Prologue (2)

Immediately after grasping him by the neck he slammed him face down into the granite dance floor, but that was simply the beginning he lifted him off the ground to do it two more times before lifting him up and striking him in the face and gut alternatively before he was pulled off of him and held back by over 6 students all while trying to calm him down, while others ran to get security for the event who proceeded to take King out of the function and get Derek medical attention that he desperately needed.

While King was being escorted out Casey chased after him to clear up his side of the story because with how quick and precise his retaliation was few would view this as self defense or defending one's significant other, and what she feared came true Derek's friends were worried and called his parents with his phone and relayed to them what happened to which they were obviously furious both were attorneys with considerable influence so they used their connections to get King brought to the station shortly after they'd gotten Derek to a hospital.

Luckily for King several witnesses provided a testimony that showed what transpired wasn't outright assault, conjoined with several of his teachers from school vouching for his normal behavior and ethics he wasn't charged with any crime, however he was almost removed as a scholarship student due to the excessive complaints from Derek's parents and several other boosters who supported the school which was only blocked due to Mother Olivia showing up to the school and begging nearly kowtowing for it to be kept, which tore up King to the depths of his soul and that was when a part of him snapped that would likely never be fixed again, he vowed to never ever be put in a position where those he cared about would be in danger nor need to lower their head to get out of a situation due to a lack of power.

After this King reluctantly continued the monotonous cycle of school which had only became worse after he nearly lost his scholarship and a lot of potential scholarship to universities he began to simply do the bare minimum still feeling extreme guilty about what his actions cost Mother Olivia while gaming as much as Mother Olivia would allow she was caring but very strict at the same time, King knew she was basically playing the role of both Father and Mother for the majority of the orphans and he vowed once he was older he would help lighten the load on her shoulders, although he picked up part time jobs here and there and made some money on some of the mmorpg and other games he played she rarely accepted his money, and at this point he wanted enough money to emulate a form of status or become an icon while making money realizing that positions of power and money were synonymous with each other.

Luckily for him he got the chance much sooner than he expected on his 18th Birthday a groundbreaking new VRMMORPG game called Asteria came out and with his savings from any part time work he could get as a minor and any money he made from similar online games boosting casuals plus his relentless convincing of Mother Olivia led him to being able to get one of the pods although he couldn't get one of the top of the line gaming cabins that provided you the ability to play while sleeping and protein/nutrient packs that would keep you in optimum condition to game day/night if your schedule allowed.

The good news was only beginning King had finally convinced Mother Olivia to allow him to take a gap year he'd finally finished High school and although he was an adequate student he'd much rather spend the time gaming he coasted through a decent private k-12 high school with A's but his extra curricular standings were atrocious due to him helping out around the orphanage and gaming or spending time with his girlfriend Casey, who was similar to Mother Olivia less than pleased to hear about the gap year.

"In my defense Case you were offered a full ride scholarship to any university you wanted, and although I could've gotten some grants and financial programs to go along with you but Derek's parents would make it a living hell to get in, plus we both know that I'd much rather be a pro gamer and this is an opportunity I simply can't pass up I'll just take it as a blessing in disguise" King said

"If you don't want to go to college with me you could have simply said that instead of making it seem like this is your one big chance to make it big as a gamer don't you think everyone else is thinking the exact same thing as you too, why do you think you'll be any different than them" Casey scoffed

"I'll take it that you are just frustrated I didn't keep our promise and that you do really support my dreams the same way I support yours, and on that note if I don't have the mindset that I can and will be the best I will always fall short against those who believe no one can outclass them but them it's just that simple, you've known me my whole life an I always have been my happiest while gaming why not do it as a career then?" He said

"That may be true but if you can break a promise like this so easily who's to say that there won't be more broken promises in the future, it's probably best we go our second ways you do what's best for you and I'll do the same" She said while tearing up.

"It's just a year I'll join you after that but if that's how you really feel then maybe I should just take your advice and focus on me, I love you enough for you to pursue your dream even if I can't be there the entire time and I thought you loved me just the same, maybe this is what they meant by never love some one more than they love you" He said and left to go start what he hoped was his rise to the peak of the VR gaming world.

'Maybe everything going well for me in life just isn't meant to be I get the game that will likely change the gaming community for eternity, permission for my gap year but almost as it it's the law of equivalent exchange I lose my girlfriend as a result the one girl I thought truly understood and respected my ambitions' He inwardly thought

He shook off those thoughts and locked in prepared to take Asteria by storm and take it by storm he did within the year he was amongst the top 5 Cultivators across all servers, that's right Asteria was a VRMMORPG based on the popular eastern fantasy realm of cultivation and it was rumored that once you reached the peak of the 6th realm in soul and cultivation you'd be able to ascend to a new planet or realm most Npcs referred to it as the higher realm but no one has seen it in the last few millennia so no one really believed it.

King was reminded by Mother Olivia shortly after purchasing the full game cabin that he gap year was ending quite soon and he should be getting prepared to go off to college, although he had plans to do otherwise he believed it was best to go along with it until he could provide reason enough not to.

He believed that would be soon although he was only 3rd within the top 5 cultivators on the server he was a middle 3rd stage qi cultivator, low 3rd stage soul cultivator and although most avoided body cultivation in lieu of the cost in the early stages and even more so only on he was a peak 2nd stage cultivator.

With that being the case he was slowly but surely acquiring spirit stones which like any famous online game even more so with this one being so lifelike and realistic was highly coveted especially among the noveau riche who viewed the game rightfully so as a get rich quick scheme.

This led King to embrace a more underhanded approach to acquiring wealth robbing and looting, even though it was generally accepted that the interactions between Npc and players were very lifelike and borderline realistic it didn't stop several players such as himself from leaning more to the "Evil" faction.

Causing him and several others to be hunted down by both the "Righteous" factions and players linked to them, which made sense considering the Npcs lost their lives while with each death players lost some of their cultivation creating two diametrically opposed factions.

Only fueling King even more to temper himself while amassing resources, using this opportunity to not only collect a plethora of spirit stones, he also got a ton of spirit weapons and cultivation techniques including one he knew he would abuse right to the top.

Finally the Gap year was about to end and he had converted as many spirit stones as he deemed necessary to convince Mother Olivia, showing her he had made enough that he could become the sole sponsor of the orphanage if that was what he wanted.

Which shocked Mother Olivia because to her it just seemed like King was lounging around playing game all day and although that was indeed the case she didn't realize how influential and far reaching this game was, with that she decided to let him make his own decisions he was turning 19 soon and she saw no reason to fix something that obviously wasn't broken.

However something that King hadn't realized was happening the game was slowly affecting his personality outside of it at one point he had wanted to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend Casey but the more he play and the more he ended up enjoying the freedom of no relationship inside and outside of the game the less he wanted to do so.

This essentially turned him into a more cold and jaded person when it came to interpersonal relationships especially with members of the opposite sex he started to enjoy the dynamic of women just using him for his looks and sex it left him with the ability to divulge into his urges with little to no effort nor any conflict with his schedule in terms of gaming, unfortunately this also was apparent with how he dealt with others too attributing his world to be the same as the game world in regards to dog eat dog or a might makes right kind of mindset.

Which caused Mother Olivia to be wholly disappointed with his actions and share her discontent with him.

"I raised all of you to treat others how you want to be treated and not to judge others or mistreat them based on their social standing or socioeconomically and you were much kinder when you were younger as well what caused you to change so drastically, i cant believe that same little boy could be so curt with people" Mother Olivia said

"I didn't change how I treat people based on their standing or socioeconomic background I simply started to take people at face value and how they held themselves as individuals you can tell a lot about a person based on their demeanor and other small nuances, I'm no longer a naive child who looks for the best in any and everyone I meet nor am I some cynic who looks for the worse in others I simply take people at what they present themselves as and go no further unless I deem it necessary to do so, in which case I rarely do" King said

"Nothing you said is really wrong but it is still a jaded outlook on life in a sense and if you keep treating others that way you may come to realize way too late into life they you never had a meaningful relationship with anyone at all, although it may seem like an infallible truth now you are simply to young to have experience all life has to over especially with people" Mother Olivia said

'Although Mother Olivia only has my best interest in hand she doesn't realize that I have experienced her lifetime several times over in the game and cumulatively added on with my real life I have seen more than she can even imagine however to assume you know all and have seen every aspect of life is the epitome of stupidity so i'll simply take what she says into account as well and do what I view is right' He inwardly thought

"As always Mother Olivia I appreciate your advice and all you have done for me for my since my youth till now and will try to implement what you have shared with me into my life, in hopes of good results" King said

"You know you need not thank me It just hurts my heart to see you this way is all and I felt the need to reach out before it became too late" Mother Olivia said with a big smile and continued on checking on the other kids at the orphanage

King was ecstatic to be able to continue playing especially after receiving Mother Olivia's consent which meant a lot to him he spent some of his money to get the top of the line pod that could keep you connected so long as you had nutrient packs and your vitals signs were good and the true reign of the Blood King was established over the next 4 years although the higher your cultivation based increased in the game the more powerful you became the longer it took to reach higher realms even with The Blood Kings iconic cultivation Technique The Soul Devourer it was viewed as a demonic practitioner's technique but it worked wonders especially on players since you could reuse it on them since their cultivation dropped after each death as opposed to Npcs dying just once.

With that technique and the increase in time dilation linked to your cultivation realm which was something no one was quite able to understand nor were the developers willing to divulge how it worked King had finally reached the peak 6th stage in both soul and qi cultivation, but what happened was something he nor anyone else expected.

"Young one what is it you seek that you would dye your hands in so much blood to accomplish, no matter who or what they may be" The mysterious old man said

"I seek true power nay freedom and with power comes freedom if I had to do it all over again I'd likely do everything the same on my path everyone but me is but a sacrifice for me to meet my goals, mere stepping stones" King said

"Hahahahaha quite ironic considering what you believe to be the goal is nothing more than an illusion tell me you said if you had the chance to do it all again you'd do it all the same why don't you prove your words then" The old man said while smirking

The next instant everything went black as if the game was turned off then he realized….