First Upgrade

The Virtual World — Welcome World · Extra 01

Coins lay scattered across the grass and stones beside an old, overturned sack.

LYRIA picked one up and turned it between her fingers.

She still had no idea what it was worth. But after everything she'd been through to get this far, she hoped it would at least buy her something useful.

The merchant watched her approach his stall.

He was an enormous reptilian creature with grey scales and the expression of someone who had watched thousands of adventurers make the same mistakes.

LYRIA set her coins on the counter.

The merchant examined her gear, then took a pair of protective bracers from his stall.

“First upgrade?”

LYRIA nodded.

“These should keep you alive.”

“Should?”

He didn't answer.

LYRIA sighed, took the bracers, and walked away.

A little later, she reached a ridge.

An immense landscape opened before her: mountains rising above the clouds, distant cities, and islands suspended in the sky.

For a moment, she stood perfectly still.

She had collected her first rewards and improved her equipment.

Yet, looking out at that horizon, she realized how little she had seen.

Level 08.

It was only the beginning.