Martial Online.

Loch City, Martial Company.

A round-headed woman peeked from the ajar door and then closed it after seeing that no one was eavesdropping.

She then turned around and looked at the black-haired woman who was hugging her legs while looking at the computer in front of her.

"Jonna…" The so-called photographer, who met with Jesse in Nocklund's forest, looked at her superior with a conflicted look. "Did you hear what I said?"

"I did," Jonna said and she glanced at her briefly. "He has grown a lot, hasn't he?"

She showed a bright smile.

"Why are you saying it as if he was your baby or something?" The round-headed woman said with a tired look.

"Well, he is." Jonna turned back to the computer screen. "Well, the VR headset is my baby. It's better than I ever expected."

On the screen, there was a picture of a handsome black-haired man fighting a red-robed Inquisitor. It wasn't even a proper fight, as the man crushed the woman's skull.

"This is a video of his fight?" The round-headed woman looked at the screen and asked.

"Yes." Jonna nodded. "I have only about five videos of him. They are videos of his fights against some important characters in that world.

"I cannot see what he is doing all the time; these five videos are the only way I can see his progress." Jonna said with a smile.

"The progression is insane. From Karma to the Steel-Armed Gorilla, to Reinhardt, to Mars, and finally, Coraline Bridger, who was actually supposed to become a Black Inquisitor in the future if she hadn't died by him."

"But this is dangerous, no?" The round-headed woman asked. "I saw him fly. Freaking fly!"

"Yeah, that is beyond my assumption." Jonna said with apparent surprise. "He had a 0.00001% chance of acquiring Formlessness before the Third Gate.

"I thought it would take about a year before any player got it."

"Maybe we should take his headset and do some fixes to it." The round-headed woman asked. "He is already basically a god. Maybe we should make it less powerful…"

"Why would we do that?" Jonna looked at her in confusion. "You think this is the only version of this headset?"

"W-what do you mean?" The round-headed woman asked in confusion.

"My version of the headset is only the third version of the 'Reality Augmentation' headset. The first version was from Graham, and then the blueprints of his creation suddenly vanished."

"I haven't heard anything about that before!"

"Of course you wouldn't." Jonna shook her head. "Graham kept it under wraps. I managed to eavesdrop on him while he was checking the security cameras, trying to find the thief.

"That means there are more than just this VR headset, somewhere in the world, applying it for the same use as I am.

"I managed to fix the VR headset and make it stronger, but that doesn't mean that those thieves didn't manage to do that as well."

"You mean…" The round-headed woman gulped. "There might be people as strong as Jesse lurking in shadows. What if there are over ten of them? Not a single army in the world would be a match for them!"

"That's what I am afraid of." Jonna sighed. "That's why making the VR headset weaker is out of the question.

"If Graham finds out about our experiment, he'll kick us out, or worse, throw us in prison. After all, we are basically playing with Jesse's life at this point.

"You know what happened to Graham's wife, right?"

"Yeah, her skin and organs melted off after using the Reality Augmentation VR headset…"

"That might also happen to Jesse. There are many uncertainties." Jonna sighed and checked one of the monitors that showed vital signals.

"That Reality Augmentation headset sends me his vital signals in real-time, and currently, it looks good, but it might change suddenly."

"Why did you send it away?" The round-headed woman sat down on her seat and asked with a sad tone. "It doesn't feel right to risk his life."

"You wondering why I didn't try it myself?" Jonna saw her subordinate nod and said. 

"It would've taken me a year to reach Jesse's current level. I can't play all day.

"I also don't trust anyone in Loch City. You are an exception, but I didn't want to risk your life. Selfishly enough, I also didn't want to risk my own life."

"You were gambling…" The round-headed woman sighed. "It could've ended in bad hands, and your creation would've been for naught."

"I would've pressed the self-destruction button if that happened." Jonna sighed. "I would've had to start from scratch. Luckily enough, Jesse was more than good."

"Will you tell him about the risks?" The round-headed woman asked. "He deserves to know. He ain't a bad kid. He saved those hikers."

"I will." Jonna said, and smiled. "I might see him soon if he qualifies for the tournament's finals. If he reaches this stage, I'll tell him."

"Ok, good…" The round-headed woman sighed in relief, but then she added. "This still doesn't feel right. What is your goal, Miss Jonna?"

"My goal is to see the weak world of humans gone." Jonna daydreamed as she imagined the future.

"You see, in the Martial Online world, players can punch through mountains, soar across the skies, and act like gods. While in here, we are all deeply connected to the ground and are very limited in what we can do.

"That is so pathetic, in my opinion. In the future, I want this world to look like Martial Online, with people soaring across the skies, cultivating the secrets of the universe, and moving the mountains with bare hands."

"That sounds really dangerous." Her subordinate said.

"Yeah, it has dangers." Jonna wryly smiled. "The strong will rule, while the weak will be trampled. But isn't it the same way right now? In that world, at least the weak will have a chance to rise."

The round-headed woman looked at her superior and felt like something was stuck in her throat. She wanted to say more, but she couldn't when she saw Jonna's obsessive look.

Her desire was to see the world change, and if her vision came true, the world would never be the same again.

…

Near the stadium's construction site.

Graham Loch looked from the window of the construction office, looking as the new stadium was arising from the ground as the hard-working construction workers worked from morning to late night to have it finished before the finals.

"Sigh…" He let out a sigh.

He was currently one of the most powerful people in the world, as he was in control of Martial Company, which was the hottest company in the world as of right now.

However, he felt empty, as if all the color in the world had been sucked out, replaced by a dull grayish tinge.

After closing the window's shutters, he sat down in front of the desk. There were tons of blueprints strewn across the desk.

'How can I teleport her consciousness out of that world safely…' He grabbed his head as he looked at the blueprints of the prototype he was working on.

'How… how… how…'

Graham then looked at the grayish ceiling, and scoffed. "Even if I could, she would be trapped in her comatose body. It wouldn't be any better.

"Maybe I should try creating the VR headset one more time… last time, I was hurrying up because the time was running out. Maybe if I did it more carefully this time…"

After that thought surfaced in his mind, he quickly grabbed his head as he imagined the sight of his daughter melting, just like his wife did.

"No…" Graham closed his eyes in pain. "Sorry, Bella. I am a coward."