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

The change was peculiar, yet no matter how much Tom looked, he couldn't spot the ongoing process.

'I'm sure it's thinner than it was before,' he thought, squinting his eyes. 'I can already see his muscles pretty well,' he added, not sure what to think about the situation.

The one thing was obvious. The man's arm continued to thin out as if he was consuming the fat in his arm for every second of the arm-wrestling match.

'Is he using it for fuel?' Tom thought, puzzled by the situation. 'I might not be a biologist or a medic, but that shouldn't be possible, would it?' he thought, confused by the situation.

'Well, at least now I know why they were so confident about winning the match,' Tom thought, closing his eyes in order to focus even more strength in his hand.

Only the feudal lord left