lights below.

Suddenly his back went cold, he recalled that in a few days he has an interview and he hasn't even prepared anything yet.

With no time to enjoy the view Leo took out his phone and going back to his car quickly made some arrangements and found some rentable rooms he could use for an interview.

"I need a mask..."

With a smile on his face Leo drove back home, the sun was already visible in the sky.