12. Coffee Time

For the second time this week, Bao found himself in the traditional cafe on the street corner but this time he was over punctual which for someone who knew him, could seem like a miracle on its own. The table shivered through the constant up and down from his leg as the coffee cups started to pile up.

"I'm shocked. Enden the almighty is here before me and it appears for quite a while at that too... But where is my coffee?"

"Unlike you, I am not all-knowing, so I don't know what coffee you would want, besides I already told you a million times to let that name be those times have long since gone."

"Ahaha, come on Bao I'm just joking, I still don't understand why you despise that username, I mean your avatar became famous when VR was still legal. Also, it's all about the information sources, there is no such thing as magic behind my omniscience." He sat down.

"But something really close to it, that's for sure."

"So, what is it that you need to talk about, is it concerning the dive you did yesterday?"

"If you know that much already, then I have a few questions for you. How come that there were players over two years ago in the game if it released just a few days ago?"

"Beats me, I never heard of that being the case either, probably some internal testing made during the development, I can't think of any other way it could've escaped my information network."

"Next question, what about that name N.W. you've given me to make a dive free of charge?"

"That was just a single old man in his sixties, he wanted to spend his last days in a world without problems and so he reserved a spot for his remaining lifespan which should be roughly about five to seven months but sadly he kicked the bucket before even being able to go to the net cafe."

"So I could go there again?"

"Yep"

"For free?"

"Yep"

"Whenever I want?"

"For fucks sake Bao yes it's yours to use whenever, wherever and however you want! At least for the upcoming six to seven months, that is."

"But what excuse can I use to leave the house. I mean Mom even went as far as to suspect that I took some drugs yesterday just because I left the house and it was even worse to explain to her that I was just going out drinking a coffee today. Since all that chaos happened my parents became overprotective if they are not busy ignoring me, sigh what a pain."

"That is something you should solve yourself, I'm not your parental advisor, I don't have a clue about how you could solve your family problems."

"Also do you know something regarding a special version X..., what was it again, ah right Xavier? Orbisterra mentioned it and that due to that version I would have quite some restrictions and what was even worse after playing with it my whole body felt like I just went to the gym. Thank god the pain disappeared today otherwise I don't know if I would've been able to come here today."

Bao thought thoroughly if he should tell someone about the level system working also in real life but decided against it for two simple reasons: first, everyone would deem him as either crazy or diagnose him with VR addiction bringing him back to the facility; second, he didn't trust the people as a matter of principle if the effects of the skill system work as they did in the game the military and government would be after him. Especially his best friend who deals with information could be one of the biggest problems.

"Wh...what are you t...talking about? As if you would know how it feels after going to the gym, hehe" Ning diverted his eyes to the coffee in front of him.

"That was a miserable attempt to hide your confusion, you know something don't you?"

He nodded without saying anything.

"Well that's good enough for me, I won't continue to pester you any further since it doesn't seem like you can talk about it and I know that you won't answer no matter what, in return, I'll let you pay the bill"

With a wink he left the cafe and walked home, he wouldn't be able to get any information out of him anyway, this already happened once when he asked about his parents and that time Bao persistently continued to ask over days but Ning vehemently refused to say anything. So this time it would be upon him to gather the information needed. Even though he looked forward to dive again he hesitated; the whole story seemed rather strange, for even Ning not being able to talk about it furthermore there was always the risk of becoming a reality-junky again.

When he arrived home and opened the door both of his parents stood there staring at him.

"We need to talk son."