Sean Christian was a college student who had just graduated not too long ago and also a popular game critic in the gaming community. Despite spending all his time in the fully immersive VR game “Magus Academy Online” as KuroUsagi, he got a summa cum laude for his major. This was all thanks to the exceptional contributions to his university during his three years of study prior, which allowed him to bypass the typical thesis route.

  That was the reason why he had plenty of free time — more than most people his age — to play the game. But this also meant that he had ample time to lazily scroll through the game’s official website forum while drinking soda. As a game critic, he spent as much time analyzing player feedback as he did playing, and the forum was a goldmine of insightful discussions and absurd theories.

  It was during one such idle browsing session that a thread title jumped out at him:

  “Trying Meditation Technique IRL?!”

  Curious, he clicked the thread, and the opening post immediately made him laugh.

  “Guys, I was just taking a shit at home and had the most brilliant idea. So brilliant, in fact, that I didn’t even bother washing my hands before typing this out.

  “So, has anyone tried practicing the meditation techniques from the game in real life? LOL. I mean, obviously, it wouldn’t work because it’s just a game, but imagine if it actually did…

  “Wouldn’t it be awesome? We can be superheroes that protect Earth against extraterrestrial invaders, or maybe even a ruler with a harem of beautiful women! Man, I wish it was possible in real life…”

  The thread garnered quite a bit of traction, with some netizens sympathizing with the idea and the rest laughing their ass off, mocking the original poster for telling his wet dream.

  Sean himself was on the latter side as he shook his head, unable to stifle a chuckle. “Wishful thinking,” he muttered, grinning at the screen. “Classic ignorant gamer nonsense.”

  Still, his brain picked up on the idea. Ever since inheriting the legacy of a dark Magus from the pocket dimension, Sean had been plagued by recurring dreams filled with arcane knowledge. Dreams that seemed too vivid, too detailed, to simply dismiss as the byproduct of an overactive imagination. But how could something that was supposedly confined to the game influence him so much in real life?

  Of course, the gaming capsule itself was a marvel of incomprehensible technology. Even now, he struggled to believe that any company on Earth could create such a device. The largest multi-billion-dollar corporations working on similar projects were still fumbling with the basics of connecting the human brain to a computer. The capsule's level of sophistication was decades — if not centuries — ahead of human’s current level.

  But what if practicing the game’s meditation techniques in real life was possible? What if I could manipulate elemental particles and gather infused mana, just like in the game?

  The thought was ridiculous, wasn’t it? If such things were possible, why weren’t there mages walking the Earth, ruling nations with their power as they did in Seraphia? Why wasn’t the world dominated by Magi?

  Frowning, he reached for his soda and took a few gulps, the fizzy drink doing little to drown out the intrusive thought. If magic existed here, I’d drop everything and focus on becoming a Magus. Hell, I’d probably try to take over the world.

  But then, he shook his head as he chucked at his own absurdity and mumbled to himself, “Yeah, right. That’s just the kind of silly daydream any gamer would have.”

  Nevertheless, his curiosity got the better of him. With a resigned sigh, he turned off his monitor, pushed his gaming chair aside, and settled onto the carpeted floor in a cross-legged position. Might as well give it a shot. Worst case, I waste a few minutes and laugh about this later.

  Closing his eyes, Sean began meditating the familiar meditation technique — the Myriad Elements Method — visualizing the flow of mana and focusing on the faintest hint of elemental energy around him, just as he would in the game. This meditation technique was designed to channel elemental particles from the environment and infuse the mana from the Primordial Nexus into his body.

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  At first, it was like fumbling through a pitch-black room. The air felt still, barren — devoid of the vibrant energy he was so accustomed to in the game. Minutes passed, but there were still no signs of any elemental particles. Nothing responded to him. It was disheartening.

  Ugh… What am I doing? he thought bitterly, clenching his hands. Earth’s elemental particles are practically nonexistent. The flicker of hope that had driven him to try began to fade, snuffed out by the cold reality of his surroundings.

  “No, I can’t give up just yet.” Among the fragments of knowledge he had inherited from the dark Magus, there was a secret technique — one designed for extreme conditions where the environment lacked the usual factors needed for meditation. If the knowledge he’d gained wasn’t merely some artifact of the game, then this should be possible.

  Thus, he adjusted his posture and began anew, employing the secret technique with meticulous precision.

  Seconds turned into minutes; minutes blurred into hours. The world around him remained oppressively still. But then, just as frustration threatened to overtake him, he felt it — a faint, almost imperceptible trickle of energy.

  “No way…” he whispered, his heart pounding in disbelief. “It’s there…”

  Sean steadied his breathing, forcing himself to remain calm. He focused once more, attuning his senses to the sluggish flow of elemental particles around him. The sensation was leagues behind the vibrant energy of the game world. But it wasn’t nothing.

  On Earth, the elemental energy might be scarce, but who was to say there was none at all?

  Even so, the progress was painstakingly slow — about a hundredth of what he could achieve in the game. It felt like collecting droplets from a leaky faucet. But the fact that it worked at all was incredible, nonetheless.

  While the elemental particles on Earth were very thin and scarce, this discovery opened the door to uncharted possibilities. A new frontier that he could be a pioneer in!

  Sean leaned back, staring at the ceiling as a grin spread across his face. “So, the joke’s on me, huh? It actually works.”

  A fleeting thought crossed his mind: I wonder if anyone else has figured this out yet… No, that’s unlikely since I need to use the secret technique to be able to barely do this, and who in their right mind would try doing this for hours on end? He glanced at the forum thread again, considering whether he should leak this to the internet. Nah, it's better to keep this to myself for now.

  He couldn’t imagine the uproar that the players would make if they discovered that they could practice meditation techniques on Earth. It would quickly become a headline on the news and cause the game to be taken seriously, or even dangerously, by the government. Who knows what kind of consequences it might cause?

  But his excitement was tempered by a grim realization. “Still, at this rate, it might take me years to reach even the first-stage Initiate Attunement acolyte level on Earth,” he muttered. “I’d probably die of old age before even becoming an official Magus. And without the Spell Assist feature, mastering a single spell without experiencing backlashes that could kill me could take months!”

  However, disheartened he was not.

  He was, after all, one of Magus Academy Online’s top players and one of its most respected game critics. Overcoming challenges was second nature to him, and he wasn’t about to give up now. If there was a way forward, he would find it. He would use his ingenuity and his analytical mindset to tackle the problem head-on.

  There has to be a reason why Earth’s elemental particles are so thin, he thought, holding his chin in contemplation. Is it because the natural laws of the two worlds are fundamentally different, making Magus meditation techniques less effective? Or is it just that this room is an environment too scarce in elemental energy to be optimal?

  Unfortunately, answers wouldn’t come from just sitting in his room. If he was serious about unraveling this mystery, he would need help. He needed a trustworthy team of people who could help him crack this dilemma. And he already had a few names in mind. But how was he supposed to convince them that his findings were real?

  Even he would spit at someone else making such a claim, let alone the faceless masses on the internet. They’d ridicule him, saying he’d spent too much time gaming and probably needed a psychiatrist to check his mental health. Heck, he could already imagine the sarcastic comments flooding in:

  “Bro thinks he’s the protagonist of a light novel!”

  “Next thing you know, he’ll be trying to cast {Flame Dart} in his backyard.”

  “Somebody call NASA; we’ve got another guy trying to break reality.”

  Sean smirked bitterly at the thought. As absurd as it sounded, he couldn’t exactly blame them. If the roles were reversed, he’d probably react the same way.

  All he knew was that this wasn’t going to be an easy endeavor, not even in convincing someone as simple-minded as Chicken and the others. He would need some kind of proof. Something tangible, even if it was small.

  Perhaps the answer could only be found in solving one of the questions he’d already been grappling with. Fortunately, since the game was still caught up in the chaotic aftermath of the war, he had plenty of time to experiment and figure things out.

  Out of the blue, a terrifying thought crept into his mind.

  What if the world of Magus Academy Online was real?

  What if all the NPCs weren’t just lines of code and advanced AI but actual living beings?

  What if this entire game was a grand scheme orchestrated by someone in Seraphia to lure Earthlings into their world as disposable pawns?

  The deeper he delved into this line of thought, the more he realized how terrifying this discovery was.