Chapter 1

A single pill could replace an entire day’s meal, and with devices and displays implanted in their bodies and eyes, people crossed freely between virtual and augmented reality. Humanity now lived in an age where virtual reality felt more familiar than the real world itself.

There were four main ways to experience virtual reality.

The first generation, who had implanted devices and displays in their bodies and eyes.

The second generation, who used virtual capsules.

The third generation, known as “Borgs,” who underwent android surgeries that eliminated the need for capsules.

And the fourth generation, who abandoned their physical bodies entirely and transplanted their consciousness into devices.

The first generation, used worldwide, could access virtual reality or summon augmented reality freely from anywhere. But the senses they felt inside virtual reality were lacking. To compensate, virtual capsules were developed.

A virtual capsule was a semi-oval pod, barely the size of a small room. Though cramped, to the users, it contained everything needed for daily life. With cheap maintenance handled by the management centers, people abandoned their homes and moved en masse into capsule towns run by the Virtual Management Centers.

In this way, sixty percent of the global population ended up living in capsule towns, plunging themselves into virtual reality. The kind of VR people preferred varied by generation and age, but unsurprisingly, the place young people flocked to most was “games.”

Theo was a second-generation user, someone who used a virtual capsule, and he played one of the VR games called Eternal Tale.

Theo was generally unlucky. In gaming terms, he was what people called a shit-hand¹. For example, items that usually flooded the marketplace would somehow vanish whenever Theo tried to buy them. When trading, there was always about a thirty percent chance he ran into a scammer. And if he went to farm items himself, he would find everything except the one he needed.

Still, because of his bad luck, he ended up farming endlessly. As a result, his warehouse was crammed with items he couldn’t use and assorted junk. At that point, it was hard to tell whether he was unlucky or actually lucky—after all, he couldn’t use them himself, but selling them earned him a tidy profit.

Walking along a vast blue shoreline, Theo checked his inventory and actions. He had a generous stock of potions, a scroll that doubled item drops, an alchemy action that let him craft healing actions and potions, two attack actions, and one mobility action that allowed him to dash quickly in all directions.

Eternal Tale had no fixed classes. Those who wielded two or more weapon types were called Hybrids, while those who specialized in only one weapon were called Origins.

Players could also create their own motions to form “actions,” and these were known as Signature Actions. They could be traded among players, purchased, or custom-made, then enchanted with stats to be used in combat—in other words, they functioned like skills.

Actions were divided into three categories: combat, lifestyle, and murderer (PvP). From each category, players could select one action to rank up, and their choices allowed them to craft unique and individualized characters.

Hybrids had four action slots per weapon, while Origins had five. Though the number of slots was limited, there was no restriction on how many actions a player could own in total.

The more weapons equipped, the more slots a player gained—but attack power became spread too thin. So most players stuck to two or three weapons at most. Theo was an Origin who specialized in bows.

His plan was to catch the regular ferry at the village pier and head to a nearby island to farm items. For that, he switched his setup from combat to farming and left the village.

Of course, he could have piloted a boat himself, but whenever he didn’t feel like it, he just took the ferry. The ferry had one drawback: once you boarded, you were stuck on the island until it returned. But Theo liked that—it let him farm without distractions.

He glanced around the quiet beach. It was the first time he’d seen the place so deserted. Usually, there were at least two or three people waiting to board the ferry, but today, not a single user was in sight.

Thinking it was strange, he walked toward the pier, narrowing his eyes at something glittering on the white sand.

“What’s that?”

He quickened his pace and picked it up—then froze.

Theo’s fingertips trembled. He blinked rapidly in disbelief, even rubbed his eyes several times, but the Feather of Raia remained in his grasp.

The Feather of Raia was one of five legendary keys—alongside the Pearl of Boros, Scale of Auteria, Ring of Gilan, and Leaf of Shubistian. Each allowed entry into a hidden sanctuary where the game’s only mythic-grade treasures, the Eternal Items, could be obtained.

“This is insane…”

Muttering to himself, he suddenly jolted with realization. He hurriedly rechecked his inventory, equipment, and actions. He was still set to his farming loadout with alchemy ready. It was unbelievable, pure luck.

“Seriously insane…”

Before the five-minute limit could expire, Theo, almost entranced, activated the Feather of Raia.

In the blink of an eye, the scenery shifted. Now he stood on a remote island, surrounded by endless sea, with a shabby little pier. This was Raia’s Nest.

A salty breeze swept across him, sharp and refreshing. For a moment, he stared blankly at the endless blue of sky and ocean. Then he turned his head. Behind him stretched a dense green forest, and at the mountain peak in the island’s center lay a massive, rainbow-feathered bird, curled up and asleep. Raia.

Theo’s lips quivered as if he wanted to say something, but emotion choked his throat. Still, he couldn’t keep this exhilarating, envy-inducing news to himself.

“Guild, I just picked up Raia’s Feather.”

Calling out the category command, Theo made a gesture as if pulling something from beside his temple. A display appeared in front of him.

[Guild] [Father: ??]

[Guild] [Noquia: What? lol]

[Guild] [Red Snapper: Yeah right.]

[Guild] [Marco: Sure, like we’d believe that.]

[Guild] [Holanghee: Show us proof!]

[Guild] [If It’s You Then Me: With your bad luck? Impossible, dude.]

[Guild] [If It’s Not You Then Me: If you picked up Raia’s Feather, then I just picked up Boros’s Pearl.]

All conversations could be switched between voice and chat. For guild categories, where many people gathered, most preferred chat. Typos and ignoring spelling rules were basically the norm.

“Guild, I’m telling you, it’s real.”

Theo drew the bow from his back and slowly left the pier, stepping into the island.

[Guild] [Father: Don’t talk one after the other, you two. It’s confusing.]

[Guild] [IfI t’s You Then Me: …]

[Guild] [If It’s Not You Then Me: …]

[Guild] [Bastard Kid: I heard potion mats drop like crazy there, so if you brought alchemy, jackpot.]

“Guild, good thing I brought alchemy. I came out here to farm anyway…”

[Guild] [BastardKid: ?]

[Guild] [Father: Definitely lying.]

[Guild] [Noquiah: Fool someone else…]

[Guild] [Leather Flute Hip Song: Lies like that only work if you’re the kind of guy people trust.]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: Why not say you brought healing too? lol]

“Guild, I actually did bring healing, just in case.”

[Guild] [Father: You? Healing? With your nonexistent INT, isn’t it trash? Does it even heal 10?]

“Guild, it heals 50, okay? I bought it just in case.”

[Guild] [Holanghee: 50 lolololololololol]

[Guild] [Red Snapper: At that level, it’s more like shaving off your lifespan.]

[Guild] [Noquiah: Father, you’re underestimating Theo by a factor of five.]

[Guild] [Father: My bad;;;]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: Just call him with Correction Target. If he’s really in the Nest, summon won’t work.]

“Guild, damn it, I feel like a criminal…”

[Guild] [Noquiah: If you lied, then you are a criminal lol]

[Guild] [Father: Summon doesn’t work.]

[Guild] [Leather Flute Hip Song: ??]

[Guild] [Father: Says you can’t summon users inside a sanctuary…]

[Guild] [Holanghee: For real?]

[Guild] [Marco: He’s actually in the sanctuary??]

[Guild] [Red Snapper: With alchemy too?]

[Guild] [Noquiah: That shit-hand? Not just in the Nest, but with alchemy in tow?!]

[Guild] [Bastard Kid: Bro, are you dying tomorrow?;;]

“Guild, I’m not dying… I was just headed to Nautil Island for farming with this setup, but I picked up the Feather near the pier.”

To swap actions, you had to be in a safe zone like a village. But Raia’s Feather wasn’t tied to a specific drop spot, and it vanished if you left the place you found it. Which meant the chances of entering the sanctuary with alchemy equipped were extremely slim. Yet somehow, the unluckiest player of them all—shit-hand Theo—had pulled it off.

“Guild, anyway, I’m not leaving until I get an Eternal.”

[Guild] [Father: Then you’ll never come out alive.]

[Guild] [Holanghee: Goodbye… sweetie.]

[Guild] [Noquiah: He’ll just come out loaded with junk loot.]

[Guild] [Marco: Maybe he’ll sell the junk and buy an Eternal instead.]

[Guild] [If It’s You Then Me: Should we collect your corpse if you turn into a skeleton?]

[Guild] [If It’s Not You Then Me: Forget the Eternal, aim for something else. That’s the only way you’ll get drops.]

[Guild] [Father: I said don’t talk one after the other.]

[Guild] [If It’s Not You Then Me: No! I don’t wanna!]

[Guild] [If It’s You Then Me: No! I don’t wanna!]

[Guild] [Holanghee: The twins muzzled again? lol]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: Bet they’ll storm the guild base and wreck it.]

[Guild] [Father: Joke’s on you, I am the guild base.]

[Guild] [Yorkshire: Guess they’re not coming then;;]

Watching the noisy chat window, Theo didn’t close the display—he just slid it off to the side of his temple. They probably wouldn’t mention him anymore anyway.

Even though he’d been ridiculously lucky to end up in the sanctuary, no one in the guild actually believed he’d get an Eternal Item. Honestly, Theo didn’t expect it either. Just being here already felt like he’d spent a lifetime’s worth of luck.