Kairon was still lost in the memories of his past life, and the name slipped out before he could stop himself. "Kairon."

  "Hm?" Dreamshore blinked, her eyes wide with confusion.

  "I mean, my in-game ID is Kairon." He snapped back to his senses, a faint, helpless smile tugging at his lips.

  "Haha, so how'd you unlock the Nature Mage class anyway?" The girl's eyes crinkled into a smile as she pressed the question.

  "Ugh, it's a long story." Kairon couldn't exactly tell her the System had force-locked him into the class, so he quickly changed the subject. "Hey, what are you doing grinding mobs out here anyway? What level are you right now?"

  This was a question he'd wanted to ask since the second he'd seen her. The game had only been live for a few hours, and he'd thought there was no way any other Nature Mage player would have made it all the way out here besides himself.

  "I'm level 3!" Dreamshore shook her head, a hint of proud glee in her voice. "I was just curious, so I used the Teleport: Nature's Grove skill. When I got in, I thought it was so beautiful here that I just wandered around. One thing led to another, and I ended up here, so I figured I'd just grind mobs and level up."

  That made sense. Kairon let out a quiet breath of relief.

  "What about you? Why are you out here?" Dreamshore stared at him with curious eyes. She thought Kairon was incredible, the way his attacks hit so hard.

  "I'm out here for the Moonfeather Owlbeast summoning quest." As he spoke, he lifted a hand and took out an incoming Talon Scout, then glanced back at her to add a warning. "The mobs here are way too tough for casual players. You'd be much safer leveling up back in the novice village map."

  He meant every word of it. For the average player, trying to level up here was downright dangerous.

  "Yeah, I was gonna head back anyway! But the Teleport: Nature's Grove skill won't work here. I have to get back to the ward over there to use it." Dreamshore pouted, her voice tinged with frustration.

  Kairon glanced down at his skill bar, and sure enough, the teleport skill was grayed out.

  When he didn't say anything, Dreamshore asked in a small, hesitant voice. "Would you mind power leveling me?"

  Kairon hadn't really planned on it, but one look at her hopeful, eager expression, and he caved.

  "Alright, but let's get one thing straight. I'm leaving the second I finish my quest."

  "Yes! Yes! I'll send the invite!" Dreamshore immediately sent a party request in a flurry of excitement, along with a friend request.

  Ding! System Announcement: Player Dreamshore has invited you to join a party.

  Ding! System Announcement: Player Dreamshore has sent you a friend request.

  The two notifications popped up one after another, and Kairon hit accept on both.

  Truth be told, he couldn't help but feel a spark of curiosity at running into this future top-tier player.

  Thanks to the mobs' scaling level mechanic, the moment the two of them formed a party, the mobs' level locked in at 4. Even though this put Dreamshore at a level disadvantage, her damage was negligible to begin with. He was more than enough to handle all the damage output on his own.

  "Hey Kairon, what item do you need for your quest? I've looted so much stuff here!" Dreamshore asked, following close on his heels.

  "A Moonfeather Owlbeast tail feather." Kairon walked ahead, casually taking out a charging Talon Warrior as he tossed the reply over his shoulder.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  The second he'd finished off the Talon Warrior, he turned around to see Dreamshore running toward him, holding a feather aloft, her face tilted up as she asked. "Is this what you need?"

  Kairon took it from her, caught off guard.

  *Ding! You have obtained the quest item [Moonfeather Owlbeast Tail Feather]. The bearer may bring the tail feather to the peak of the arakkoa nest to summon the Arakkoa Chieftain. Once the chieftain's health is reduced to 30%, the next phase of the quest will be unlocked.*

  It was actually the quest item he needed.

  Kairon held the feather and teased her on purpose. "You sure you want to give this to me? I'll be leaving the second I finish my quest, you know."

  "Ah..." Dreamshore's face fell, clearly flustered by his words, but she recovered quickly and spoke up again. "It's okay! We can head back to Nature's Grove together anyway!"

  "Hahaha." Kairon laughed, pressing the feather back into her hand. "I'm just messing with you. Hold onto this, you'll need it for your class quest when you hit level 5."

  Dreamshore stared at the feather in her hand, then looked over at Kairon, who'd turned back to killing mobs. Her eyes crinkled into crescent moons, two faint dimples appearing in her cheeks, and she summoned her own Shadowwood Panther, charging forward to help with the damage.

  Now that he'd learned the [Rake] skill, his mob grinding rhythm was significantly smoother. Opening with [Rake] stunned the target for a full 5 seconds outright, on top of applying a bleed effect.

  What caught Kairon off guard was that Dreamshore had also unlocked the [Rake] skill. He couldn't help but sigh to himself. When it came to luck, some people really were just born with it, and there was no use comparing.

  Time flew by, and it was nearly 7:50 in the morning. They'd been grinding here for over an hour, and his own quest item still hadn't dropped. Kairon was even tempted to ask Dreamshore if he could borrow that feather to finish his quest first.

  After taking out two more Arakkoa Sorcerers, the area fell quiet for the moment. The two of them retreated to a relatively safe corner.

  Kairon spoke up. "Let's call it here for today. The servers are going down soon; they'll be back up at 6 PM tonight."

  "The game's closing? Why?" Dreamshore asked, her face full of confusion.

  "The game's fixed operating hours are 6 PM every evening to 8 AM the next morning," Kairon explained offhandedly. "It's probably to keep people from letting it interfere with their work and school in the real world."

  "Oh... that makes sense! Alright, I'm gonna log off then! I still have homework to finish!" With that, her figure dissolved into a flash of white light, and she logged off directly.

  "Uh... you really trust me that much?" Kairon stared at the empty spot where she'd been standing, muttering under his breath.

  A second later, he too disconnected from the game.

  What he didn't know was that at 7:59 AM, Dreamshore had snuck back online, just in time to catch the System announcement.

  *Ding! The servers will be shutting down shortly. Next server opening is at 18:00 today. Shutdown countdown: 42 seconds!*

  "So he didn't lie to me!" The little girl muttered quietly before disconnecting once again.

  If Kairon had known what she'd done, there was no telling what he would have thought.

  After exiting the game, Kairon pulled off his full-dive headset, stretched out on his bed, and picked up his phone. He opened his text notifications, staring at the deposit alert from his bank.

  "Heh." He stared at the string of numbers, counting them over and over with a giddy grin. He was still riding the high when a knock sounded at his door.

  He didn't even have to guess who was on the other side of the door. The only people who knew where he lived were Virella and the girl next door, Lenora.

  The second he thought of Lenora, a conflicted feeling welled up in his chest. The girl next door was Liora, the woman who'd stood by his side through everything in his past life.

  He had no idea how to face this girl, the one who'd kept so many secrets from him, yet had never left his side, no matter how bad things got.

  What's more, the two of them had shared countless intimate moments in the game, more times than he could count.

  Even though it had all been in the game, when he'd seen Lenora in her pajamas the night before, the pale slope of her shoulder exposed, he couldn't help but be flooded with memories of every moment he'd spent with Liora.

  He steeled himself, then opened the door.

  On the other side of the door, Lenora stood with her hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a cream-colored casual outfit, smiling up at him.

  Kairon froze, staring at her. In that moment, Lenora's face and Liora's face from his memories slowly blurred together into one.

  Even though you could tweak your appearance in World of Eldrath, the core of a person's features never lies.

  As the two beautiful faces merged into one, Kairon was hit with an almost overwhelming urge to pull Lenora into his arms.

  "Kairon, wanna get breakfast together?" Lenora asked with a smile, extending the invitation.

  "Uh..." Kairon reined in his impulse, his face flushing slightly with embarrassment. "Y-yeah, sure. Just let me get ready first."

  "Mhm, hurry hurry! I'm starving!"

  With that, Lenora stepped right into his apartment and sat down on his messy bed without a single hint of hesitation.

  "Uh... hey, Lenora? I need to change." Kairon gestured down at the basketball tank top and baggy shorts he was wearing, his voice tinged with helplessness.

  "Pfft, what's there to be shy about? We're just going downstairs for breakfast. Just go brush your teeth and wash your face, that's all you need." Lenora said dismissively, not making a single move to leave.