Prisoners of VR

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"Did you overhear the entire conversation?" Rahu stared at Deepika, frowning.

"Yeah, I was here all along." Deepika dipped a large piece of the jackfruit in honey and swallowed it whole.

"Don't reveal it to others, alright?" He felt a headache already.

"Sure," Deepika nodded nonchalantly and continued to eat.

Rahu stared at her with suspicion, "You're behaving differently from usual."

"I'm adapting to the situation." Deepika said, "I put on weight recently because I had been stress eating. I realised I should change my attitude towards you. Otherwise, I might go bald at such a young age."

Rahu intended to retort at her rude comments, but even he had some conscience. Besides, he felt the current Deepika was more equipped to be his secretary, so it was better for him. So, he didn't chide her.

More than everything, seeing her munch on the jackfruit made him hungry, "Share some with me."

"I'll order some grapes for you," Deepika said nonchalantly.

"You have half a jackfruit with you. That's enough to feed a family of four. Give me some." Rahu asked patiently.

"My mom sent me this from our hometown. I couldn't share it with my husband because of you. So, no way I'm giving you any." She said grumpily.

"Aren't I your superior?" Rahu stared at her, flabbergasted.

"So?" Deepika snorted, "That doesn't give you any right over my jackfruit."

"Bro..." He intended to plead with her, but thinking that he was a DOVA Agent, Rahu took action immediately.

Just as Deepika was about to eat another piece, the Liger appeared beside her and rested its head on her hand. It was heavy, making her unable to bring her hand to her mouth. The veins on her hand protruded as she exerted strength in it, intending to overcome Induced Reality, but she couldn't.

Taking the chance, Rahu leaped from the bed and snatched the bowl where Deepika placed peeled pieces of the jackfruit. He poured some honey over it and gobbled up a couple of pieces, his eyes lighting up at the taste, "Delicious!"

There was murderous intent in the air as Deepika's uVR Earth's black glow turned denser. Rotor sounds erupted from her suitcase as her drone was about to exit it.

"Has the patient woken up?" A doctor entered right at this time as Deepika halted her attempt.

Using the chance, Rahu gobbled up the pieces in the bowl and patted his belly contently, "That was refreshing."

He then stared at the doctor, "I feel fine now, Doctor."

"We'll conduct a couple of tests. And if the results are satisfactory, you can get discharged." The Doctor said and proceeded with the tests. He didn't seem bothered by Deepika's actions and calmly exited the ward once he was done, "I'll return in a couple of hours. Summon the nurse if you need anything."

The moment the Doctor left the ward, Deepika asked, her voice serious, "Was what you were speaking on call true?"

"Yeah," Rahu nodded, "I have no reason to lie to the DOVA Chief, you know."

"Understood, then I'll register and accompany you on Worldcraft too." Deepika said, "We can have the security team rotate on shifts and enter Worldcraft."

"That's fine with me, but you don't need to accompany me in there." Rahu shook his head, "There are different races, and each race seems to be living in a world of its own."

"I know about that already," Deepika nodded, "I checked their website yesterday. There are seven races and each race lives in a world that's an exact size of Earth."

"Each race wields an exclusive element." She said, "Some of the users have already begun posting their expedition of the vast, unexplored lands."

"That's rather helpful," Rahu switched on his Augmented Reality and accessed Worldcraft's official website. He focused on an important piece of information. It was about the exclusive element of the races.

[Mermen (Coral), Arachmen (Web), Crowmen (Bone), Elven (Wood), Lizardmen (Sulphur), Dragonmen (Volcanic Ash), Dwarven (Iron)]

The choice of exclusive elements for the various races was pretty weird. Among them, only Wood could be considered a proper element. Rahu neither understood the reason nor the intention behind such elements.

But it didn't matter for now. He could figure it out in the long run. Following that, he looked at the most discussed topic among the users that completed the first installment of their Beginner's Quest. It was about Invoker Crystals.

Turns out there existed Dungeons filled with a variety of animals: regular, endangered, and even extinct. Forming the core of every Dungeon was a decently intelligent animal that possessed an Invoker Crystal. It was the Dungeon Boss.

Once the Dungeon Boss is defeated, the user could lay claim to its Invoker Crystal. Depending upon the difficulty level of the Dungeon, the quality of the Invoker Crystal varied.

"Invoker Crystals will become the Gold Standard of this century," Rahu muttered, able to predict how Invoker Crystals would shape the economy in the future.

Worldcraft was an entire world, generating limitless possibilities. Except for the manufacturing and agricultural sector, everything else could be shifted to Worldcraft.

There was more than enough real estate to accommodate that. Moreover, considering how the stocks of Pomegranate Corporation were bought and owned by countries, it facilitated currency exchange.

One could realistically set up a digital currency system in Worldcraft that could be traded for real-world money. As real-world currency was simply a pledged value perceived by the respective government, and not gold-backed, such a trade was possible.

"So, I can legally earn money from Worldcraft." Deepika nodded and communicated with her security team. Two security team personnel entered the ward and stood watch while Deepika closed her eyes and entered Worldcraft.

Rahu stared at her for a few seconds as he stealthily stole a few more jackfruit pieces and ate them. He then inspected his mental state, realising that he had recovered a significant sum of his Brainpower.

Closing his eyes, he entered Worldcraft. As for safety, he wasn't concerned. His Liger was always on watch, even when he was unconscious.

Rahu opened his eyes, noticing that he had arrived at Larkrood Village. Even if he left the village and roamed elsewhere, once he logs out and returns, he'll find himself at Larkrood Village.

That was the basic mechanic of Worldcraft. As Larkrood Village was currently designated as his home, it became his spawn point.

Just as he thought of moving, his stomach grumbled. Rahu looked around and failed to find any place that sold food. Realising that no such institution had been established here yet, he looked around and approached someone that seemed to have spent a considerable time at the place.

"Do you know where I can find food?" He asked the person.

There were dirt marks all over his clothes, followed by stains of some fluid, mostly his vomit. Tear marks covered the dress, possibly torn open by sharp branches. There was exhaustion evident on his face but his eyes expressed excitement. He seemed young, around twenty years in age.

The Elven youth observed Rahu's pristine appearance and asked, "Did you just log in?"

He pointed in a certain direction where a group of people were walking, "If you walk an hour in that direction, you'll enter a forest. You can find a lot of fruit-bearing trees there. Everyone's going there to find food. Just make sure you don't harm the monkeys there. It's no joke when they retaliate as a collective."

"Alright, thank you." Rahu walked in the respective direction as he bode farewell. An hour later, he reached the end of Larkrood Village and gazed at the expansive forest that stretched beyond.

The trees were decently spaced apart while the shrubs were minimal due to the dense foliage that blocked sunlight from reaching the ground. A layer of leaves covered the topsoil, creating a soft floor to walk upon.

Rahu looked around and noticed a couple of mango trees in his vicinity. But there were only mangoes near the top of the trees. Those at the bottom had already been plucked and eaten.

An Elven teen next to him didn't seem willing to delve deep into the forest. He looked around and picked up a thick enough branch and broke it into smaller pieces. He aimed at a ripe mango and threw the stick, missing the mark.

He picked up the piece that fell on the ground and aimed once again. After a few attempts, he struck the mango, causing it to fall, "Strike!"

The Elven teen took a couple of steps forward in an attempt to catch the mango. But halfway through its fall, a monkey swung from the branches and caught the ripe mango. It escaped upon hearing the Elven teen's frustrated shouts.

In anger, the Elven teen threw the broken stick at the monkey who evaded the projectile. It shrieked at him, hurriedly swallowed half of the mango's pulp, and threw the remaining at the teen. The mango pulp splattered on the ground upon impact, with some of it splashing on the teen and Rahu.

'So, that's how it is.' Rahu looked around, wondering what everyone was up to. In the current situation, the users didn't have the necessary tools to face the monkeys who held the upper hand thanks to their climbing and swinging capabilities.

Due to that, the users could only roam helplessly and pick up fruits that fell on the ground. If they were lucky, they would find fruits within reach that could be plucked.

Thankfully until now, none seemed intent to murder the monkeys for meat, but Rahu wasn't sure how long that would last. Not everyone behaved the same, especially since a diet of fruits alone wasn't enough to stave off hunger.

As Worldcraft was akin to reality, they needed to consume food here to survive. Otherwise, they'll starve. Eating in reality wouldn't help stave their hunger here.

'What happens if I starve myself here to the extent I become thin? If my version here doesn't remain in sync with reality, will my character be deleted? What about death?' He wondered, 'Are they using the regular Virtual Reality functions for this or is the parameter similar to the ones we use in Induced Reality?'

With that thought in mind, Rahu bolted off deeper into the forest, stopping once he came across a fruit tree that wasn't guarded by monkeys. As he satiated himself with the fruits, he immersed himself in questions.

"Problems might start cropping up one after another soon enough."