The Sweets Prince's Search - Chapter 22: Cookies Sold Out

Sing the story, bard, of the Firebrand. He, the youth who saved Morcaster from ruin. He, the warrior who defeated an empire. He, the archmage who crossed the Netherworld...The tale of Martel the mage, from his humble beginnings as a hapless novice at a magic school. Slow, character-focused and light-hearted progression fantasy. Updates daily.

One scam package,That's all it took to drag the 17-year-old Cail into the world of the void....He thought he had ordered a limited-edition sneakers. But what came was a shady-looking package on his front gate. It smelled like rotten egg and sulfur. Inside the package was a strange box.It's filled with eccentric junk. They looked very intricate and mysterious. He thought, “I probably got someone else's package, a package from someone that was very interested in mysticism.”An old coin, a cracked compass, a ring with an ugly center stone, and some other weird looking trinkets.So he did what any broke student would do:He sold it. He figured someone might want them for cosplay or something. Well, except the gold-rimmed glasses that seemed to fit him very well.“Damn, I paid 7,000 nu for that sneaker; I better get something out from this scam package.”Then all hell broke loose. Strange people started approaching him.People brought that junk. Very strange people wearing suspicious get up trying to buy those stuff in the sketchiest manner possible.As he kept selling, he realized that the box was refilling, it seemed to have an endless supply of those strange stuff. Those people called it 'artifacts'.Then one day he woke up with a strange tattoo on his arm; inside the tattoo was an independent space containing the box. It is basically inseparable from him.“I didn't ask for any of this to happen. But now, strange people come to me with desperate offers. Money, memories, and even soul.”He's just trying to survive high school while earning some money!He had no idea what was going on, but apparently, this thing that he got? It's not just an artifact. It's a contract.As Cail navagates school life, part-time jobs, and otherworldly clients, he starts asking the real question:When did I become an artifact dealer?!By day, he is just an ordinary student, a NPC character.And by night? He is The Dealer. Selling ancient items and dealing with people that he probably shouldn't be talking to.“Since I'm already in this mess, might as well profit off of it.”

A full dive VR game has been released, A New World. While it is not the only VR game in the world, this one has one advantage over others:

Being able to play it even while sleeping.

Like one would think, many people jumped to try and claim the first headsets. Mostly gamers, but some other types of people too. Our MC, Eldrian, is naturally a gamer who could not wait but to try it.

Quickly he and everyone else who bought the headsets found themselves in a world, not just a game. While realism is nice and all, the amount they were given was just too much...

Players started taking emotional tolls from playing the game, and when the company made a shocking announcement. This was amplified.

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AN:

I started this(July2020) just about a year ago now(June2021) as a newbie writer, and am proud with what it has become.

I will warn people that the game and real-world is truly integrated, as well that the story is slow.

Things don't magically happen for the sake of the story, I always try to figure out what would happen if this was reality. (Though I might fail sometimes in achieving this.)

I also try to be interactive with my readers, maybe too much... So do comment, I read all the chapter comments and most of the paragraph ones.

Summoned to be a hero in another world, Liu Ji’s fate took an unexpected turn as he landed in a barren wasteland.With no survival skills, he chose an extraordinary method to stay alive: turning into a potato.Rooted in the wilderness, Liu Ji performed photosynthesis and drew sustenance from the earth.Through this humble form, Liu Ji harnessed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorbing the essence of all living things.