How I wish I was sitting in the capsule playing instead of here. Sapphire servers shut day every day after midnight for six hours so that the hardcore players could take a break, but since I have school as well I only get around 10 hours to play. That's 20 hours in the game. I only got to go online for 5 hours today before having to come to this gathering.....

I've already dropped from the leaderboards, it can't be helped. The people who manage to stay on either spend the entire time grinding levels or have guilds that can help them.

It's hard for an individual gamer like me to level up at the same pace, I have school as well.

But honestly, being on the leaderboards isn't my biggest priority. I don't seek fame, fortune, or even adventure...I just want some peace and quiet.

Before I left the city I reported to Abest that I would have to leave for a while and I wasn't sure when I would be back. Telling him that caused all my current obligations as a soldier to be put on pause for a while. However, I will still be presenting myself towards NPCs as a Soldier of Zircon.

Also, I just realized that I kept forgetting to check on my mask's new attributes after leveling it up. Tyrant killed me right after I did so I never got the chance afterward.

Alright, the first thing I'll do once I get back in the game is to check on its properties.

To be honest, I should probably plan a route towards a new city before continuing to travel in a random direction. I don't have any responsibilities or plans in the game so far, it feels pretty nice.

As for my problems in real life, I still have to deal with the new dorms, the Fall trackmeet, weird yakuza running around the place, and this awkward gathering.

Oh right, I can't forget that a certain someone is going to be living at my place for two weeks until his condo buildings are finished. That only adds to my troubles.

"Oh look at the time, it's already almost midnight. Thank you very much for today. Since I believe we are done, I'll be taking my leave." My father said while standing up and turning towards me. "Yuri, let's go you still have school tomorrow."

I nodded and stood up.

"Eugene, you're coming with us as well, correct?" He asked.

I raised my eyebrow in surprise. I understand that there's no reason to hide the fact he's going to be temporarily living at my place but isn't this going to cause misunderstandings?

"Yes, I won't bother my father this way. Thank you for letting me stay for a while." He replied.

...We don't have any spare rooms in the house. I guess he'll be rooming with one of my brothers then.

Let's just ignore Tomoe's extremely suspicious glare. I have a feeling she is thinking of some possibilities I do not want to know about.

Walking out of the building, my father made sure we were alone then turned to me and finally asked the question I was waiting for.

"Now, want to tell me why you're here? Or perhaps I should ask him instead." He interrogated while glancing at Eugene.

I dryly coughed and looked away. "Yeah.....Eugene would be the better person to ask."

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I refuse to answer. I didn't want to come in the first place!

My father turned to Eugene with one eyebrow raised. "Well then, Eugene?"

He shamefully tilted his head. "Uh, Mr. Mizuki all I wanted to do was see your daughter agai-"

"You understand what you've done?" He questioned with a stern face.

"..."

"I only ever brought her out with me once. And that was to privately meet the Prime Minister and his son. Yuri is not someone who is safe while outside."

And here he goes again....

Eugene lowered his head. "Sir...I know you've told me before while I was young but I still don't understand wh-"

"Remember who her mother is."

"....?"

"Sofia was targeted because of her background. Due to this, she never leaked any personal information about herself. The only clue the hunters had was her appearance. If it weren't for.....what happened at that time....Sofia would have never been caught. Do you understand now? Yuri looks extremely similar to her mother. In fact, although it is not confirmed news that Sofia ever had children there is still a rumor that she has. Kai and Toku are safe because they don't look like her and have perfect j.a.panese cover-up stories. However, if any hunter coincidently sees Yuri at some high-cla.s.s gathering wouldn't they aim for her to use as a hostage against 'him'?"

I seriously hate talking about this. Blah blah....I've never told father how I would skip school and go to the city because of all this. He would freak out if he knew.

Eugene was still hesitant. "But Yuri goes to school and is even playing Sapphire.....she's fine."

"Look. Eugene...." My father pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"The school is different. Tanaka Academy is a giant campus with many children attending. The security is tight and no suspicious people are allowed to enter without a permit. I've already spent hours checking all the students' backgrounds and information to make sure it's alright. The chances are slim. In Sapphire she didn't change her appearance, which I think is stupid but there's nothing I can do about that anymore. However, Yuri always either wears a mask or hood and never reveals her face to strangers. I know this because I'm the GM. Rest a.s.sured Sapphire is safe I have full control of the game, in fact, it is what keeps her dying from boredom at home every day."

Mhm. Agreed. I only reveal my face to trustworthy people. Except for the times I get careless.

Which is a lot? But I doubt any of the hunters would ever look for me in j.a.pan.....father is too paranoid.

Plus, I doubt 'he' cares about me so there's no point to use me as a hostage.

"Eugene, never do something like this again. It's too dangerous. The tracker inserted into her and the other two makes it better but it's still too risky."

Oh right, the tracker. I forgot all about that since it happened so long ago. Does that mean he knows about how I skip school all the time?

This feels ominous.

Eugene was finally enlightened and deeply bowed. "I'm sorry sir. I understand my mistake and it won't happen again."

My father simply shook his head and sighed. "Fine. However, I don't forgive you yet. Do me a favor first. Only you can do this."

"Favor?"

Wow, Eugene's face is stiff. I guess my dad is pretty intimidating.

"You must make sure Yuri stops skipping her cla.s.ses and running off to who knows where. She's been doing it since the start of the school year and I only found out when looking at the tracker recently. It gets me worried but I can't do anything about it so it's up to you. Hopefully, you can manage to keep her in your sights, she's a sly one."

Hey hey woah there. My dad's recruiting Eugene as my stalker? Isn't this sort of wrong? Eugene better refuse...

"Of course! It'd be my pleasure to keep her safe!"

. . .

I ended up being driven back with my bike secured away on the car.

I stayed silent the entire way back. I can't believe I now have to deal with Eugene everywhere I go, this is the worst.

Just as I was thinking about teaching him a lesson for agreeing to my dad's 'favor', he spoke up.

"Hey Yuri, what do you think about the new update that is going to be released tomorrow?"

All my anger vanished and turned into curiosity.

I whipped my head around and stared at him.

"Update?"

"You weren't listening to the adult's conversations at all? They were talking about the Expansion Update that's scheduled for release."

Seriously? This sounds huge!

I quickly urged him to tell me more.

"Alright. As you know already, Sapphire is made up of many small servers. The update will be turning the many small servers into one that is around the same size as the real world. However, traveling over to other continents will not be possible until the second expansion update. This update is because recently the game has been blowing up all around the world and not just here in j.a.pan. When the update is released, contacting others from different countries will be possible. They're also planning to make a National Compet.i.tion like the Olympics every year for advertis.e.m.e.nt purposes...but they probably won't do that until much later."

Makes sense. The second batch of VR capsules is coming out soon, this time much more than the first batch. There's no doubt that the player base will grow. The players from the first batch have an advantage over the second batch, but leveling for lower levels will become easier so that the power gap won't be too large.

I nodded my head and Eugene continued.

"Many more items and quests are also going to be available. In addition, the game's first NPC Admins will be introduced. They aren't like the admins in other games since Sapphire has a system that has no loopholes within its rules. Instead, the admins will a.s.sure the balance of the game and step in with quests or events to push things along a little when necessary. Just think of them as high-level or G.o.d-like NPCs."

Indeed.....it's not known to the public but Sapphire's AI system is still constantly being improved so it sends information to my father 24/7. If any problems or complications caused by players arise he can fix them immediately, but having Admins will ease the burden.

As long as they don't ruin the game's balance things will be fine.

"That's basically the only major changes that are implemented. Minor things that don't affect the general public aren't listed."

"Thank for telling me this. I wasn't listening to them talk at all." I smiled at Eugene in grat.i.tude.

Thank G.o.d he was there as well.

Noticing that the car had stopped I realized that we had finally arrived home. Getting off the car, I unloaded my bike and was just about to enter the house before my father decided to dump the most mind-blowing news both me and Eugene.

"By the way, since Toku has a girlfriend and Kai is already over 20, Eugene will be staying in the same room as you, Yuri. You're childhood friends so it should be no problem, right? I mean, you're both mature and reasonable kids." He nonchalantly stated before disappearing into the building.

. . .

No way, I'd rather sleep in the bas.e.m.e.nt next to my treadmill.