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

Alex was attentively listening to what the fisherman had to say. Not only him, but the others too.

"You see those planks blocking the road ahead? It is an unexplored part of the island, and as far as I know, there's nothing there, but the people from this meeting I talked about went there for some reason," the old man said.

The whole situation was strange, but Alex couldn't see a link between that and the recent murder.

'Maybe I am just too blind, this certainly has something to do with Silas murder!'

He thanked the fisherman, "Thank you for this. If you see or hear anything else that may look strange, you can always look for me. I am staying in one of the hotels in the city."

Alex explained how the fisherman could contact him if anything happened, and he left the cabin afterwards, going toward the blocked road.

Noises Coming from the Forest