For a few seconds, he could still smell wet leaves. Then Ren opened his eyes to the cracked ceiling of his apartment. The refrigerator hummed weakly, pipes knocked somewhere in the wall, and the headset pressed against his face.
He took it off. The tape had survived the night, and his ears weren’t smoking. He considered that a win.
5:48 AM glowed on the cheap clock beside the mattress.
Ren sat up.
Nearly five hours outside. Almost ten inside Pantheon.
The game ran at twice Earth time, but his body felt like he’d spent those hours asleep instead of fighting monsters. No heavy eyes. No exhaustion. If anything, he felt rested.
He had logged in around one expecting to look around, figure out whether Pantheon could make him money, and probably get humiliated by whatever passed for a tutorial. Instead, he’d spent the night fighting his way from rabbits to monsters several levels above him, stealing abilities he wasn’t supposed to have, and stumbling into a Rare quest.
He had also seen something ten levels above him that could probably crush him in a single hit.
He almost put the damaged headset back on. Almost.
His stomach growled. That sounded like a more immediate problem.
Ren got up quietly.
Mia was asleep on the other side of the room, one arm hanging off the mattress.
Her phone was still in her hand. The screen had gone dark, the charging cable lying beside her instead of plugged in. She had apparently lost an argument with consciousness before plugging it in.
He left her alone.
Breakfast was eggs, two slices of bread and the last of the cheap sausage.
Ren ate standing at the counter while his thoughts returned to Pantheon.
Twenty-five silver for the greaves. At thirty cents per silver, seven dollars and fifty cents. Then he had spent nine silver on the spear. The Cinderpod commission had added seventy copper.
His remaining coin came out to a little over five dollars at the launch rate.
There were materials he had not sold yet. There was the Redjaw information. There was no guarantee either would still be worth as much by the time he logged back in after work.
Five hours for roughly five dollars in liquid coin.
A normal shift is safer. Much safer.
Behind him, blankets moved.
Mia sat up with her hair flattened against one side of her face. She stared at him, then at the clock.
"Why are you awake?"
Ren looked at her. "I could ask you the same thing."
"I just woke up."
"Your phone disagrees."
Mia looked down at it. She plugged it in without comment.
Ren slid the second plate toward her.
"Eat."
She came over, sat at the small table and looked at him again.
"You played all night."
"Part of it."
"How was it?"
Ren opened his mouth. He could have said useful. Profitable would have been generous. Complicated was accurate.
Instead, he smiled.
Mia caught it immediately.
"Oh."
Ren’s smile disappeared.
"What?"
"You liked it."
"I didn’t say that."
"You didn’t have to."
She took a bite of egg.
Ren sat across from her.
"It’s impressive."
"That means yes."
"It means impressive."
"Did you kill anything?"
"A few things."
"How many?"
Ren thought about it.
"Enough that answering accurately would make breakfast worse."
Mia stopped chewing.
"What does that mean?"
"Mostly rabbits."
"Mostly?"
"There were also rams."
"Okay."
"And these things called Cinderpods."
She stared at him.
"What are those?"
"Six-legged charcoal bulbs that breathe fire."
"That doesn’t make it better."
Ren took a drink of water.
"There was also a wolf."
Mia lowered her fork.
"Ren."
"Two wolves."
"Ren."
"I didn’t kill those."
"That’s supposed to help?"
"They left."
"Why?"
"A larger wolf arrived."
Mia stared at him for several seconds.
Ren decided not to mention Level Thirteen yet.
She put her fork down.
"Did you die?"
"No."
"Good."
Something in the way she said it made Ren look at her.
"You know something."
"I read the forums."
"How much?"
Mia looked at her dead phone.
"Some."
"You fell asleep holding it."
"Fine. A lot." She sighed. "People have been testing everything. Some idiots even spent hours sleeping inside the game instead of leveling."
"Why?"
"Rested experience. They woke up with an XP bonus if they rented a room."
"They used a game that lets your real body sleep to take a nap inside the game? Some people are truly... creative."
"Apparently efficiency has layers." Mia shook her head. "Anyway, people are freaking out about the death penalty."
"What death penalty?" He tilted his head.
"You don’t know?"
"Apparently not."
"How did you play for five hours without knowing what happens if you die?"
"By not dying."
"That is the dumbest possible answer."
"It was also effective."
She ignored him.
"You lose a full level. Any XP you’d built up inside that level is gone too, your gear takes durability damage, and then you’re locked out for twenty-four Earth hours."
Ren stopped with the bread halfway to his mouth. That was aggravating.
"Pantheon hours?"
"Earth."
That was considerably worse.
"People have screenshots. Some of them died in the first hour and they’re locked out until tonight. There are entire threads full of people losing their minds."
Ren leaned back. Twenty-four Earth hours. Forty-eight hours inside Pantheon. While everyone else kept moving.
Levels.
Quests.
Rare monsters.
Markets.
Information.
Redjaw might be dead before a player who died now could even log back in. And those two stupid wolves had nearly killed him.
Ren grimaced. Forty-eight hours felt like a personal betrayal.
Mia watched his face.
"So don’t die."
"Excellent advice. You should write guides."
"I’m serious."
"So am I."
He looked toward the headset. A normal shift was safer. The thought had become considerably more persuasive.