My Alt Account Became the World's No. 1 Hunter

Lanz woke up feeling like he’d gone twelve rounds with a particularly angry treadmill.

His whole body ached in ways that shouldn’t have been possible from just swinging a sword at virtual dummies.

Every joint in his arms crackled when he moved, and his back felt like someone had rolled him up like a burrito and left him in a gym locker overnight.

"Ow," he muttered as he sat up, blinking against the early morning light seeping through the curtains. The relic crystal was still on his desk, still faintly glowing like a dying firefly. He gave it a suspicious glance.

"You better not be cursed."

Downstairs, he could already hear the clatter of pans and the familiar voice of his mom humming some old pop song from ten years ago. The smell of garlic and rice hit him a second later, which helped make the soreness slightly more bearable.

He dragged himself to the bathroom, splashed his face with water, and stared at his reflection. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hoodie was wrinkled, and his hair looked like it had been through a blender.

But today, he noticed something in his face now that had always been there, but he just ignored. "I’m f*cking handsome as f*ck."

..... moving on.

When he walked into the kitchen, his mom greeted him with a worried frown and a steaming bowl of champorado. "Did you sleep okay? You were tossing around like you were fighting someone in there."

"I was," Lanz said without thinking, then quickly added, "in my dreams."

His little sister, Miko, sat at the table swinging her legs and scrolling through her phone. She looked up at him and smirked.