At the Imperial Capital Royal Academy, Boshita barely waited for his daily training to finish before putting on his login device and stepping into the Dream Network. Not a second of resting time went to waste.
His two closest friends noticed the change immediately.
"Boshita, what is that thing?"
Without a word, he reached into his bag, produced two login devices he had brought along for exactly this moment, and tossed one to each of them. They turned the devices over in their hands, puzzled. The objects looked like oversized windproof goggles, crystal black and heavier than expected.
Some kind of eye massager, perhaps?
Curiosity won out, and they put them on. The reaction was instant.
"What in the world!"
The two of them were swallowed by the Dream World within moments, the vivid scenes hitting them with a force neither had anticipated. It was their first time, and it showed. They were fascinated long enough to choose games that caught their interest, then disappeared again, one into the quiet fields of Stardew Valley, the other into the organized chaos of Liberty City.
The academy's training rooms were always busy, students cycling in and out at all hours, and it didn't take long for people to notice the three of them sitting motionless with strange devices strapped to their faces. Questions followed, then more questions, and within a few days, the whole situation had spread through the academy like a fire.
"Well, well, well."
A blond elf strolled over with the unhurried confidence of someone who had never been told to hurry up in his life. His noble attire was immaculate, a jeweled sword hanging at his hip, and his gaze swept across the group with practiced disdain.
"If it isn't the grand genius of the Swordsmanship Institute. The country bumpkin Boshita, all the way from the provinces."
He was Jose, sixteenth prince of the royal family, and a proud native of the Imperial Capital to his core. The Royal Academy drew students from every corner of the empire, nobles of every rank among them, grand dukes and princes, and the occasional merchant's child with enough coin to buy their way in. But even among nobles, the hierarchies ran deep, and the snobs from the Imperial Capital made sure everyone beneath them felt that difference in status.
Under normal circumstances, a greeting like that would have already set the two of them walking toward the sparring grounds. But today, something was wrong.
Jose had been standing there for a noticeable stretch of time, and not a single person had looked up at him. He felt insulted.
He stepped closer and peered at them. They were all wearing some kind of device over their eyes, sitting perfectly still.
"Has some new trend started in the capital that I haven't heard about?"
That thought alone was intolerable. He reached out and grabbed for the login device on Boshita's head.
"Pair of Aces!"
"Can't beat that, pass!"
"Hurry up, I've been waiting an age!"
Inside, they had pulled together a card table and were playing poker. Boshita caught the movement at the edge of his awareness and pulled himself out of the Dream Network, finding Jose standing over him with his hand outstretched.
"What do you want?"
Jose tilted his head back and looked down his nose.
"What is that thing? Let me see."
He reached again, but Boshita caught his wrist and held up a single finger.
"Ten thousand."
Jose's expression darkened.
"I'm not an idiot. Those are just goggles. They're worth ten thousand?"
Boshita looked at him with one eye still half-covered by the device.
"Ten thousand per day. Rental only, not for sale."
"Are you serious right now?"
Boshita's expression carried the particular kind of contempt that only comes from knowing someone else's financial situation better than they'd like. It had the exact effect as intended.
"Everyone knows you're the unfavored one, Sixteen. Pocket money runs thin, I imagine."
"Get lost. I'm not fighting you today. Stop bothering me while I'm playing."
Jose's composure snapped.
"Who said I don't have money? Ten thousand isn't even a sum worth mentioning."
He snatched the login device and pulled it over his head in one motion, determined to prove a point.
In truth, Boshita hadn't charged anyone else anywhere near that much. He simply wanted to make Jose's day slightly worse.
Alto, for his part, had never imagined that the experience store model he had been planning would already be put into practice by someone else entirely.
Meanwhile, on the forum, he had finally broken his silence.
[ARK: Survival Evolved, launching in three days.]
Price: 168.
No additional words. No promotional ads of any kind.
It landed like a stone dropped into still water, sending ripples across the entire forum at once.
[It's here! Finally! Master Alto, you've returned!]
[Three days. Only three days! I cannot wait!]
[Money is ready. I'm buying the moment it drops, and nobody is stopping me!]
[Done waiting. I'm done waiting!]
[Anyone forming a launch day team? I need to see those prehistoric creatures up close. Who's in?]
[I thought we'd be waiting forever. Spinning in my chair right now!]
[Telling every single person I know. They all have to play this.]
Teams began forming in the comments. Launch day strategies were being drafted. Some players had already set alarms, unwilling to risk sleeping through the release. Every post hummed with the same energy, as though they had already stepped into that vast prehistoric world and just needed the door to open.
Boshita saw the announcement the moment it went up. He contacted Carson without hesitation.
"Whatever it takes, get it the instant it goes on sale."
"Of course, sir. I'll have someone purchase it on launch day and send it via a magic raven. It will reach you quickly."
"Good. And grab a few extra copies while you're at it."
Launch day arrived, and the scene outside the major shops in Lunaria played out exactly as it had before. Rowsn managed to secure his copy of ARK without much difficulty, and the moment he was home, he put the device on and didn't wait another second.
A familiar wave of weightlessness passed through him as the login interface opened. Before anything else, the music reached him, deep horn calls woven through with distant, layered voices, unhurried and vast in a way that pulled the chest open. It carried weight, the kind that settles over you before you fully understand why, drawing you forward into something ancient and strange.
The interface itself had changed since the last time. More options than before, and among them something new: an official server tab, currently locked and waiting.