MotivatedSloth

"Hello, sir. Are you cashing out or leveling up?"

Dungeons Online was the first game that cracked the system. Let nerds earn by nerding, and they will nerd forever. And Dungeons Online did just that. 

Noobs turned into middle-class workers. Pro-players turned into celebrities and multi-millionaires. 

And there was Tom. Likely, the only top ranker that lived off the scraps and cat-food. A courtesy of his father that went and disappeared, leaving Tom with just enough money to survive until his graduation. Until the day where the option of cashing out would appear.

Dungeons Online. A game where developers never shared a single bit of information. A game where the death of one's avatar is permanent. A game that can turn a beggar into a lord just as quickly as turning a celebrity into nobody. 

But where does all this money comes from? How is it connected to the unnatural disaster that all governments across the world buried any information off? And how is this all connected to Tom's missing father?

Dungeons Online

Tom heard all of the advice of his unlikely advisor. Yet, instead of heeding them, he headed directly for the back entrance of the building.

"Boss, that's the worker's entrance!" the vampire protested, clearly misunderstanding Tom's intentions. "If you go through there, nothing good will come out of it!" he continued his attempts to persuade the young man all the way to the point where Tom stepped into the open area of the street, right at the building's entrance.

'I guess he has nowhere to hide out in the open,' Tom thought when the voice of the vampire ceased to bother him. 'Well, I guess that's good for now,' he thought, looking down at the magical spear in his hand.

For a moment, Tom simply stood in place, one step away from the metal slabs of the doorway. He closed his eyes and slowed down his breath, readying himself for what was about to come.

Invading the smithy