This guy, he isn't even my old grandmother anymore, he's the reincarnation of the devil! The quest I had got was a hidden chain quest which forced me to do whatever Abest asked of me. Although every branch I finished gave plentiful awards, but the things I had to do...how is this even a game anymore!?

Pushups, situps, archery, combat, how is this a game quest, this is just working out! The only positive part was that I got to run a lot, thank G.o.d.

"Good job Lynx, you can feel yourself stronger than before right?" He said while looking me over from head to toe in satisfaction.

I had taken off the cloak because it kept getting in the way, underneath was the rookie equipment that was given to every player.

Plain leather armor with a small iron dagger strapped to my side. I also had a bow and quiver hanging on my back.

What he said was true, my stats have gone up a crazy amount just from the rewards of the quest. Starting players are supposed to have ten stat points to start, and three per level up, but I already had 30 points at level three which I added most agility.

That's pretty good if I do say so myself.

Lynx

Level 5

t.i.tles: Hidden VIP, Disciple of Marshall Abest

Cla.s.s: Ranger

Achievements: 1

Health: 209

Attack: 51

Defense: 78

Strength: 5

Agility: 22

Dexterity: 1 (+5)

Vitality: 2 (+10)

Intelligence: 0

Luck: 0

Charisma: 0

I a.s.sumed since my luck was already so good I didn't need to waste stat points on more, and I didn't see the need for charisma either. Both my dexterity and vitality have permanent points thanks to the ranger training, basically, I'm feeling pretty cheat right now!

What? I'm too OP? Pfffft, no no, this is nothing compared to Toku's natural smarts or Kai's overwhelming charisma right? My family is just blessed, yeah, let's keep it at that.

[Disciple of a Legend - 4/12]

"Okay, next up we have some hands-on training. Take this coin and go to the town center, use it in the lotto. Any disciple of mine should have excellent luck, it is what keeps us alive! You may keep the awards, you pa.s.s if it is rare or above."

...This guy is really weird, did he notice how good my luck was? I was going to go check out the lotto after this, I guess I might as well do it now! Lucky me.

The items in Sapphire were categorized in a very normal manner. Common, Unique, Special, Rare, Sub-Legendary, Legendary, and then finally Mythical. Rare was right in the middle right? Shouldn't be that hard...I think.

"I won't disappoint you, sir!"

"I know you won't, now get going."

"Yes, sir!"

You know, ever since I was a kid I was praised for my good acting skills. I might actually believe in myself now.

I equipped my cloak and quickly leaped over the side, following the route my mentor had taken back to the tower at my top speed. Catching sight of my destination I jumped down into an abandoned alley and naturally walked into the building.

The lotto was currently empty, since the game had just been launched, and everyone was busy exploring the town or finding their friends. Seeing only a few parties chatting here and there, I walked up to the machine and slipped in the coin, pus.h.i.+ng the b.u.t.ton to roll the lotto.

Cmon, cmon, lucky, lucky...I'll be happy with just a rare!

[Bing bing bing! You have won the self-design gloves from the lotto machine! Thank you for your patronage!]

[Congratulations! You are the first person in the game to obtain a rare item, you have earned:

1 Achievement

20 gold

5 reputation among NPCs

t.i.tle "h.o.a.rder"

150000 xp]

[Congratulations! You are the first person to use the lotto, you have earned:

10000 xp]

Huh? No, wait a sec—!

[Congratulations! You are the first person to obtain a rare t.i.tle, you have earned:

1 Achievement

20 reputation among NPCs

30000 xp

30 gold]

...What is this speechlessness I'm feeling right now? ...Should I do something or...I'll just ignore what happened and head back.

I'll also ignore how I just jumped up two levels and how I easily got 50 gold and how NPCs are staring at me with quite a lot of respect. ...Yeah, let's go see my good ol' master.

Now look here, the reason Yuri had been bewildered is because at only five hours into the game she has managed to level up five times. Normal level one mobs only drop around 50 xp each, and leveling up to level five would take a sum of 350000 xp, which is around 700 mobs killed in less than five hours. It was an impossible feat to do when players were still getting used to the system. In addition, achievement points were supposed to be incredibly difficult to obtain, only after doing something very unique would players get one. But Yuri had managed to obtain three easily without meaning too. And don't forget, at level three the average player would only have 19 stat points to distribute, but she had 45 which made her incredibly overpowered. It was no wonder that Toku had been so interested in such a player, Yuri was an everyday game maker's nightmare.

I quickly ran back towards the training grounds along the rooftops, making sure no one got suspicious of me and annoyed me with pestering questions.

Finally arriving back at the grounds I found my mentor and showed him the gloves I had won, earning myself a half-hearted compliment. Once I got my next mission I noticed that it was already midnight and that I had to log out.

Saying goodbye to Abest, I went into a spare barracks and logged out.

Blinking a couple of times to get myself adjusted to the dark capsule I pushed the lid up and got out. Realizing that my two brothers were still in the game I tiptoed into my room and fell onto the bed, going over my day in my head.

Today wasn't so bad huh. I'm pretty sure that I'm doing well in the game, and I even have some cool t.i.tles I could show off. Master Abest is scary...but I still have school tomorrow, I don't have time to think about these things.

Changing into my pajamas I got ready to sleep and then slipped into my bed.

I wish I didn't have to go to school...I hate it there.

"Yuri! Good morning, you head out to school already?" Kai asked while walking into the kitchen with toothbrush still stuck in his mouth.

"Good morning Kai. I'm going to job there so I'm heading out a little earlier."

"I understand but, isn't going out an hour before a little too early since it's so close…?"

"I'm a slow runner."

"Oh, okay! Take care then!

After putting on my shoes and shouldering my bag, I checked that my uniform was in place and I headed out the door.

With my brother out of sight my fake smile instantly disappeared from my face. School absolutely sucked. It's not like I like lying to my family, I just didn't want to cause trouble.

Unwilling to think about it any longer, I steadied my ragged breathing.

Turning my steady walk into a sprint, I dashed to school, leaving my thoughts behind as I focused on the ground below me.

Before I knew it I had arrived at school, slowly walking to my cla.s.s to catch my breath I settled my disgruntled look and patted down my long hair. Looking down at my desk in the empty cla.s.sroom, I took a rag and started wiping off the cruel remarks and jokes that were written on it in black ink.

After half an hour I had finally cleaned off my desk, throwing the rag away I sat down and started reading over the things we had learned last week to catch up on material that I couldn't memorize.

Slowly students started trickling into the cla.s.s, once the first bell rang I put down the book and faced the teacher that had walked in, ignoring the gazes of hatred that I felt on my back.

"Has everyone heard of the new game Sapphire?" The teacher asked everyone once the cla.s.s had settled down.

Everyone immediately nodded in response. Who didn't know of the game that had practically taken over the world? Almost everyone in the cla.s.s who could afford it had played yesterday, the teacher included.

"Good, I know that you guys love experiencing such a realistic new world, but make sure you don't forget your real life priorities. Sometimes it can be hard to tell reality from virtual, but I have faith in my students." He warned us with a stern tone, looking us all in the eyes before moving onto the lesson.

My first cla.s.s went by peacefully, but by the time lunch came along that peace was ruthlessly shattered. I had just handed in some papers to the student office and stepped back into the cla.s.sroom once trouble appeared.

"Hey, some trash just walked into the room, sorry, the garbage can is full today!" A boy mockingly howled while strutting towards me, pointing at my desk which was littered with waste and leftovers. "But since I'm such a nice guy, I'll escort you to the dump myself!" He provoked while earning the jeering and laughter of his group of followers.

Sadly, I had nothing to say to people like him, retorting just caused more trouble.

Seeing that I was not responding, he furiously grabbed my shoulder and pushed me into the empty hallway.

"You b.i.t.c.h. You better not be ignoring me!" He sneered darkly while slamming me into a wall.

"Nnnh!?"

A sharp pain shot through my spine, leaving me groaning in pain.

I couldn't stifle the shock and crouched onto the ground as he punched a sharp jab into my ribcage.

"I'm the king of this school, and commoners like you should be honored to even have the chance to lick my shoes!"

The sound of cheers and shouts could be heard from the cla.s.s, encouraging him to go further on his hara.s.sment. The hallway was still devoid of people because rarely anyone left their cla.s.ses during lunch since our school didn't have a cafeteria. Ryuu continued to punch and shout at me, the intense pain threatening to knock me out.

Even so, I bit my lip and didn't move.

There was no need to cause trouble over bullying, my dad's too busy with work and my brothers shouldn't have to take responsibility for my actions.

Don't make trouble. As long as he doesn't hit my face no one can do anything about it, right?

Repeating to myself to stay calm in my mind, I kept my face expressionless and took all the abuse without resistance.

Ryuu's acts of abuse and hara.s.sment were just a routine part of my life, it happened almost every day when we came across each other. Almost no one did anything about it since his father was an influential figure in the country's government and was not to be provoked. I didn't mind, people had the right to mind their own business. To be honest it made it easier for me to attract less attention.

Yuri wasn't always bullied at school. After her mother had pa.s.sed away, her family had decided to move to j.a.pan, where her father started up a company with Kai.

At school, she used to be admired and loved as an honor student by many students and teachers. Her outstanding foreign beauty and her friendly personality caught the attention of many boys and girls alike.

But many people were jealous of her talents and caught wind of her past that she tried so hard to hide.

They used that to spread a nasty rumor over the summer behind her back and slowly her friends all trickled away.

"Hey, hey. You better be listening to me, you p.r.i.c.k!" He shouted while once again kicking me in the ribcage.

My sides throbbed with pain and I could barely move my right arm.

Ah, once I get home I would have to wear long pants and clothes again...what a pain. It got really hot these days since it was still summer not long ago, so wearing warm clothing was annoying.

"Oi oi oi, what did I just say!"

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to Yuri!" A girl's voice sounded out in the empty hallway. She took one glance at me and then sternly peered at Ryuu with a questioning glare.

"O-oh, h.e.l.lo Akane, I was just teaching this girl a small lesson, that's all." He stuttered politely while backing away, a fake smile spread across his face.

"That's a teacher's job. You shouldn't be the one judging another student!" She snapped while helping me back to my feet. "Cla.s.s is gonna start soon, let's go, Yuri!"

"Ah, okay." I responded in a flat tone, dusting myself off and ignoring the piercing pain I felt in my arm.

Reluctantly following us back into the room, Ryuu rejoined his group of followers and ignored me for the rest of the day. Akane's parents were the descendants of the founders of this school, and even Ryuu's father couldn't do much against them.

She was a very cheerful girl who looked at everything from a positive view, I don't remember her ever joining in on the bullying. Ryuu also secretly liked the girl and didn't want her opinion on him to drop.

Yet, even though he did not disturb her, many others still did. While getting ready for cla.s.ses she was tripped, her desk was drawn on, her supplies often disappeared and even abuse was not uncommon.

However, even with constant bullying, she didn't react to anything. If her lunch was spilled she would simply skip the meal, she would laboriously erase all ink markings on her desk and even memorize the lessons if she couldn't take notes.

As long as the abuse did not show and stayed under her clothes she would pay no heed to what happened.

This was her everyday school life.

Teachers could not do anything if she didn't as for help, so they treated her normally every day while turning a blind eye to her obvious suffering.

But even with the hara.s.sment her grades never dropped and her athletic ability was top notch. The daily bullying had forced her to become stronger both mentally and physically, and her natural intellect was pushed every day to the limits from memorizing cla.s.s materials.

She took all of it in stride and just focused on successfully making it through the day.