Shadow’s Right Hand, Seph

Time rewound to a day ago.

Joe left Yin's house and just walked mindlessly towards his own house; they don't live far away from each other.

He wasn't angry. He was just confused and found it annoying. Why do they have to compete in everything?

Joe couldn't understand why the game was so important to them, or wider, why was it important to the world?

Joe would rather have the old education system back. At least that had some use in society, he thought.

He was level 4 in Awaken, so what? Why does everyone look at him in disgust?

I am well educated in A.I. Innovations. My sisters got scholarships. I don't see any complexity to this Awaken II thing.

At least that was what Joe thought before he logged out of Awaken the following day.

The whole day when Yel was farming and Annie was in the Butterfly Realm, Joe was messing around with NPCs and players. He became a notorious wanted criminal and player killer due to his instant kill talent.

With this, he also gained levels (Awaken offers a lot of freedom: if you can be a criminal and not get caught, there are certain rewards to it). Joe never cared about stats and skills; he distributed the stat points randomly.

Then he logged out, and he felt a difference. Maybe it was because he was high level enough for the effects of [Cringe] to portray into real life, but not enough for him to control the consequences of [Cringe].

He killed. In real life.

Joe hated himself. His friends warned him. They wanted him to level up instead of wasting his talent.

Now he is a criminal, a killer. He had become what he looked down to.

He concealed his face, tried to remove himself from society. But his stats are so evenly spread out, that the police forces, who grinded the game due to government orders, easily caught up with him.

What else could he have done? He didn't want to go into jail and be charged for murder. He killed more.

Joe had gone too far on this path, and there's no turning back.

He felt lost.

When An's clone came to him and invited to join the hierarchy in Weiling, he willingly accepted. There was no other way. An promised him that there won't be anyone on his tail anymore.

Joe believed her. Awaken changed his perception of the world.

Joe sat in the interrogation room by himself. So far, it has been 2 hours since An's clone brought him here.

Click.

Joe looked up and saw An enter the room. She sat down across from him and held out her hand.

Joe shook it, while trying to refraining his cringeness. He didn't want to do any harm to his savior.

An noticed and with a faint smile, she said, "Oh, don't worry. Talents still followed the rules of Awaken: high leveled players have resistance to low leveled players."

"But," She continued. "Your facial expressions are where most of the cringe comes from."

An hands Joe a mask and explained, "Have this, wear it whenever you do not wish to use full power."

Joe took the mask and looked at it. It was dark blue with a tinge of purple outlining the eyes and the edges. He put it on and looked at the one-way window (which is a mirror on Joe's side). In the reflection, he saw a masked man emitting a chill aura staring at him.

He was not Joe anymore — "From today, you will be Shadow's Right Hand, Seph," An said.