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Khrx groaned and opened his eyes. He was lying next to a boulder, a stream of magma flowing next to his body. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Fufu?”
“Welcome back, Khrx,” Boba said in her crisp voice. “It has been twenty-three minutes since you’ve started [Resolution]. Are you taking a break already? Surely, even someone as incapable as you shouldn’t have died yet.”
A second later, a portal opened in front of Khrx, and a screaming angel fell through, landing face first into the ground. Lorin raised her head and paled as her mouth shut. “Is, is this hell? It’s exactly how I imagined it to be.”
Khrx blinked. “Boba,” he said, ignoring the panicking angel. “What’s going on?”
Boba sighed, causing Lorin to flinch. “It seems like you really did die. Incredible. I applaud your feats.” Clapping sounds echoed through Khrx’s personal room. The clapping stopped when Khrx’s tail bristled, a growl escaping from his throat. Boba coughed. “The death penalty in [Resolution] prevents you from logging into the game for three days. You lose all your items and half of your achievement points. This information should’ve been readily available in the tutorial.”
“There was no tutorial!” Khrx shouted, throwing a rock in the direction of Boba’s floating voice. It bounced off the wall with a clack. “All of you AI are bastards!”
“Um.” Lorin placed her hand on Khrx’s shoulder. “Excuse me. Are we in hell?”
“This is my room!” Khrx said. He looked around. “Hey, Boba. How come she’s here? Isn’t she part of [Resolution]?”
“You already made a companion?” Boba asked, surprise tinting her voice. “Companions are also taken out of the game for three days if the user dies.”
“Game?” Lorin asked. “And why is a divine presence lurking in your room? She speaks exactly like God.” She bit her lower lip and lifted Khrx up, placing him onto her lap. “Who are you?”
“I am Khrx’Lrvnjl,” Khrx said, puffing his chest out. “The mighty dragon emperor!”
“A chuunibyou?” Lorin asked, tilting her head.
“The heck is that? I’m a mighty dragon emperor!” Khrx snorted. “Repeat after me. Mighty. Dragon. Emperor.”
“I understand,” Lorin said, patting his head. “You’ll grow out of it in time.”
“I’m going to rip Luke to shreds one day,” Khrx muttered, kicking at the ground. “Unhand me, drumstick.”
“D-drumstick?” Lorin asked. “My name’s Lorin! An angel…, ex-angel of God. I still haven’t forgotten that it was your fault that I fell!”
“It’s not my fault you didn’t do your job properly,” Khrx said with a snort. He wiggled out of Lorin’s grasp and waved his hand. “Menu.” He selected the [Phone] option and called his only contact, Luke. A rectangular box appeared in front of him with a loading screen accompanied by ringing noises. A few moments later, Luke picked up.
“Khrx?” Luke asked. “Oh, crap. I forgot to remind you after the week was over. But I saw your name on the leaderboards, so I’m not worried. I knew you were capable. You’ll have Fufu back in no time.”
Khrx coughed. “I died.”
“…What!? How the hell did you die already!? Don’t tell me you died to a rabbit. Please, don’t tell me you died to a rabbit.”
Khrx snorted. “The current god smote me with lightning—that bastard. All I did was contract with a fallen angel.”
“And you awakened the Sun God,” Lorin said, speaking into the box.
“Fallen angel? Sun God?” Luke asked. “Wait. No. Who spoke just now? Was that a woman? I thought you were impotent?”
“Your face is impotent!” Khrx shouted and clawed at the rectangular box. It disappeared, ending the call. Khrx stomped his foot and glared at Lorin, whose face was turning red. “I’m not!” Lorin nodded once while pursing her lips. “I’m really not!”
“I understand,” Lorin said. “You’re just a child, after all. I’m sure you’ll grow into it.”
“You understand shit!” Khrx roared. He grabbed at his hair and groaned. “Frustration after frustration after frustration! Gah! This era sucks! I should just go back to sleep for 10,000 years.” He ground his teeth together while growling. “But I can’t fall asleep without my Fufu!” His eyes turned red as he raised his head. “I’ll take her back! First, I have to find that demon lord bastard’s home. Then, I’ll position a lava leyline underneath it and raze it to the ground! Menu!”
Khrx accessed the [Internet] through the interface while muttering to himself, “Luke said any questions I had could be solved by the magical Bongle search engine.” A search bar appeared in the rectangular box with a Bongle logo above is. Khrx’s typing was painfully slow. “Where … does … the … demon … lord … bastard … Luke … live?”
“The demon lord was slain 1,500 years ago by the hero, Rebecca Brave. Though legends say the demon lord is immortal, the demon lord hasn’t appeared since then. Some conspiracy theorists will tell you that the demon lord is alive and well today; perhaps, he or she is even the prime minister or president of a country.”
Khrx stared at the text, a blank expression on his face. “What happened to all my answers could be solved?” he grumbled before raising his eyebrows. He typed into the rectangle. “Tell … me … about … Khrx’Lrvnjl.”
“Your search, Khrx’Lrvnjl, did not match any documents. Make sure all words are spelled correctly, or try a different search term.”
“How come Luke gets a page, but I don’t!?” Khrx stomped his feet and flipped the rectangle over. Or he tried to; his hands passed through the hologram instead. “This is discrimination!”
Khrx accessed the menu and called Luke again. “Luke!” Khrx said after connecting. “Where do you live?”
Laughter came from the other end. “You’re funny, Khrx. If you want Fufu back, you have to accompany me in the game,” Luke said. “Bye.”
“You bastard!” Khrx said, but the rectangle had already disappeared. “How dare you end the call on me? Ah! I’m so mad.” He jumped up and down, stomping his feet against the ground. “I can’t even transform or cast magic! This is bullshit!” He bit his lower lip while pacing about the room. Lorin watched him with concern in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything, sitting in place with her arms folded across her lap. “Do I logout and try heading to the surface again?”
“Khrx,” Boba said. “I noticed that your VR drive is registered under a Damagascarian citizenship, but your physical location is somewhere in the ocean off the coast of Nipon. I’d just like to remind you, since you seem to have no common sense, that a citizen of one country cannot enter another without the proper paperwork. Please, remember to bring your passport with you at all times.”
“Passport?” Khrx asked.
Boba sighed. “Oh. Oh dear.” She sighed again. “Rather than going outside, how about exploring the virtual world? You can access the [Exploration] screen through the [Menu]. I can even connect you to Luke’s personal room since his coordinates have been saved during his last visit.”
“Luke’s personal room?” Khrx asked. His eyes lit up. “Take me there!”
“Understood,” Boba said. She fell silent. A minute passed. “I’m sorry. Luke has rejected your request to enter his personal room. Are you sure he’s your friend? I suggest you reconsider your friendship with him. He’s a grown man while you’re just a child, after all.”
“Khrx is being taken advantage of?” Lorin asked, her eyes widening. She stood up and ran over to Khrx, lifting him up by his armpits. He flailed in the air, but it didn’t have any effect. His tail smacked her face a few times, but Lorin ignored it as she turned him around. “Haven’t your parents taught you about stranger danger?”
Khrx’s expression darkened. “I! Am! Not! A! Child!”
“Yes,” Lorin said with a nod. She smiled at him as she placed him on the ground and played with his ears, crouching to be on the same level as him. “You’re a very fierce man. Who’s a fierce man? You are. Yes, you are.”
Khrx lunged forward and bit Lorin’s nose while clawing at her eyes and ears.
“Ah? Ah! Lord, help me!” Lorin screamed as she fell over, trying to pry Khrx off of her face without agitating her injuries.
A few minutes of shouting, screaming, and scuffling later, Lorin sat across from Khrx, her head hanging. Khrx was sitting on top of a boulder with his arms across his chest, his tail swishing back and forth in the air behind him. Khrx snorted and spat on the ground. “What do you address me as?”
“M-master,” Lorin said and bit her lower lip. Her nose still hurt, the stinging sensation bringing tears to her eyes.
“Good,” Khrx said with a nod.
“Pervert,” Boba whispered, her voice permeating the room despite how low it was.
“I’ll eat your face too one day!” Khrx said, shaking his fist at the air. “Just you wait.” Then he hopped off the boulder and walked over to Lorin’s side, causing the fallen angel to flinch. “Let’s go exploring now. Can I take her with me, Boba?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Boba said. “Since you’re new to the VR drive environment, shall I set up a proper tour for you? Luckily, nearly everyone is playing [Resolution], so all the popular spots should be relatively empty.”
“That’ll be convenient,” Khrx said with a nod. “Make it three days long, so I can start [Resolution] after coming back.”
“As you wish,” Boba said. “Are you sure you don’t want a day off to eat, sleep, and shower? Unless you happen to be one of the rich folks living inside a pod with all your necessities taken care of. Now that I think about it, someone with 1,500,000 euros wouldn’t have an issue with ordering one of those pods. Regardless, I have set up your itinerary in the [Exploration] tab. I hope you enjoy your trip.”
Khrx opened up the menu and navigated to the itinerary. The first destination was the zoo. He pressed the button, and a white doorway appeared in front of him. He held his hand out towards Lorin. “Let’s go, Fufu’s temporary substitute.”
Lorin bit her lip at the strange name, but she grabbed Khrx’s hand and followed him through the door.
***
Awakening Cycle 1,072,362: Day 11.
Dear Diary,
The virtual world is amazing! If I had this in my prime, I’d have never left my cave (not that I ever did anyway). You can explore the world in the comfort of your home. I went to the zoo and saw a ton of strange animals. It seems like everything I knew went extinct. Did you know that the mighty dinosaurs that towered over the trees became little tiny birds no bigger than one of my scales? Right!? I was amazed too. And the aquarium was really cool too. Even though it was virtual, everything felt so real. Especially the sharks! They taste exactly as I remember them. They haven’t changed at all. And there’s these places called theme parks that Lorin really liked. They had rollercoasters and giants wheels that lifted you into the air, but it was kind of boring. Well, I am a dragon with special tastes after all. Not just anything can thrill me. Oh, and I forgot to tell you who Lorin was. She’s this ‘fallen angel’ which I guess is the new term for a bird monkey. Once I chased the annoying part out of her, she’s actually really nice company. She reminds me of Fufu. But no one can replace the real Fufu. Sigh. I miss her. I’m going to enter [Resolution] again now that my death penalty is over. I have to do my best to win her back!
Love,
Khrx