IGNs in RL

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From now on, and as I said in the last chapter, the characters will be going by their gamertags even in real life for now. If you need to refresh your memory on whose gt is whose, then look at the auxiliary chapter titled "Characters".

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"I think I am going to go back to my apartment now. It was nice to meet you Eevie."

Enzo stood up to go.

"Alright, it was nice to meet you as well, Atlas." She said before standing up herself.

They shook hands and started walking towards their respective apartments.

"Hahahaha." Enzo started laughing at the awkwardness of the situation they both just found themselves in.

Their apartments seemed to be in the same direction, so they said their goodbyes just to walk together.

"Hehehehe." Bella had her hand covering her mouth as she giggled at their predicament as well.

"I'm assuming you attend college here as well?" Enzo asked.

"Yeah, I'm a business major."

"Oh, cool. I'm a computer science major going into my sophomore year."

"Oh, you're just a sophomore? I thought you were older."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 21 and I just completed my junior year."

"Ah, okay. Why are you still on campus?" Enzo asked.

"..."

She didn't immediately answer, but took a minute or two to think before saying, "I never knew my biological parents and my adoptive parents were abusive so I stopped talking to them after I got into this college."

"I'm sorry I asked. I am an orphan as well."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure what happened with my biological parents either, but I was never adopted."

"Whelp, seems like we both had it rough. Haha."

"Nah, I feel bad now wallowing in my own problems after hearing what you had to go through. Knowing I could have had it much worse makes me feel more grateful, and again I'm sorry I asked and sorry you had to go through that. No parent, even adoptive, should be so cruel to their children."

Bella nodded her head in agreement.

The next few minutes of their walk contained no talking, but Bella decided to break the silence.

"What do you think the government is going to do about all of this?"

She waved her head at the empty streets around them.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. The most obvious solution would be to limit the playing time of the game, but if Extant is working with the government and providing them money then that won't happen."

"That makes sense. I think they should start making robots to help with things like cleaning the streets."

"That's not a bad idea either."

"Yeah, I mean we have the technology to do it. The only reason we never did is because the robots would eventually take over the jobs of the people and our economy would crash. Now, we wouldn't have to worry about that."

"You're right! I completely forgot about the Robot Act of 2047. They banned the excessive use of robots in businesses." Enzo responded.

"Yup."

Bella then uprubptly stopped.

"Well, here is my apartment. I'll see you in the game." She said.

"Alright, see you later."

Bella smiled and waved at Enzo as she walked into the apartment.

Enzo kept going towards his own apartment to get some rest before the Summer Event.

~

(New York City, New York USA)

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Come in!" The woman behind the desk shouted towards the door.

The door to her office opened and a man stepped through before closing the door behind him.

The room was just as dark as usual, with the only light in the room coming from the monitor on the woman's desk.

"Hi honey." The man said.

"Hello." She responded.

The man standing in front of her desk would only be described as perfect by anyone who could see him through the darkness. He stood at 6'4 (193 cm), so he was tall for a man. His long, ginger colored hair stopped right above his shoulder blades. His hair was parted down the middle and looked extremely healthy and clean. His pale skin had no blemishes on it, except for the scar going from his forehead to his cheek, right over his left eye. His deep green eyes had flashes of red flowing through them occasionally. His facial structure had feminine touches in the nose, lips, and cheeks, so if not for his masculine jawline many would think he was a woman at first glance. The odd thing about his appearance would be his ears that end in sharp points and his canine teeth that looked like those of an animal.

If his clothes weren't covering it so well, one would be able to see a lean and muscular body with less than 6% body fat.

His body looked like it was sculpted from a big block of muscle. His clothes were that of a very rich and wealthy man. He wore a three piece black suit with a crimson vest and tie. He had a very expensive watch on his left wrist.

"How are they both doing?" He asked the woman behind the desk.

She stopped her typing and looked up at the man in front of her.

"The girl is doing amazing. She is right on track with little to no competition. The problem is the boy. He has a lot of competition, so in order to get it he's going to have to win the Summer Event."

The man sighed before sitting down on the chair in front of her desk.

"Do you think the council would allow me to send a quick message to them?" The man asked.

"Sigh. If you're quick about it I can cover for you. They might not even notice, but I'd say don't spend more than 30 seconds on both of them." She responded.

"Oh, he also met up with Ruthven's girl just now." She continued.

The man's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Really? Are they in the same city?"

"Yeah. A few of them are attending the same college, but our girl is here in New York."

"Ah, okay. Alright I'm going to go give them a visit. I'll be back soon, love you honey." He said as he stood up to leave the room.

"Alright. I love you too." The woman responded before turning her attention back to her computer.