BigToad

Alex Mercer was a legendary thief known for his audacious heists and cunning skills. However, his criminal streak comes to an abrupt halt when he is finally apprehended and sentenced to prison.

In the midst of his imprisonment, a revolutionary virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (VRMMORPG) is launched, called Eternal Realms, captivating the attention of the entire world. The prison authorities, seeking to introduce recreational activities for the inmates, decide to allow select prisoners to participate in the game as a means of passing the time.

Eager to escape the monotony of prison life, Alex eagerly takes up the opportunity to join the immersive virtual world. To his surprise, he discovers that his notoriety as a master thief has caught the attention of players within the game. They started offering him IRL means to reduce his prison sentence in an exchange on a daring quest to retrieve valuable treasures scattered throughout the virtual realm.

With a hidden class known as the "Shadow Hunter," Alex possesses unique skills and abilities that make him an invaluable asset to the players seeking rare and precious items. As he delves deeper into the virtual world, he finds himself entangled in a complex web of alliances, rivalries, and dangerous quests that blur the line between the game and reality.

As the stakes rise, Alex must navigate treacherous dungeons, confront formidable adversaries, and outwit both in-game challenges and real-world dangers. Along the way, he forms unexpected alliances and confronts his own inner demons, questioning the choices that led him down a path of crime.
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For anyone wondering about the romance, it will take a long time as this is not the focus of the book.

MMORPG: Shadow Hunter

They had two leads to follow. One was the mud they found inside the room where Silas had been killed. That certainly came from the inhabited parts of the forest. Well, not inhabited like there was no one living there, but it had way less people as it was not safe like the city.

The other lead was the manager. Alex wanted to follow the manager to see what he was up to after the night kitchen workers said he was acting a little strange. But it was just a clue, something they want to check when possible. The mud inside Silas room was an accurate thing to follow first.

"The road so far is cobblestone," SwordSlash77 said after they left the city, "So where does this mud come from?"

They had stored the mud inside a flask — Alex always had many with them carrying blood, so it was easy to get an empty one.

Talking to a Fisherman