Dante walked through the chaotic muddy streets of Outpost 404.

The server was currently in a state of absolute meltdown.

Every player he passed was either screaming about the global leaderboards, arguing about the Titan kill, or frantically trying to join a raid group to hunt down Vanguard’s Legacy members for the [Crimson Edge] bounty.

Dante kept his head down. He navigated the crowded alleys and ignored the constant pings hitting his regional chat interface.

He reached Botanical Remedies.

The shop was still relatively quiet compared to the blacksmith across the street. The same stressed NPC clerk was standing behind the glass counter.

The moment the clerk saw Dante walk through the door, his artificial eyes immediately dropped to the [Band of the Void-Walker] on the left hand of Dante.

The NPC didn’t say a single word. He just reached under the counter and pulled the hidden lever.

The heavy oak bookshelf swung open to reveal the stone corridor.

Dante walked right past the counter and headed down the stairs into the subterranean laboratory.

Lady Vespera was standing exactly where he had left her. She was leaning over her massive mahogany desk and grinding some kind of glowing blue root in an iron mortar.

She didn’t look up as Dante approached.

"You are back early," Vespera said. Her voice echoed smoothly in the cold room.

"I felt the thermal spikes from Embercraig Canyon all the way over here. I assume you found the Enforcers of Malric."

"They found me," Dante corrected.

He stopped at the edge of her desk. He waved his right hand over the polished wood.

Ten [Sunflare Orchids] dropped from his infinite inventory. The bright yellow petals pulsed with internal fire and completely illuminated the dark desk.

Vespera finally stopped grinding. She set the iron pestle down and picked up one of the glowing flowers.

She inspected the stem carefully and turned it over in her hands.

"Flawless condition," Vespera noted. A hint of genuine surprise broke her composed demeanor. "You did not even singe the roots. I expected you to bring me back burnt scraps."

"I am an overachiever," Dante said. "I held up my end of the barter. You have your reagents."

Vespera nodded. She opened a drawer and pulled out a small velvet-lined box. She slid it across the desk.

Dante opened it. Inside sat three vials filled with a dense silver liquid.

[Item Appraised: Elixir of the Colossus]

[Tier: Gold]

[Description: Permanently increases the base Strength and Defense stats of the user by 100 points each. Limit: 3 uses per player.]

It was an incredible reward for a simple gathering quest.

Three hundred raw stats across the board was enough to make a Level 20 player hit like a Level 40.

Dante didn’t touch the box. He just looked at Vespera.

"These are great," Dante said. "But that was not the main deal."

He pointed toward the heavy and frost-warded glass display case in the corner of the room. Sitting on the velvet cushion inside was the single teardrop-shaped crystal vial holding the prismatic liquid.

"I want the Aetherial Nectar," Dante stated.

Vespera let out a soft and amused laugh.

"Outworlder, I told you. The price for the Nectar is fifty billion gold coins. Bringing me ten orchids proves you are competent. It does not magically make you the richest entity on the server."

"I do not have fifty billion gold," Dante admitted and crossed his arms.

"But I know how NPC logic parameters work. System vendors are allowed to engage in bartering if the offered item meets or exceeds the set monetary value of the requested good."

The violet eyes of Vespera narrowed. "You think you have an item worth fifty billion gold? In a beginner zone?"

Dante held out his hand.

He accessed his void ring. He didn’t pull out the [Staff of Cinders] or the raw materials he had farmed.

He reached past all of it to search for a specific item he had vacuumed up from the shattered arena in the Whispering Chasm.

A heavy melon-sized object materialized in his palm.

The entire subterranean laboratory instantly went cold.

The glowing blue roots on the desk of Vespera immediately dimmed. They were overpowered by the sheer terrifying energy radiating from the hand of Dante.

It was a asymmetrical crystal.

It was completely translucent. But the core inside the crystal was a swirling and violent storm of purple and black energy. It looked like a contained dying star.

[Item Appraised: Titan Core (Phantom Chimera)]

[Tier: Titan]

[Description: The concentrated and crystallized life force of a Titan-tier entity. Possesses near-infinite energetic applications for high-tier alchemy, crafting, and spell-forging. Drop rate: 0.01%.]

Lady Vespera physically took a step backward.

Her composed and elegant posture completely vanished. Her eyes widened and reflected the violent purple storm swirling inside the crystal.

"By the old gods," Vespera whispered. Her voice was entirely stripped of its usual echo. "That is a raw Titan Core."

"Freshly harvested," Dante said casually. He tossed the massive and heavy crystal a few inches into the air and caught it.

"I noticed you run an apothecary. You do high-tier alchemy. I am guessing a flawless Titan Core is probably the single best alchemical reagent you have ever seen."

Vespera couldn’t take her eyes off it. Her hands actually twitched.

"The energetic yield is... incalculable," she breathed. "I could synthesize a new body with that. I could break the localized containment array of the Outpost."

"So we have a deal?" Dante asked and held the core out.

Vespera finally looked up at him. The amusement in her eyes was completely gone.

She was looking at him with the same cautious reverence Aura had shown him in the subterranean pantheon.

"You are no ordinary Outworlder," Vespera said. She walked over to the frost-warded display case.

She tapped the glass and disabled the glowing blue runes. The case hissed open.

She carefully picked up the teardrop vial.

She walked back to the desk and held it out.

Dante placed the Titan Core on her desk. He took the vial.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Dante said.

He didn’t wait. He popped the delicate crystal stopper off the top of the vial.

The liquid inside smelled like rain and static electricity. He downed it in a single quick gulp.

It tasted like absolutely nothing. It felt like drinking cold air.

But the moment the liquid hit his stomach, his system interface exploded with notifications!

[Mythic Consumable: Aetherial Nectar Applied.]

[Physiology rewrite initiated.]

[Warning: This process is irreversible.]

[Success.]

[Trait Acquired: Absolute Immunity.]

[Description: User is permanently immune to all negative status effects. Poison, Bleed, Burn, Freeze, Stun, Silence, Suppression, and Instant-Death mechanics are completely negated.]

Dante let out a long breath. The constant and lingering fatigue in his digital muscles vanished entirely.

He was practically a god.

Between his massive health pool, the [Aegis Deflection] parry window, the unblockable true damage of [Voidsever], and now complete immunity to crowd control, there wasn’t a player on the server who could lock him down.

A loud and jarring alarm suddenly blared in his ears! It wasn’t an in-game alert.

[System Warning: Physical Body Limits Reached.]

[Time in Capsule: 07:55:00]

[Mandatory Neural Disconnect in 5 Minutes.]

Dante blinked away the red warning text.

The Zenith Protocol didn’t let players stay in the game forever.

The VR capsules provided intravenous nutrients and hydration. But the human brain couldn’t handle the continuous and hyper-realistic sensory input without severe degradation.

Every eight hours, the system forced a mandatory lockout.

Players had to disconnect, sleep, and move their real physical bodies to prevent muscular atrophy.

"I have to go," Dante said. He turned toward the hidden exit.

"Take the stat elixirs," Vespera said. She was still staring at the Titan Core on her desk.

Dante grabbed the velvet box. He dumped the three [Elixirs of the Colossus] into his inventory to drink later.

He walked up the stone stairs. He pushed past the bookshelf and exited the apothecary.

He jogged down the muddy street until he found a quiet designated safe zone near the Outpost fountain.

He opened his system menu and hit the logout button.

The vibrant and chaotic world of Overture instantly froze.

The colors drained away and turned into static. Then everything went completely black.

***

The transition back to reality was always miserable.

The eyes of Dante snapped open. The curved plexiglass lid of his VR capsule was inches from his face.

The air inside the pod smelled like stale sweat and antiseptic gel.

The capsule hissed and depressurized the seal. The heavy lid slowly swung open automatically.

Dante reached up. He unlatched the thick neural-link cables from the base of his neck.

He pulled the IV lines out of his left arm and winced slightly as the needles detached.

He sat up. His real-world body felt like it was made of lead.

His muscles ached. He was stiff from eight hours of absolute immobility.

He swung his legs over the side of the padded capsule and planted his bare feet on the cold linoleum floor of his apartment.

The contrast was jarring.

A minute ago, he was a walking powerhouse wearing armor forged from sunlight and bartering with ancient entities.

Now, he was just a guy sitting in his boxers in a cramped and dingy studio apartment in Sector 4 of Oakhaven.

The neon lights from the mag-train rails outside flickered through his dirty blinds. They cast harsh blue shadows across his tiny living space.

The ambient sound wasn’t the roaring of dragons or the clashing of swords.

It was the loud and mechanical screech of a train braking and the distant wailing siren of a Veridian enforcer patrol car.

"Reality sucks," Dante muttered. He rubbed his stiff neck.

He stood up and his knees popped loudly.

He walked over to the tiny kitchenette and grabbed a bottle of synthetic water from the mini-fridge. He downed half of it in three seconds.

He checked the time on his datapad sitting on the counter. It was late evening.

He needed to take a shower and get some real food.

The capsule nutrients kept you alive, but they didn’t stop your stomach from feeling completely empty.

He noticed the small overflowing trash bin sitting next to his door. It was full of instant noodle cups from yesterday.

Dante grabbed the trash bag, tied it off, and pulled on a gray hoodie and a pair of sweatpants.

He unlocked his front door and stepped out into the hallway of his apartment complex.

The hallway was narrow. It was lined with peeling yellow wallpaper and flickering fluorescent lights.

The carpet smelled faintly of old smoke and cheap cleaning chemicals.

Dante took two steps toward the trash chute at the end of the hall before a loud crash echoed from the doorway right next to his.

"Pivot! I said pivot, Lila!" a frustrated voice yelled.

"I am pivoting! The box is too heavy!" a second voice argued.

Dante stopped. The apartment next door had been empty for six months.

He watched as a massive and heavy cardboard box was shoved awkwardly through the doorway. It scraped violently against the doorframe.

Holding the back end of the box was a tall woman with striking dark red hair tied up in a messy bun.

She was wearing a tank top and sweatpants. She looked incredibly stressed.

Holding the front end was a shorter girl with bright blue hair. She struggled to keep her grip on the cardboard.

They dropped the box simultaneously. It hit the hallway floor with a heavy thud.

"Ow," the blue-haired girl complained and shook her fingers.

A third woman stepped out of the apartment. She easily stepped over the dropped box.

She had sharp features and dark eyes. She was carrying an entire armful of thick and high-end VR neural cables.

"You guys are terrible at spatial awareness," the third woman noted dryly.

Dante walked over.

"Need a hand?" Dante asked.

The three women jumped slightly. They did not realize he was standing there.

The redhead turned to look at him. She blinked and brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face.

Up close, her eyes were sharp and analytical.

"Sorry," she said and let out an exhausted sigh. "We did not mean to block the hallway. We are just moving in. The movers refused to carry this one up the stairs because the elevator is broken."

"It is fine," Dante said. He set his trash bag down, stepped past the blue-haired girl, and grabbed the bottom corner of the heavy box. "Where do you want it?"

"Just inside the living room, please," the redhead said and grabbed the other side.

They lifted the box together.

It was insanely heavy and filled with what felt like metal plating.

Dante easily helped her maneuver it through the doorway and set it down against the wall of the mostly empty apartment.

"Thank you," the redhead said and wiped her forehead. "I am Seraphina. Most people just call me Sera. These two completely useless movers are Lila and Nyx."

"Hey!" Lila protested and crossed her arms.

Nyx just smirked and dumped her armful of VR cables onto a nearby folding table.

Dante looked at the cables. Then he looked at the three massive military-grade VR capsule crates sitting in the center of their living room.

Those weren’t civilian models. Those were top-of-the-line professional esports dive rigs.

"You guys play Overture," Dante noted casually.

"We do," Sera nodded. "We actually run a studio. Well, we are trying to set up a new base of operations here in Oakhaven. It is cheaper rent."

Dante looked at Sera. He looked at her dark red hair and sharp eyes.

He thought about the guild leader he had just sold a billion credits worth of gear to less than an hour ago.

Her in-game ID was Sera.

Dante kept his face completely blank.

"I am Dante," he said and offered his hand.

Sera shook it. She had a firm grip. "Nice to meet you, Dante. Sorry again for the noise."

"Do not worry about it," Dante said and stepped back out into the hallway. "Welcome to the building."

He picked up his trash bag and walked down the hall toward the chute. He didn’t look back.

He had just moved in next door to the exact people funding his war against Silas.

"Small world," Dante muttered to himself and dropped the bag down the chute.