A Second Arrives.

There are five events in Cosmic order, and since it was Tao Lin's first time here. The system decided to have all of them happen at once. The five biggies were, the flocks, the surprises, the distortions, the shifts, and the stand-alone.

The thing that Tao Lin saw charging at him when he entered the field was the flock. And this one was full of high level beasts that you could find later in the game; Gigantic wolves, floating monkeys with bad ass glowing gear, and sprinkled in elves with solar powered cannons. If the Alchemist was here, perhaps he would stand a chance. But that wasn't the worst part of his welcome.

Next, the shifts arrived in and slowly marked their territory by circling around him. They were like specters and flanked Tao from every side. To follow them up there was the surprise that bloomed out of a cloud like rain from the sky. Even better it was a three-headed dragon. And it dropped down and plucked up one section of the flock.

Of course, if that wasn't enough, there was the stand-alone who was the hegemon of the local area. He declared his authority by picking up a chunk of mountain and tossing it at the dragon. It was already battered by the solar powered elves. Tao almost felt bad for it, but he was more terrified of the damage. He saw a series of large numbers flash above the dragons head, -100,000, -150,000, -20,000. The dragon roared, with a saddened echo, as it flailed like a dead fish falling out of the sky. And then the distortion appeared right below Tao. The spectral army, dancing all around him with little ghostly blades, got close enough that he could hear them muttering.

"Your chances of dying are 99.966666 percent."

It wasn't hard for Tao to figure out that this was bad. If that huge dragon landed on him, his one hundred Vim would disappear in a flash. And he took the only chance he had and dived into the distortion black hole thing. He kept having this nagging feeling that it was all over. It was all some weird joke. But, luckily, the distortion didn't crush him like the Hawking black hole in reality. Instead he appeared in a small pretty town with flowers.

"You've arrived 2000 miles west of your destination."

Tao, so relieved he nearly pissed his pants, looked in his visor trying to make heads or tails of the map. It didn't look like anywhere he had been before.

The town he was in was chosen by the system, and The Alchemist could do little to stop it. It was, unfortunately, an entity with a mind of its own.

There was a beautiful house glazed with some snow and grass. Tao Lin decided to walk over to it. The door was already open, so he slid inside.

The entire time he was wondering how disappointed his dad would be knowing that his dream was just a machine that trapped you and forced you to play. Perhaps, his dad thought the machine would do all the work for you, and there would be no danger.

"Hey, kid, welcome to the Zoo. Best place in all the Cosmos!"

A small little girl in a robe ran up to him and pulled up a chair. "Please take a seat, Tao."

The system had a bunch of AI's that were living here. They were just as developed as human beings.

"What's your name miss," Tao asked, "And which town am I in?"

"You're in Sebena, I'm Nave, and your safe errant (1). Welcome to the first Zoo you'll ever visit." Then the little girl pointed over towards a screen that had on this weird show. Wait, it was a man with red hair pulling on him. He saw the land of Cosmis Order disappear before his eyes. And then, all of a sudden, this new place was in front of him.

A man with two beady eyes pulled him out of the cultivation cabin. His face soaked in some real bright daylight, and he looked at a shadow that was blooming into a person.

"I see you're nowhere near where I asked you to go, Tao, but welcome to the Fortress," the Alchemist greeted.

"Ugh, I feel so wierd," Tao replied.

"It's just your first time exiting. You'll get used to it."

Tao accepted a tug, and made his way out of the machine. He followed The Alchemist as he nearly stumbled over every few steps. And then he started talking as they moved forward.

Basically, the Fortification looked like a palatial palace in the royal-blue sky and had three hundred other spots for pods. Tao was given a tour and walked around the space. It had almost everything you could hope for in a castle in the sky. There was a forest in the middle of it, and five hundred bedrooms on the periphery of the main operating cabin.

Afterwards, Tao and The Alchemist sat down in the room and spoke some pleasantries. After about thirty minutes passed by, The Alchemist explained he was waiting for some more players before they returned to the game. So, they waited by the monitor and hoped another light would popup. It gave him just enough time to go over how the game worked.

Basically, Cosmic Realm was akin to a different dimension, but in virtual reality. Except, since it was connected to your very soul. Well, unfortunately, you'd die if you died in the game. At least the Alchemist wasn't going to risk dying, and he passed the same warning to Tao Lin.

Tao sighed. "So, why is it taking so long for someone else to show up," Tao asked, "how long are we going to have to wait here."

"Just hold on. I haven't even showed you the coolest part of the game."

....

The Alchemist and Tao walked into a forest inside of the Fortress. Three killer wasps, fighters from the Atlantic company, were buzzing. They were tech meant to stop the Pacific company from wiping out the world. And cost millions to make. The Alchemist, however, was looked at them like he was going to fight them by himself.

To Tao Lin, at the moment, this was ridiculous. These monsters were so fast jet planes had trouble shooting them down. However, he as unaware that the Alchemist had reached the Foundation Stage after ten years in Cosmic Order. And, for forty years, he'd been trying to figure out how to advance farther. Well, regardless of what Tao thought. He still activated their systems.

"Attack!"

The wasps moved four times faster than bullets. Tao couldn't even see what happened next since all three of them were up in the air.

"Drunken Fist!" The Alchemist swiped his hands in a beautiful confusing mess of flashes. His energy was channeled through his meridians as a force blasted out from his body. Hundred if not thousands of hands struck every inch of the wasps who tried to dodge to no avail. Afterwards, they looked like porous sponges with small fires burning them all over. And the alchemist flew down with a smile on his face.

"Pretty cool, right? I could probably kill ten without getting injured."

"Ugh, yeah, but how did you do that? That's totally insane!"

"Well, give yourself a few years kid. The game will give you all of this and more."

Today was the first time Tao really saw that the game was able to grant abilities. He hounded Tao about how he was able to do it and spent even longer asking him how to get by in the game. Unfortunately, there was no cheats down the road. You could only fight monsters and the system would grant you essence.

He only had one important question for the professor after that. When could he go back in the game?

"I was hoping you would at least have a few players to join you. Is the world really so lacking?"

"You mean there was a reason I was chosen?" Tao asked.

"Hmm, yes. your body has a very special microscopic organ. But I won' t waist your time with that. Now, I might as well let you play. Hopefully, you won't be on your own for too long."

….

Title: Panda Low Life

Vim 956/1100

Cultivation: Qi Third stage

Slays: 316

Comments: almost a qualified Fertilizer

Tao Lin entered a dungeon when a message finally appeared on the right side of his head. The second player has arrived. Would you care to send a greeting her way?

"Yes."

"Please look into the camera and say a greeting."

"See you back in base!" Tao smiled.

The second player walked out and flicked her hair. She was the first person in three months to arrive.

Tao, however, was busy exploring a new region. A long claw lashed at him right after he sent the message, and he instantly lost 50 Vim.