Chapter 1

It's the old 1.2.

"You can read even more books than before!"

When I saw that report, I couldn't help but exclaim.

...Let's rewind a bit. I was reading a book for fun while listening to the TV news before going to school.

"Uh-oh, I'm going to be late—"

My younger sister, Haruka, came running down the stairs, shouting.

"Big brother, you always finish breakfast before I wake up, so you could wake me up too—"

"It's a matter of self-management. You should take care of it yourself, but I'll come to wake you up if it gets really bad."

While having this usual conversation, my sister sat down on a chair with a piece of bread in her hand. Since both of our parents work, we share household chores. Haruka is weak in the morning, so I naturally ended up making breakfast.

"Since you have time to read books so leisurely, you must be free, right?"

"What are you talking about! I wake up early and prepare everything just for this morning reading session."

While talking to my sister, I happened to glance at the TV and saw a news report.

"Ah, this is the VR game that's been getting a lot of attention recently. I plan to start playing it with my friends."

My sister said this and started watching the news with me. The game "Abundant Feasibility Online" is a VRMMO that has been developed over several decades with a huge budget by one of the world's leading foundations. Beta testers have praised it, saying it feels like being in a different world. The news reported that its release was just a week away.

"I heard it's been getting a lot of attention and is hard to get, but can you get it?"

I asked my sister, having heard from another news report that it was difficult to purchase.

"My friend is a beta tester and can invite a few people as a bonus, so I'm going to be invited too♪"

"Hmm."

While having this conversation with my sister,

"This game has successfully extended the perceived time, something that many game companies have failed to achieve."

The announcer on TV said this.

—!!

When I heard this report, I was struck with shock.

"You can read even more books than before!"

I blurted out.

"Huh? What's wrong, big brother?"

Haruka spoke to me, and I slowly turned my face towards her.

"This game, the news said it has successfully extended perceived time..."

"Yeah, it was announced a while ago and became a big topic. Big brother, you really don't know about things you're not interested in, do you?"

When I heard this, I was taken aback.

"Is there any way to get it?"

"Why the sudden interest, big brother?"

When Haruka asked this, I slowly began to explain.

"I don't know how much the perceived time extension is, but it means that if you spend 2 hours in the game, only about 1 hour or 30 minutes will have passed in reality, right?"

"That's right. According to my beta tester friend, 3 hours in the game is about 1 hour in reality."

/

"Then, you can read more books in the game than in reality, right!"

"Ahaha, that's a typical big brother way of thinking."

But how can I get it? I just heard that it's difficult to obtain.

If I try to reserve it normally, who knows how long it will take. Now that I realize this, I can't wait that long.

While I was thinking about this,

"Then, should I ask my friend to invite you?"

I looked up in surprise.

"Can you do that?"

"From what I remember, beta testers can invite up to 3 people, so I'll ask and see if there are still invitations available."

I bowed to Haruka.

"Please help me."

"Well, don't get your hopes up. I'll ask, but let's talk about it after I get back from school."

Indeed, it was time to leave for school.

"Got it. Let's talk after school."

I spent my school day uneventfully. Normally, I would spend my time in the library looking for books, but today I went home immediately and waited for my sister to come back.

......

Since my sister wasn't coming back anytime soon, I decided to look up the game.

The game "Abundant Feasibility Online" is a typical fantasy game, but it is so well-crafted that there is no set strategy, and it is said to be a highly free game. The number of races, skills, and monsters is so vast that beta testers couldn't even gather 10% of the information. The NPC responses are so realistic that even the initial mobs, known as low-level monsters, have emotional AI and individual differences.

The basic setting is that players choose one race, one combat class, one production class, and one special class at the start, and select 5 skills.

The player's stats are composed of HP, MP, Strength, Endurance, Agility, Intelligence, and Magic.

HP is health, and when it reaches 0, the player dies and respawns at the last visited town's church or their base.

MP is magic power, required to cast magic skills and some other skills. When it reaches 0, the player doesn't die but is restricted in action for a few minutes.

Strength affects physical attack power and equipment weight limit, while Endurance affects physical and magical resistance.

Agility affects movement speed and reflexes, and is influenced by equipment weight.

In some games, Intelligence and Magic are considered the same, but in this game, they are separate.

It seems that the differences appear in skill adjustments and level-ups.

Intelligence affects the acquisition and level-up of knowledge and production skills, as well as physical resistance. Magic affects the acquisition and level-up of magic and summoning skills, as well as magical resistance.

The reason Intelligence and Magic affect the acquisition and level-up of knowledge and magic skills is that while skills that can be learned through physical actions can be learned to some extent in reality, skills classified as knowledge or magic are difficult to grasp because they cannot be experienced in reality, which was a major complaint during the beta test.

By the way, Dexterity, a common stat, was removed because it affected the player's movements, causing a sense of discomfort.

The player's initial stats are determined by the chosen race.

Races do not have levels, but as the job level increases, fixed values and points that can be assigned to stats are given.

Next, about job levels.

Combat classes gain experience points from battles with monsters and the use of job-related skills. Production and special classes gain experience points from corresponding actions and skill use, and level up when a certain amount is reached.

Skills can be acquired through player actions or as rewards for corresponding skill quests.

Skills have levels, and proficiency increases with player actions or skill use, leading to level-ups and the acquisition of Arts.

There is no limit to skill acquisition, but proficiency is assigned to the most relevant skill, making management difficult.

As a relief measure, unused skills can be set as "Inactive Skills."

Inactive Skills cannot be used, and their proficiency does not increase.

Arts are techniques attached to skills and are acquired in order as levels increase. They can also be acquired through quests and NPC teachings.

Some skills and Arts can combine with others to create derivative skills and Arts.

Special skills and Arts, and even races and jobs, can be acquired through events and limited quests.

In addition, there are titles that can be obtained through certain conditions or granted through events and quests. Some titles provide stat boosts and attached skills and Arts.

There seem to be many more elements, but it seems endless to investigate.

Just as I was about to stop investigating, I received a message from Haruka.

"Big brother, I got the game, come and pick it up!"