D.I.O

Click.

A fit, twenty-year-old man walked out of the door, wearing skin-tight light armor. He seemed to give off the air of someone who had developed his body through persistent training. With a confused expression, the man looked around.

“Wow, did I really spend six days here already? And it was only one day in real life?”

Even though the man had only been in the room for a day in real life, he felt that he had experienced over a hundred days’ worth of gameplay.

“You’ve spent all of your allotted time. Most users take a break in the middle.”

“Hahaha. If I did that, then I wouldn’t have gotten my money’s worth. But, it’s quite interesting. Did only six days pass here?”

“Yes.”

Although there wasn’t a limit to how much time a user could spend in the training room specifically, DIO itself had a limit, and that was one day in real-time. All users were forcefully logged out after playing for 24 hours.

Fortunately, when playing in DIO, a user’s physical body was resting. This way, players would wake up refreshed after their time in the game, much like waking up from sleep. This phenomenon actually stumped many scientists. The physical body may be resting, but the mind was still active, so how did users get a refreshed, rested state of mind after playing DIO?

In any case, the proof was in the pudding. Users didn’t feel any exhaustion or side effects after playing DIO. In fact, Merlin didn’t need to give himself any time to sleep in the past nine days. Actually, after logging out of DIO, he couldn’t fall asleep even if he tried. That was how refreshed he felt.

Of course, there was a requirement for an individual to feel refreshed. Typically, an average human needed eight hours of sleep to gain a rested feeling. A user would need to be in DIO for at least twelve hours to get the same effect, but if they were able to do this, it was sufficient. Moreover, the time in DIO passed six times faster than in real life.

“Hmm, I just need to handle my hunger.”

The forced log-out was done for this exact reason. It was something that couldn’t be avoided. Though DIO gave many magical benefits, it couldn’t provide nutrition or force someone to eat. Furthermore, if an individual were unhealthy, somehow, DIO wouldn’t allow that user to log into the game. It seemed that the developers had made many considerations for the user’s benefit.

“This game, what’s its purpose….”

Arthur recalled the blonde-haired man he had met earlier. That man was definitely not ordinary. He had given Arthur money to play the game while also promising to help cure his mother’s illness. Additionally, when Arthur got home, a PC had already been set up, and his mother was sent to a larger, more appropriate hospital immediately. Like this, Arthur was freed from the constraints and headache of trying to scrape together the daily hospital fees.

Initially, Arthur felt that he was being scammed, but after benefiting in so many ways, he couldn’t help but accept the man’s words at face value. He would have even given up his soul if that meant he could cure his mother’s disease. Would a scammer cure his mother’s disease to finalize a scam? No. Even if the man were to take something away from him, Arthur felt that the trade was ‘justified.’

“Mother has made significant progress.”

Arthur had been worried about who he should speak with once he reached Level 10. He didn’t know who the blonde-haired man was or where he resided, and there was no way to contact him. However, when Arthur left the game to visit his mother, everything had been dealt with. His mother’s life-saving surgery just needed his approval, which he readily gave, and the surgery was a success.

“None of this was done out of the goodness of someone’s heart. I feel like they have some ulterior motive. But… since they’ve done this much for me, I’d like to pay them back however they wish.”

Arthur wouldn’t do anything illegal, but if he were told to give up his life, he would. His next assignment was reaching Grand Master at Level 20.

“Oh, since you were inside for so long, you probably didn’t participate in this round’s Siege Quest, right?”

“A Siege Quest?”

Seeing that Arthur was puzzled, Carlin explained. Most users would have already known what Carlin was about to speak of, but for someone who had been in the training room, they may not have been aware.

“Yeah, it was the last event before the end of the closed beta. For the first wave, outside of the north gate, which was defended by a Master-level user, all the other gates were overrun.”

“Hmm. Wait a moment.”

Hearing Carlin’s explanation, Arthur opened the community Announcement Board and started reading. With a simple scan, he got a general idea of what had happened. The first wave was a resounding loss for the users, and the second wave was about to occur.

“The main event will start soon. Do you plan on participating?”

“I should, but… I’m a bit concerned that all the users couldn’t defend against the attacking monsters. I’ve realized some minor things during my training, so I want to test them out. Carlin, did only one Master appear in public so far?”

“‘O-only’ one?”

Carlin was surprised that there was even a single Master-level user, so he couldn’t help but stutter and look exasperated after hearing Arthur’s words. Eventually, Carlin just sighed and responded.

“Ah! It’s only been nine days… more users might’ve become Masters if they were focused on training rather than playing around.”

If any player heard Arthur’s words, they would have argued vehemently. It wasn’t like they didn’t want to reach the Master-level… they couldn’t. Alas, Arthur was sure that most of the users were just focused on enjoying the game. He, on the other hand, had reached the tenth level in two different sword skills. As such, Arthur felt that he had been more dedicated in his training and worked harder than other players.

“Well, I guess there might be others like me who haven’t publicized their levels. Actually, that seems more likely.”

That wasn’t the case. There were indeed only two Master-level users. In addition, users could infer the general state of the player base's levels if they scanned the public Announcement and Message Boards. Although the message boards were anonymous, anyone could tell that there were only two Master-level players. Arthur had never played an online game before DIO, so he didn’t know how to properly utilize DIO’s homepage and learn this.

“Well, I’ll be off.”

“… Fine. Make sure the defenses don’t crumble.”

With Carlin’s parting words, Arthur left the building. Perhaps it was due to the upcoming Siege Quest, but the village was bustling.

“Alright, I should grab something to eat first. I need to gain some experience as well, so this isn’t a bad opportunity… Dustin.”

[Yes, master.]

A space opened in the air, and a sword appeared. This sword-form was one of eight different summoned beings that Arthur had at his disposal. After summoning it, Arthur stood on the sword without any hesitation.

“Let’s go to Valiant Heavenly City.”

[What? That’s far!]

“Sorry. I’ll feed you a good sword alter. I might be forcefully logged out to eat, so I need to hurry.”

[Ugh… damn it. You’re a master that uses me as a mount more than an actual weapon.]

As Dustin bickered, a crowd of users started crying out when they saw the sword flying around with Arthur. There were shouts like, “It’s a high-level user,” and, “Someone has already contracted a being like that?” There was even one individual that said, “Why are there so many weird things in this game!” Arthur heard these cries, but he didn’t give them much thought.

“I sure am getting a lot of attention, but I guess that’s natural for a flying summoner. I was fortunate to have made a contract with you.”

[Uh… really? Yeah, I guess so.]

As if used to Arthur’s somewhat boring comments and replies, the summoned being simply continued flying off into the sky.

***

When he opened his eyes, Merlin noticed that he was underwater. Since he had lost consciousness, he should’ve presumably drowned. Yet, Merlin had a special skill called Diving, so his mid-dantian was able to circulate his genuine qi and allow him to breathe.

‘Funny game. Even if a player loses consciousness, it doesn’t have them log out.’

That wasn’t all. Players could even rest and sleep inside the game. Of course, an individual would only feel the necessity to sleep in-game if they were logged in for extended periods, such as a few days in DIO or more than twelve hours in real-time. Even then, sleeping in-game rarely occurred, if ever. In reality, a user would voluntarily log out or be forced to do so after reaching the 24-hour restriction.

‘Anyway, where am I?’

Merlin looked about him. Not a single ray of light could be seen; he was in complete darkness. Then, Merlin utilized his Night Vision Eyes and was able to see that he was within a stone structure.

‘If I recall correctly….’

When Sungmuk launched his final attack, Merlin had moved halfway around the fallen tower and found himself near an opening at the bottom of the reservoir. If his assumptions were correct, Merlin was underneath the stone tower.

‘Is this a type of secret dungeon?’

Merlin closely examined his surroundings, discovering that he was in a hallway made from a particular kind of stone. The hallway was straight and only led forward. For other users, they could potentially have an issue getting oxygen, as there weren’t many places where they could come up for air. So, players without a water attribute would have a set time limit in this space.

Whoosh…

In the water, Merlin was like an alien being. His movements were even more agile and quick than a submarine. He didn’t have to move his arms or legs to propel himself in the water; he could freely move as he pleased.

This freedom came from his ability to completely control the water that surrounded him in a two-meter radius. For the water within his sphere of influence, he could instantly turn it into ice or steam. With this ability, he could shoot forward at frightening speeds by using the water behind him to propel his body. It was as if he was a highly-skilled practitioner of Telekinesis who could grab his own body and fly into the sky.

Plop.

Merlin lowered himself toward the floor of the hallway, and with a gentle sound, his feet landed on the ground.

“Hmm, interesting. What is this place?”

There weren’t any decorations to speak of, and Merlin only saw one box. However, the wall did have some inscriptions written on it.

Die and return to life.

“Huh?”

Perplexed about what the writing meant, Merlin used Scanning Vision and Aura Vision to check for any physical or spiritual traps, respectively. Fortunately, he found none.

“Hmm. I guess the trial was to get in here in the first place.”

While mumbling to himself, Merlin opened the box. The box contained ten gold and a familiar-looking ring.

“Wait, is this…?”

Surprised at the finding, Merlin appraised the item.

Merlin’s assumption was correct. The ring was the same one that he wore on the middle finger of his left hand. It was a Wicalein Ring. The material that the ring was made of and its design, as well as the aura it gave off, were all identical to the one he already possessed.

“Doesn’t a Unique rating mean that there’s only one such item?”

What Merlin said was true, but there were exceptions. A Unique rated item meant that it was the only one of its kind on Dynamic Island, but Merlin was in a different space. He had essentially entered another dimension when he entered this testing area, so it was possible to find the same Unique item.

“Well, it’s alright with me. I’ll take it.”

He put the new Wicalein Ring on the middle finger of his right hand and imbued it with internal energy. If he was going to develop the spirit within, Merlin thought it would be nice to have two spirits that were at the same level.

“You… I’ll call you Shining.”

When Merlin was naming his first spirit, he had been stuck between Younghwi and Shining, so he didn’t have to think too much when coming up with a name for this new spirit.

“And the other stuff is… eh? Just ten gold?”

Ten gold wasn’t such a meager amount that ‘just’ was a fitting term for it, but since Merlin had no sense of how valuable gold was, he had said this. Once Merlin closed the box, a fire lit up in front of him.

“W-what’s that?”

Merlin instinctively circulated his internal energy to strengthen his body as he went on high alert. Yet, the fire soon put itself out. And in its place…

“An egg?”

It was an egg about the size of a balled fist. Merlin instinctively grabbed the egg before appraising it.

“Eh? Is this… a pet?”

Merlin had started wanting a pet after seeing Arc and various other users accompanied by them, so he felt lucky that he had stumbled upon one.

“Great. I’ll just imbue it with a bit of my internal energy….”

Despite his efforts, the egg didn’t accept his internal energy and instead sent it flying back outwards. This was when Merlin realized that egg couldn’t absorb internal energy, only magic power. The description had mentioned this, but Merlin had briefly forgotten about it.

“I’m glad I also chose to specialize in magic power.”

He took out ten tetra of magic power from the back of his right hand’s magic circle and imbued it into the egg. The egg accepted the magic power and briefly shook but didn’t show any other response.

“It seems I need to feed it more. Since it’s a living thing, I can’t place it in my inventory. I should ask Shining to hold onto it.”

The mysterious egg moved above Merlin’s right shoulder. Since his new spirit was relatively weak, Merlin decided that it should just hold onto the egg.

Boom!

The ground shook as a deafening sound resounded throughout the area. Oddly enough, this scene and the cacophony of sound reminded Merlin of the time his father received an official gun salute in real-life. Although the origin of the sound seemed like it came from far away, the noise and vibrations that it created could be clearly felt.

“W-what was that? Are there cannons in this place?”

Merlin looked around, but he was still in the same cramped dungeon hallway. In addition, even when he used Scanning Vision, the walls were made of some material that didn’t allow Merlin to see through them. Actually, Merlin could only see as far as three meters. It was difficult for him to see anything further away.

“It doesn’t appear as if there’s anything else, so… Escape Dungeon!”

In an instant, Merlin was surrounded by a deluge of water, and he found that he was submerged in the reservoir. Seeing that the stone tower hovered in its usual position, Merlin made his way up to the surface.

Splash!

Merlin shot out of the water. Then, he changed his gear mid-air. Once he switched into his robe, he landed on firm land on the shore.

“It seems like the Siege Quest battle has been underway for a while. I wonder how long I was unconscious.”

Merlin summoned the clock and checked the time. An hour had passed, so he had been unconscious for a little less than an hour.

“I need to hurry back.”

Merlin took out his Decian Great Bow and started heading toward the battlefield.