The Devil 1

In front of the screen, Ava stretched lazily. Her gaze happened to drift to the bottom right corner of her computer screen.

2026/9/2 17:00!

In-game Ava looked up, startled. She hadn't seen it wrong—the entire Ironrock Mountain Range was already shrouded in darkness.

Real-world Ava sprang up from her chair and yanked open the curtains in her bedroom.

Outside, it was still bright!

Sure enough, it was just five in the afternoon on Earth. No wonder she wasn't feeling hungry at all.

And yet, the passage of time in the game had felt incredibly real—she had experienced what felt like an entire long afternoon and evening.

She slumped back into her chair, dazed, and pulled open the Help menu to do some digging.

Finally, she found it: the time ratio between the game and the real world:12 Earth hours = 24 hours in the game.