Prisoners of VR

"Argh!" A man woke up on his bed in reality, screaming as he clutched his head. There was no injury there but it hurt like hell. The sensation of his head being bashed in by a stick stuck with him.

His hands trembled as his stomach convulsed. A couple of seconds later, he rushed into the bathroom and vomited all the bile. Twenty minutes later, the man washed himself and stared at the mirror, noticing his eyes were sunken.

He seemed to have aged slightly, at least by a year. His appearance differed that much compared to the day before. Moreover, the moment he tried to think of something, a resounding pain reverberated in his head.

His uVR Earth's blue glow was weak. As he stared at the mirror, a screen popped up in his Augmented Reality interface.

[Brainpower Critically Low, Advising Ample Rest]

His head spun as the man waddled his way to the fridge, yanked out a can of milk, and downed it in one sitting. He then collapsed on the bed and fell asleep. The Augmented Reality interface displayed his Brainpower values.

Every few minutes, it recovered by one unit. The Willpower stats took longer to recover. Soon, he was awoken by a call and woke up, groaning upon seeing the caller ID, "Yes, boss. I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well. Yes, I apologise for the trouble. I'll finish my work from home."

Once the call ended, he snorted, "Fucking slave driver. I will kill him one day..."

"Right, about the bastard that bashed my head!" He recalled Rahu's face, growling in response, "I'll remember you, bitch. Pray for the day you face me again. I'll camp at your spawn point and repeatedly slaughter you."

After completing his work, and once his Brainpower recovered to full capacity the next day, he logged in to Worldcraft, staring at his Leaf Guard in shock. It was empty. His Skill of Grass Stick was nowhere to be seen. Even the newly obtained Invoker Crystal wasn't there.

"Does that mean..." Realisation dawned on him as a string of expletives boomed out of his mouth, "That bastard must have stolen my Invoker Crystals! Damn it!"

A few days ago, in Worldcraft, right after the Elven Man was killed, Rahu stared at the monkey's corpse, drowned in a sea of conflicting thoughts. What could he do after this? Punishing all the people that harmed the monkeys was impossible, but at the same time, he couldn't let things proceed in such a fashion.

The population of people logging in continued to boom and a mass effect was taking place within the Dungeons. Since people were killing the monkeys to gather Invoker Crystals, others too followed suit. Many were perplexed, but they were influenced by those in the lead.

Morals waned. People gradually gave in to confirmative thoughts, assuming that since everyone else was doing the same, they too weren't doing anything wrong. Not everyone was like this, but the majority conformed to the lead set by the first batch of Dungeon explorers.

He was just one individual. Going against the masses wasn't realistic, especially since he couldn't unleash Induced Reality in Worldcraft. The server of Worldcraft wasn't a human brain, so Induced Reality didn't function on it.

Moreover, it was manned by Megasphere. So, it could detect and restrict the abilities of a DOVA Agent. Therefore, Rahu didn't have his DOVA Agent abilities to rely upon in Worldcraft. If he wished to do anything, he would have to follow the rules of the place.

But here was the problem. If he intended to stop others from killing the monkeys, he would have to use Skills. But the source of these Skills was the Invoker Crystals harvested from the monkeys. He would become the biggest hypocrite.

And if he tried to reason with the people...well, it won't work. An average human's Brainpower ranges between 10 to 15 units. By the end of the Beginner's Quest, they would have doubled that.

Meaning, their brains became developed. It unlocked more of their brain's potential, allowing them to process information faster, become smarter, etc. The tangible benefits were endless. As long as one worked hard enough in Worldcraft and raised their stats, they could, on Earth, go from a normal individual to a genius sought after by the largest of companies.

People had already arrived at this conclusion on the forums. So, if Rahu asked them to avoid killing the monkeys, he would be beaten up. People consume chicken, fish, and all sorts of meat products.

Countless products were created after killing living beings.

Silkworms are killed before they break out of their cocoons. This was because the produced silk strands would be long and uninterrupted. Whereas, if they were harvested after the silkworms hatched, the strands of silk would be in pieces. It wasn't a problem, just leading to minor losses. But even that was not tolerated, and hence, the silkworms were mercilessly killed for their silk.

Plenty of living creatures were similarly killed for their produce, not just for meat.

If even the creatures, in reality, could be killed for the benefit of humans, what difference did it make whether or not some monkeys were killed in Worldcraft? They weren't even real.

So, on either path, Rahu's arguments could be countered with cold-hearted facts.

As a result, he couldn't make up his mind. He stared at the monkey corpse with a sigh, "I'm sorry. I don't have a solution that would prevent unfortunate deaths like yours."

At that moment, he noticed a glint beside the monkey's corpse, observing upon closer inspection that they were Invoker Crystals. There were two of them there. When Rahu killed the Elven man, it seemed his two Invoker Crystals were dropped from his Leaf Guard.

That seemed to be a rule of Worldcraft. Upon death, one would drop everything on their bearing. Only the basic form with which they arrived at Worldcraft would be maintained upon revival. And this form only consisted of their clothes and Leaf Guards.

Rahu picked up the first Invoker Crystal, noticing that it contained the Grass Stick Skill. He then picked up the second Invoker Crystal and observed the screen that popped up.

[Skill: Leaf Wing]

[Grade: Inferior]

[Brainpower: 25]

[Willpower: 6]

[Empower: 1]

The stats required to activate this Skill was very high. Of course, it wasn't much to Rahu, but for a normal person, this was an exorbitant sum. The majority of humans didn't have the stats necessary to activate this.

Only after training in Worldcraft would it be possible for them to use it even once. Judging based on the actions displayed by the Monkeys, the Leaf Wing Skill created a pair of sharp leaves that extended from one's rib to their wrist, acting like a wing that allowed them to glide through the air.

Flight wasn't possible, but even being able to glide presented a lot of opportunities for one, whether in terms of ambush or escape. As he observed them, the two Invoker Crystals turned into powder. They lost their power.

"So, once bonded to someone's Leaf Guard, they'll dissipate when taken out." Rahu understood the power system better. He patted the monkey's corpse and brought it towards a tree and lifted it up, giving it to a monkey that had been observing his actions all along, "I'm sorry."

The monkey hissed in anger as it stared at him, unwilling to approach him. The duo stared at each other for a good couple of minutes before the monkey inched closer. It then yanked the monkey's corpse from his hands and disappeared among the branches.

The screaming sounds of the monkeys spiked eventually as the fights intensified. But immediately after that, there was just silence. Rahu heard the sounds of wood being bent, looking around as he focused on his eyes and ears.

Followed by a resounding screech, hundreds of monkeys with Leaf Wings took to the air, catapulted by bamboo shrubs. Held in their hands each was a stone the size of a human head. The monkeys glared at the Elven Race people with the intent to kill.

Followed by a helical spin in the air that increased their momentum, the monkeys launched the rocks at tremendous speeds. Whistling sounds boomed across the skies, followed by the sounds of rupturing skulls.

Hundreds of people either died instantly upon their heads being smashed open or bled out to death when the rocks smashed anywhere else on their bodies. One of the rocks came his way as Rahu condensed a Grass Stick and swatted it, buying enough time to evade the attack.

His attention fell to the ground, noticing a metre-wide patch of grass. The grass surrounding it had been consumed to create his Grass Stick. Normally, the grass used for a Grass Stick was consumed like a circle, with the Grass Stick forming in the centre.

But when he used it now, the used grass was more crescent-shaped. He stared at the patch of grass that should have been consumed for his Grass Stick, 'Was a Skill used here?'

"Argh, shit. I'm bolting out!" A middle-aged woman became afraid once rocks started to rain from the skies. She turned tail and ran.

"Wait, don't set your foot there..." Rahu warned in a hurry but had to roll to the side to evade another rock coming his way.

"Eh?" The middle-aged woman didn't react to his warning on time and set foot on the circular patch of grass. As if a compressed spring released from a lock, the blades of grass swerved from one side to the other in an instant, forming a circle; her foot was severed.

"Eh..." The middle-aged woman couldn't even register what had happened to her as she fell to the ground. Pain set in a couple of seconds later as she screamed.

"Argh!" The people that were running towards the Dungeon's exit came to an abrupt halt when a wall of bamboo rose from the ground and blocked their path. Following that, dozens of bamboo spikes gushed out of the ground and skewered them.

'Trouble arrived.' Hidden behind a tree, Rahu stared at a group of three monkeys emanating a tangible thirst for blood. One of them, standing at the back screeched as it stomped the ground, causing the patch of grass there to be consumed. A bamboo spiked out and pierced a nearby Elven man's head, "The ruler of these monkeys,"

"The Dungeon Boss."