After the depressing Lunch, Luke and Leo headed back towards their apartment since they had been given the rest of the day off.
Since most other sector E netizens rushed back to work, having now found some hope to escape this hell-hole if their evaluation was high enough, the communal facilities such as the common bath and laundry were relatively empty which presented the brothers with a rare opportunity to clean up and wash their clothes without having to wait in long queues.
Before heading back to the apartment, the brothers bathed and placed their clothes in laundry which was relatively advanced and quickly returned their clothes after washing and completely drying them in under 45 seconds.
Cleaned, fed and provided with hope, the brothers were full of motivation to log back into the game and improve their chances to escape sector E with the additional time that they had been provided.
"Leo, I will try my best to advance within the game by levelling up and maybe even unlocking my class.
Although as of now I have no idea how to achieve either, I'll definitely try my best.
I'm not ascending from this place without you though, so either we both make it, or we both don't" Luke said as he gave Leo an intense stare in the eye.
Leo could see in his brothers eyes as to how serious he was and today he was as serious as he was when their mother sold her kidney to send them on this ship.
The fact that Luke was not going to ascend out of this place alone was sweet but also slightly worrying for Leo, since it wasn't his promotion that he was worried about but rather Luke's that gave him a scare.
He was already pretty advanced within the game and could easily ascend to Sector D based on his in-game results, however, since he could not disclose them with Luke he just nodded his head and said "I'll make the cut, you worry about yourself".
Luke let out a deep sigh before mentally hyping himself up and picking up his gaming helmet.
"By the way, what beach are you on? I'm on Candolim beach-" Luke said as Leo raised an eyebrow and replied "Beach? I'm on a mountain-"
It was at this moment that the brothers realised that of all the things the two discussed they never put enough importance behind discussing the in-game events since uptil now they were treating it just as a past-time.
The game Terra Nova was important in more ways than one and Luke and Leo were realising it slowly.
The game was a source to earn the only acceptable currency on the arc ship called MP which could be used to spend on luxury.
The game also decided one's place within society and for Leo it also held keys to his life and death.
The game deserved to be treated like an important aspect of one's life and the brothers realising it early was a good thing.
Once the disparities about their starting location emerged, the two sat down and began talking about their experiences after logging in and while Luke answered everything honestly, Leo made up a bit of false lies mixed with the truth to convey information to Luke without compromising his identity.
He told Luke about where to find the global chat button about how one could not log out of dungeons and how the prices for lodging and food were within the game in the area where he spawned.
On the other hand Luke told him about the beach town of Candolim where he had spawned and how it was called 'City Of Knights' since many legendary NPC had been residents of that town before becoming famous.
Luke told Leo about how there was a skill scroll shop within his town that sold skill scrolls and how it was priced at 10 gold coins which the average player just did not have.
His short term goal was to gather the money to buy it and then use it to level up against the monsters located nearby.
Leo approved of the plan and told him that the best way to earn money would probably be to get a quest which would be easier if he found an adventurer association in his town.
After this discussion, both brothers logged back into Terra Nova Online, with about 18 hours of gaming time to spare until their next shift.
**********
( Silverpine Village, Leo's POV )
[ System Notification - Welcome back player 'The Boss', You have no new messages ]
A system notification welcomed Leo back into the game and it informed him that he had no new messages.
He found himself still at the tavern room that he logged out of with the only change in his stat panel being the fact that his stamina had somehow recovered to full in the time where he was not playing.
This was a much welcome change as Leo felt his in-game avatar rested and refreshed which was a different feel to how he felt ragged and tired while logging out.
As he went back out of the tavern after borrowing a new coat he was surprised to see many players still walking around the entertainment district although it was working hours.
Uptil now, Leo had no idea that while sector E players were forced to work 9 hour shifts a day, players from Sector C and upwards had significantly less working hours.
Sector C players depending on their job only worked 5 to 9 hours a day, while sector B and upwards only 2 mandatory hours.
This gave the players from higher sectors more time to spend within the game which gave them more opportunity to level up and improve within the game compared to lower sector players.
Although at the start of the game the difference wasn't evident, with time passing it was bound to be more and more noticeable.
This first promotion was important because it was going to be the only time when the playing field would still be almost on level terms, however, come a year later and the difference would be enormous.
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the Powerstone Target, thankyou for the support ///