Chapter 2

"ugh.." a black haired man, looking to be in his late twenties, groggily opened his eyes as if waking up from a thousand year long slumber.

Just as he was about to get off his bed, he clutched his head with both his hands as if to forcefully prevent it from exploding out. He fell into his bed once again, flailing around while screaming and kicking his legs in the air.

"AAAAAAAAA!! AAAARGGEE" "WHAAAAT IS THIS!?!?" he screamed as seconds passed yet the pain in his head did not subside one bit. However, as if perfectly timed by a godly being, the pain vanished out of the blue exactly as 6 seconds passed from the start of the abrupt pain.

His wide blue eyes stared at his ceiling while panting heavily. Sweat tickled down his entire body as he was absorbed inside his own mind for who knows how long.

At last, his eyes moved and he slowly got up, walked inside his bathroom familiarly, and stood before the mirror on top of the basin.

Beads of sweat rolled down his face, that had a light brown tint to it. His hair now also drenched and disheveled, looking as if he endured an inhumane degree of torture just now, which he almost did.

"I look much younger, so it was the truth" he muttered, confirming some things. He was Asher Wilder, the Real Quest player that accepted the offer from an unknown and unfathomable being and quite possibly been sent back in time. It was either that, or this was an illusion he is put under, but from the pain he just experienced, it's unlike, still the possibility existed.

Asher closed his eyes and stood in front of the mirror in utter silence.

Time tickled by, yet he didn't move an inch, continuing to stand there, absorbed in his mind.

After a few minutes, he slowly opened his eyes, the color of which was pure white for a split second before going back to its natural blue color.

"The message I'm supposed to deliver isn't even a message it seems." Asher had a thoughtful expression as he pondered. According to the memories he was implanted with by that being, he was supposed to go to that being's past self and tell him about him being sent back in time. That was it! However, upon thinking about it, the mere fact he was sent in time could reveal many things.

He decided to stop thinking about it for now. More importantly, there are some other mild boggling things in his memories, among them, there is one that stood out from the rest. It said that due to his talent in time magic, and him experiencing time travel, he could gain a very minuscule amount of time magic himself! He could stop time for a brief moment where everything would stop in its place, excluding only him, the caster.

His mind raced in excitement, imagining how overpowered he could be using this one power. Calming himself down with some difficulty, he washed himself in the shower and got out of the bathroom to the doorbell ringing.

Opening the door, he saw three men, standing with a big box next to them. His name and address were written on it.

This scene caused Asher to sink inside his own memories, remembering how this was the day he ordered the VR pod for Real Quest. He soon jumped out of his memories and greeted the men outside, who were awkwardly standing there after seeing him doze off.

"Come in" Asher invited the delivery men inside, to which they lifted the box with difficulty and walked in.

He guided them to his bedroom, and after dropping the box off, they took their leave. With some tips for their hard work of course.

"It feels so weird doing the things I remember doing before. It's like Déjà vu but on steroids times 10!" he muttered. But then he got to work removing the box to reveal the VR pod that cost him all his organs and then some. Most of his money that was left behind by his parents were used to buy this pod, so that he could get an opportunity at a better life in the game.

It seems like that being read his memories, knowing when he got the pod and started his journey in the other world. Although he would've liked to be sent back to when his parents were alive, that was years ago, and he didn't want to live a life that would feel like watching an already watched video recording. He had long accepted his parents' death. He did not think he'd be able to handle it if he saw them alive and with him again. All his emotional sufferings and overcoming them would be for nothing, and he didn't want to experience the pain of losing them again. Some things should stay as they are, even if the reason sounds nonsensical, that's what he thought.

Leaving his mental musings aside, he connected the wires to the power cord, then turned the pod on. The insides of the pod started emitting faint blue light from around the space where he was supposed to be laying on.

He didn't immediately get into the pod and start though, instead he went to the kitchen and ate his lunch. Although the pod took care of the player's body though nutrient liquids, those were rare items that he would have to buy with a lot of money when he ran out of it, so he decided to save them for emergencies and eat normal food to maintain his body for now.

After lunch, he got into the pod. Its transparent lid closed on the top as he closed his eyes.

"Enter Realm Quest" with the command, he felt a bright flash of light pass by him as he stood in a white room. In front of him was a translucent blue screen with the words:

[Welcome to Realm Quest]

[Please enter your username]

Having already experienced this, he didn't dwindle and pressed on the bar to put the username in. He decided to go for a basic one, but one that embodied him perfectly.

"Chrono Mage"

[Are you sure?]

[Yes/No]

He pressed yes and a hologram of his own body popped up on the screen.

[Optimize your character]

He knew from the mistakes of others from his previous run on how dangerous it was to keep your true appearance as your game character.

He kept the color of his hair and eyes the same, black and blue respectively. He changed the skin tone to a lighter shade of brown, and made himself taller by about 4 inches. Although it was not a notable increase, it would hide his real height. He changed his face around a little bit, still keeping it as a handsome face, but changing so that no one would connect this face with his face in reality. After finishing some final touches, he admired his work.

The hologram displayed a man with black hair and blue eyes. He had a sharp nose and medium sized ears. His skin tone was light brown, almost white but not quite. His body was lean but muscular, looking healthy. It was left to the player how they wanted to look, whether handsome or ugly, fat or slim. It was all up to their choice, however once the choice was made, it couldn't be changed. Asher took a last look at his character and then said "confirm".

After that, the screen ones again showed new content, with many choices this time.

[Please choose your class]

[Swordsman]

[Mage]

[Archer]

[Guardian]

[Priest]

Without hesitation, Asher chose the "mage" class and a flash of bright light blinded him for a moment. The reason for his choice was simple, that being recommended that he do so. He had a talent in a very advanced form of magic, it would be an utter waste not to choose the mage class and explore more on this path. He already chose "swordsman" in his last life, and he experienced the path of a swordsman. Although it was the most well rounded class, it was also the class with the weakest base stat in all of the categories. Basically a jack of all trades and master of none.

Worst of all, in the late game, magic was needed to progress in all of the classes anyway. It's not like it was possible to fight against those gigantic monsters using brute strength and a puny sword. Magic was used to enhance their abilities further, thus he also has some experience with using it. It would give him an advantage in both the start and the late game if his class utilized magic from the very beginning.

After the flash of light dissipated, he opened his eyes to see himself sanding in a flat grassy plain. The sun was shining, giving off heat and a blinding radiance. He would've been awestruck by how real all this felt, had he not known this was an actual world, not a fantasy game as it was widely known.

Without wasting any time, he called "Stats".

[Name: Chrono Mage

Level: 1

Exp: 0/100

Free Stats: 0

HP: 100 (10 points for 1 stat point)

MP: 500 (10 points for 1 stat point)

Attack: 10

Magic attack: 50

Defense: 10

Magic defense: 50

Agility: 10

Stamina: 10

Skills:

Magic ball: Creates a ball made out of pure mana to attack the enemy. Damage depends on the magic attack.]