Second World Online

Syuuuuttt...

The cold sensation of the protective gel inside the Game Capsule slowly faded, replaced by the fragrant aroma of cinnamon and pine sap typical of room number 204 in the StoneBrook city inn. The virtual morning light pierced through the gaps in the wooden window, illuminating my Elf avatar’s face.

I opened my ruby-red eyes and immediately took a deep breath. The air in this world felt so clean, free from the smell of hospital antiseptic fluids that had confined me for days in the real world.

"Finally... I’m back," I whispered with a wide smile I couldn’t hide.

I got up from the bed with its soft cotton blanket, then stretched both my arms upward. My virtual muscles responded with perfect flexibility, an extraordinarily sharp contrast to my real body which was stiff and full of IV tubes.

"Good thing the inn rental system in Second World Online isn’t calculated daily in real-time if a player is offline," I muttered while straightening the folds of my boar leather cloak. "Otherwise, the rental fee would have definitely bloated and bankrupted me since I was absent for almost four full days."

As I lowered my head to fasten my waist belt, my gaze naturally fell upon my chest area. There, were two twin mounds of quite... prominent size, tightly wrapped by the chest part of my leather armor. As a pure-blooded young man in the real world, possessing a female Elf avatar with such mature body proportions sometimes still made me feel a bit awkward.

Driven by a suddenly arising, playful curiosity, I raised both my hands and tried to touch my own chest mounds.

However, right before my fingertips made contact with the surface of the leather armor on my chest...

BZZZT!

A flash of a transparent red energy shield suddenly appeared, repelling my fingers like magnets with the same poles! Simultaneously, a system warning panel floated right in front of my face.

[System Warning: Anti-Sexual Harassment Protocol Active!]

[System: Sensitive areas on an avatar cannot be touched explicitly by any player, including the avatar’s owner themselves. Repeated violations may result in moral penalties.]

I was stunned for two seconds, staring at the warning screen with my mouth half agape. The next second, I clicked my tongue loudly, feeling incredibly annoyed and utterly bewildered.

"Sigh! Tch, what kind of system is this?!" I grumbled in annoyance, dropping my hands to my sides. "This is my own avatar! My own virtual body! Why can’t I touch it?! The Chronos Tech developers are truly too strict in configuring their NSFW filters!"

Although annoyed that my mischief was thwarted by a digital morality machine, I quickly brushed off the silly thought. My time inside the game today was very limited. Two hours was the absolute limit set by Doctor Karin and the forced alarm from Mira. I couldn’t waste a single minute just complaining about a chest protection system.

I quickly stepped out of the room, descended the quietly creaking wooden stairs of the inn, and stepped out onto the streets of StoneBrook city.

The city’s atmosphere this morning felt much more crowded and noisy than I remembered. The second wave that brought 5,000 new players truly changed the city’s demographic landscape. Everywhere, I saw low-level adventurers running around in shabby cloth armor, shouting party invitations, or crowding in front of the NPC quest boards.

Suddenly, the sound of my virtual stomach growled loudly. My Stamina and Satiety bar indicators weren’t in the red zone yet, but the memory of the extraordinarily bland, saltless, and MSG-less hospital porridge from this afternoon flashed across my mind again.

"Ah, that’s right," my eyes sparkled. "Since I first entered this game, I’ve been too busy hunting, carving wood, and making money that I’ve never actually tried tasting the food in this Virtual Reality world seriously!"

The Full-Dive nervous system claimed to be able to replicate the taste receptors on a player’s tongue with 99% accuracy. I had to prove it today. I had to cleanse my mouth of the bland taste of the real world.

I swept my gaze using the sharpness of my [Eagle Eye] to scan the rows of stalls along the main street. My eyes locked onto a large wooden stall across the square billowing thick white smoke with an incredibly appetizing aroma of spices. Above the stall, there was a banner reading: "Player’s Roast Meat Stall - 100% Fullness Buff!"

It was clearly not an NPC, but rather a player who took the [Cooking] sub-class profession.

I quickly walked toward the stall. Behind the table, a stout Dwarf race player in a white apron was busy turning the lever of an iron grill containing a row of large whole chickens. The oil and seasoning dripping onto the embers created a sizzling sound that made me almost drool.

"Uncle, I’ll order one of those whole roast chickens! How much is it?" I called out, pointing toward a chicken whose color had already turned a perfect caramelized brown.

The Dwarf player turned and grinned widely. "One sweet and spicy whole roast chicken, Miss Elf! The price is just 15 Copper Coins! Aside from a taste that will make you cry tears of joy, this will also grant a 10% stamina regeneration buff for one hour!"

"So cheap," I muttered. Compared to my abundant gold coins, a price of 15 copper coins was like dust. I immediately handed the coins over the table.

"Thank you! Wait about five minutes, okay, so it cooks evenly all the way to the bone!" exclaimed the enthusiastic Dwarf chef.

While sitting on the long wooden bench provided in front of the stall to wait for my order, I decided to utilize this free time to manage my character stats which had accumulated since my crazy hunt with the Alpha Dire Wolf the other day.

I waved my right hand in the air, summoning the transparent system panel in front of my face.

========== STATUS ==========

Name : Syl

Gender: Female

Race : Elf

Trait : Albinism

Level : 14

EXP : 30/ 2200

Health : 70 / 70

MP : 200 / 200

Stamina: 100 / 100

========== ATTRIBUTES ==========

STR : 2(+1,5)

INT : 27(+6)

DEX : 26(+10) (+6)

AGI : 3

VIT : 2

Attribute Points : 21

========== SKILLS ==========

Slow Walking Lv25

Stamina Regeneration Lv15, Stealth Lv7

Bow Mastery Lv27

Power Shot Lv16, Vital Shoot Lv6

Wind Element Lv10

Wind Arrow Lv10

Water Elemtent Lv2

Water Ball Lv2

Eagle Eye Lv1

Carpenter Lv10

BlackSmith Lv1

Skill Points : 66

========== Equipment==========

Whispering Ash Recurve Bow (Rare), Glade Walker’s Bracer (Epic), Set Armor Kulit Babi Hutan (Common) Accessories: Oak Ring of Strength (Common), Pine Beaded Bracelet (Common), Carved Wooden Earrings (Common)

I smiled in satisfaction seeing the numbers displayed on my screen. "I have so many idle (AP) and (SP). Let’s turn these dead numbers into actual power."

First, I focused my gaze on the 21 AP points. As a Magical Archer using the masterpiece Whispering Ash Recurve Bow, my attacks relied purely on elemental magic and hand dexterity, requiring absolutely no muscle strength.

"The most logical allocation is to divide it evenly between my magic and combat dexterity," I muttered while tapping the virtual screen.

I added 10 AP to INT to increase my Mana capacity and my elemental magic damage. Then, I allocated 10 AP to DEX to increase accuracy, bow-drawing speed, and critical hit probability. The remaining 1 AP I left unused as a reserve.

Next, I moved to the Skills tab. My savings had now reached a fantastic number: 66 SP.

My eyes immediately locked onto my core attack skill, which was [Wind Element] currently maxed out at Level 10.

"This wind element skill is the lifeblood of my arrows’ explosive power. It must be broken through immediately."

I pressed the flashing button next to Wind Element Lv10.

[System: Performing a Breakthrough on ’Wind Element’ will cost 10 Skill Points. Proceed?]

"Yes," I answered firmly.

Clank!

Ten of my SP points were deducted instantly. Simultaneously, my skill panel emitted a bright green glow. Several virtual root branches appeared on the screen, offering choices for new passive or active skill evolutions rooted in the wind element. There was Wind Shield, Tornado Trap, up to Wind Blade.

I read the description of each new skill carefully, but my forehead wrinkled.

"Most of these options don’t fit my playstyle at all, which is a pure long-range Sniper. I don’t need a shield if the enemy can’t see me, and I don’t need close-range slashes," I analyzed sharply.

However, my eyes finally stopped on one option at the bottom corner of the evolution tree: [Wind Walk].

========================================

[Wind Walk] - Active Skill (Wind Element)

Effect: Consumes 20 MP to envelop the user’s feet with high-pressure air currents. Increases Movement Speed by 40% and reduces the sound of footsteps to near zero for 30 seconds.

========================================

A wide smile instantly bloomed on my face. "This is it! The puzzle piece that’s been missing all this time!"

The biggest problem with my albino Elf race besides its physical strength being equivalent to a toddler’s was my AGI points which were complete trash, sitting only at 3. DEX indeed made my hands move as fast as lightning when shooting arrows, but AGI determined how fast my legs could run when having to escape from a close-range monster ambush. With Wind Walk, I could cover that pathetic AGI weakness using Mana manipulation!

I immediately selected [Wind Walk] to activate it and took 3 of my SP.

After that, I looked toward the [Wind Arrow Lv10] sub-skill which had also reached its limit. I performed a breakthrough on this skill by sacrificing another 10 SP. Just as I suspected, the evolution of this wind shot didn’t provide any bizarre skills, but rather a pure linear evolution: the skill changed its name to [Piercing Gale Arrow Lv1], which provided an addition to the base damage percentage that was far more destructive, although somewhat different from before like power shot which merely kept increasing in level, perhaps an adjustment from the game.

"Okay, that’s 23 SP I’ve used today. I will save the remaining 43 SP just in case. After this... I have to figure out a way so the poison from the spider sac I got yesterday can be applied to my arrowheads. That means, I need the Alchemy sub-skill," I planned internally while closing the system panel.

"Order up! One special sweet and spicy roast chicken for the patient Miss Elf!"

The loud exclamation from the Dwarf chef brought my consciousness fully back to the outside world. He placed a round wooden tray on my table. Upon it lay a whole roast chicken still billowing hot smoke. Its outer skin was glossy from the melted fat of perfectly caramelized secret spices, slightly charred at the edges of the wings creating an incredibly tempting roasted aesthetic.

The aroma of spices, roasted garlic, and sweet soy sauce swept over my sense of smell. Ignoring the elegant image of an Elf, I immediately tore off the chicken thigh with my bare hands.

I took a deep bite into that thigh meat.

Crunch... slurp.

"Oh my goodness..." my eyes instantly squeezed shut.

An explosion of an incredibly rich savory flavor, a blend of the tingling spicy sensation of pepper and the sweetness of roasted honey, immediately danced across all my taste nerve receptors! The chicken meat was exceptionally tender and full of broth (juicy). The sensation felt even far more perfect and intense than real food in a five-star restaurant in the real world!

Compared to the bland hospital porridge I was forced to swallow earlier this afternoon, this virtual roast chicken was a piece of heaven falling onto my tongue.

"This is genuinely insanely incredible!" I exclaimed with my mouth full, uncaring of the amused stares from several passing NPC players.

I ate the chicken very greedily and ravenously, cleaning the meat from the bones until not the slightest bit of seasoning remained. I even licked the leftover caramelized fat on my fingers. In less than five minutes, that entire whole chicken had vanished into my virtual stomach, leaving behind a skeletal frame and a glowing stamina regeneration buff indicator in the corner of my screen.

"This Chronos Tech machine is truly magic. If I can eat this deliciously inside the game without worrying about my real cholesterol or blood sugar levels... I feel like I never want to log out again," I complained with a satisfied smile, wiping my lips with the back of my hand.

With a full stomach, a happy heart, and a running speed that had just been upgraded thanks to new stats, I quickly got up from the bench. The clock was ticking.

I jogged along the stone streets of the Crafter’s District, ignoring my usual carpentry workshop and blacksmith forge, and entered a building with a distinctly sharp herbal aroma: the Public Alchemy Workshop.

Inside the slightly dim building, dozens of stone tables were lined up, equipped with small heating furnaces, alabaster mortars and pestles, and rows of glass test tubes. I approached the heavily robed Alchemist instructor NPC.

"Master, I want to purchase the [Alchemy] sub-skill," I said while handing over silver coins.

Within seconds, a system notification confirmed the acquisition of my new skill. I only spent 2 SP to unlock this beginner-level license.

I quickly rented an empty experiment table in the corner of the room. From inside my dimensional bag, I took out several basic herbal grasses and pure water that I had previously bought from a general store NPC.

"Let’s try the easy ones first," I muttered.

Before logging in, I had read several guide threads on the official SWO forum. There were some universal recipes for making low-level potions circulated by the Support player community to help beginners.

I put the theory I read on the forum into practice. Using my hands, I pounded the herbal leaves inside the mortar with a very precise rhythm until it became a smooth paste. Then, I heated the pure water over the furnace until it reached a specific boiling temperature, added the herbal paste, and then channeled a little bit of the water element magic I possessed to stabilize the dissolution reaction.

The color of the liquid inside the glass cauldron slowly changed from a murky green to a glowing clear red.

Ting!

[System: Production Successful! You created 1x [Minor Health Potion] (Common).]

"So easy!" I laughed softly, feeling very satisfied looking at the glowing red liquid inside the small glass bottle. "Turns out, a high DEX stat isn’t only useful for wood carving, but also heavily influences the success rate of measuring and mixing alchemical ingredients!"

Feeling very confident because my first experiment succeeded smoothly right away, my crafter curiosity instantly exploded. I quickly brought out more materials, intending to mix dozens of recovery potions, before finally starting to extract the [Spider Venom Sac] to create a lethal poison coating on arrowheads.

My hands moved as fast as a machine. Pound, boil, filter, mix. The ting sounds from system notifications continuously rang out, decorating my workspace as more and more potion bottles were successfully created by me.

I truly got carried away by the atmosphere. My focus was entirely absorbed into the process of unifying the elements of these materials. It felt very soothing, a perfect escape from the reality of my wheelchair.

However... right when I was about to put the thick green spider venom extract into the heating glass tube to be synthesized...

BEEEEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEEEEP!

A blood-red mechanical alarm sound suddenly covered my entire visual screen! The sound was incredibly sharp, drowning out all the clinking sounds of bottles and the hissing of fires in the alchemy workshop.

[EXTERNAL SYSTEM WARNING: MEDICAL TIME LIMIT HAS BEEN REACHED (120 MINUTES). FORCED LOG-OUT PROTOCOL WILL BE ACTIVATED IN 60 SECONDS.]

"Huh?!"

I froze in place, the poison bottle in my hand almost dropping. My eyes glanced toward the time indicator at the top corner of the screen.

Without realizing it, the two-hour time limit permitted by Doctor Karin had been consumed by my activities of eating chicken, managing skills, and experimenting with alchemy!

"Ahh! This is such a cliffhanger!" I groaned with incredibly massive frustration, rubbing my face roughly. My arrow poison wasn’t even finished being mixed!

But I knew I couldn’t fight the forced alarm set directly by Mira on my medical capsule out there. If that 60-second countdown ran out while I was still inside a public area like this workshop, my Elf body would collapse instantly and enter (AFK) mode, which would make it vulnerable if there was a system interruption or glitch.

At full speed, using a combination of Elf agility and gamer panic, I swept all the materials and half-finished poison bottles on the table cleanly into my dimensional inventory without sorting them anymore.

"Damn, damn, damn! Time moves too fast when you’re having fun!"

I ran with all my might out of the alchemy workshop, pushed through the crowd of players in the square, and darted into the door of my safe-zone inn. I locked the door to room 204 just as the countdown in front of my face showed the numbers 00:05 seconds.

I threw my Elf body onto the wooden bed.

"Alright, Mira... you win today," I muttered in resignation while closing my eyes at the exact last second.

The red light on my screen blinked for the last time, forcibly pulling my consciousness out of the body of Syl the Archer Goddess, fading the warmth of that fantasy world, and throwing me back into the silent embrace of my medical capsule in the real world.

Log out.