After friending each other, Kael warped back to Crescent City and logged off.

  It was already past one in the morning, and his stomach was eating itself. He sat up, pulled the helmet off, and set it on the desk, wiping a sheen of sweat from his forehead. He glanced at the small box fan straining to push hot air around the room and shook his head. He was a multi-millionaire now, but his room didn't even have an AC unit. Finding a new place was officially priority number one.

  After a moment, Kael swung his legs off the bed, planning to grab a late-night bite. He opened the door only to find it blocked by a human roadblock—Chad was still camped outside his room, fast asleep and snoring soundly. There was no way to get past the mountain of a man without waking him.

  With a sigh of resignation, Kael closed the door. He ended up making a cup of instant mac and cheese, tossing in a couple of mystery seasoning packets he found in his desk. While he waited for it to soften, he opened TikTok.

  The app exploded with a flood of DMs.

  "Bro, name your price for that Ascendant ring. 7 figures, easy."

  "Hey cutie, I'm so lonely in the game ;) wanna come keep me company?"

  "Hey man, don't worry, I'll take good care of Isolde in-game for you. She's in good hands."

  …

  Kael ignored the buyout offers and the thirsty DMs, but the one about his sister made him pause. He clicked over to her profile and saw that her follower count had rocketed from just over a hundred to more than 300,000.

  It turned out that ever since he’d replied to her post with a screenshot of the Ascendant-tier Hakkar's Signet of Celerity, the post had been screenshotted and reposted everywhere, sparking endless debate.

  Isolde hadn't bothered to argue with anyone. Instead, she’d started streaming, turning her gameplay into short-form videos. She’d rolled a mage, documenting her journey as a complete level 1 noob.

  Kael tapped on her first video.

  "Hey guys, I'm finally in the game! Whoa, this feels so real. So many people are waving at me. Hi! Hello! And the NPCs up ahead are all so gorgeous. Look, there's a huge crowd of players around that one pretty NPC. See that guy? He's rubbing his hands together… he must be just as excited as I am to be here. He's reaching out, like he’s trying to… oh. Oh, wow. He just tried to flip that female NPC's skirt… Uh, anyway, let’s check something else out."

  Her adorkable cluelessness had, paradoxically, attracted a swarm of "experts" eager to watch and offer advice. Some held court in her stream chat, critiquing her every move, while others went so far as to find her in the starting village to act as her self-appointed mentors.

  Seeing how absorbed his sister was, Kael decided not to interfere. She was a total beginner; even if he gave her top-tier gear, it wouldn't help much. It would just paint a massive target on her back.

  The best thing he could do was let her explore and learn on her own. It was the only way Isolde would develop a real understanding of Godpath.

  Kael swiped out of his sister's profile and kept scrolling. The feed was dominated by two topics: the Blackwind Brotherhood’s fortress siege and the Sunfire Bell.

  The hype around the Bell was reaching a fever pitch. Countless players who had participated in the attack were posting clips of themselves, buffed by the Sunfire Bell, soloing bandits six or seven levels above them. Each video had hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of likes.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The first couple of clips seemed normal. But after the sixth or seventh video all showcasing the exact same thing, Kael smelled a marketing campaign. He opened the comments sections. The top-liked comments were always the same few.

  "Sunfire Bell = GG. Whoever gets it, wins the game."

  "Mark my words! Whichever guild gets the Sunfire Bell, that's where I'm going!"

  "Bro, I sold my car to donate to my guild's Sunfire Bell fund. Did I do the right thing?"

  …

  A small smile touched Kael’s lips. This had Elon’s fingerprints all over it. Hiring influencers to start trends, paying click farms to boost engagement… but at this rate, that million bucks he gave him wouldn't last long.

  By the time he finished his instant mac and cheese, it was nearly two in the morning. Utterly exhausted, Kael fell into bed and passed out.

  ***

  Ring, ring, ring…

  He was deep in sleep when his phone started buzzing. He groggily answered it.

  "H'lo?"

  A sharp, energetic female voice came through the line. "Still sleeping, lazybones?"

  Kael glanced at the screen. Unsaved number. "Uhh, who is this?"

  There was a stunned silence on the other end, then the voice shot up an octave. "You… you didn't save my number?!"

  Kael scratched his head, sitting up. "Er…"

  The woman finally relented with an exasperated sigh. "It's me! Lila!"

  "Oh, Lila. Hey. What's up?" Kael rubbed his temples, trying to force himself awake.

  "Get your ass outside. I'm taking you to look at apartments."

  "Apartments? I never said I was looking."

  "That dump you call an apartment? I could smell it from down the hall. And don’t even get me started on the noise coming out of there every night. You. Outside. Now."

  "O-okay. Give me a minute."

  Kael hung up and opened his bedroom door.

  Thump.

  A mound of flesh tumbled into his room. It was Chad, who had clearly been pressing his ear against the door. He scrambled to his feet with surprising agility and grabbed Kael's arm. "Was that the goddess? You called her, didn't you?"

  Kael shook his head frantically. "No, no."

  Chad started shaking his arm, refusing to let go. "I heard everything! Her name is Lila, and she's taking you to see an apartment! She's your sugar mama, isn't she! You're playing with her emotions! Admit it!"

  The shaking was making Kael dizzy. "Okay, fine! It was the goddess! Let go of me and I'll take you to meet her."

  "Really? You'll take me to meet her?" Chad’s face flushed a deep red.

  "Yes," Kael said. "Now let go, and we'll go together."

  Chad’s grip slowly loosened.

  Kael led him out of the room and locked the door behind them. They walked out of apartment 601 together, but just as they reached the top of the stairs, Kael stopped.

  He looked back at their apartment door with a puzzled expression. "Did I lock the main door?"

  "I wasn't paying attention," Chad said, his mind clearly elsewhere.

  "Can you go check? If it's unlocked, lock it up."

  "Oh, okay."

  The moment Chad turned back, Kael bolted. He sprinted down the stairs, taking them three at a time. Chad realized he’d been tricked and gave chase.

  "You… you liar!"

  But his nearly 300-pound frame was no match for Kael’s agility. A mournful cry echoed through the stairwell.

  Downstairs, Kael saw a luxury SUV parked on the street, completely blocking the building's exit. "What a dick move," he muttered, starting to walk around it.

  Just then, the driver's side window rolled down. A woman took off her sunglasses and called out, "Hey, lazybones!"

  Kael froze and looked back. It was Lila, dressed in a sharp, stylish outfit that made her look incredibly energetic. He smiled and quickly slid into the passenger seat.

  The second his seatbelt clicked, she grilled him. "Who were you just calling a dick?"

  "You misheard," Kael said, perfectly composed. "I said, 'What a neat brick,' talking about the building."

  Lila snorted, but she was clearly in a good mood. She started the engine, but just as she was about to pull away, her nose twitched. "Why does your breath smell so bad? Did you even brush your teeth?"

  Kael blinked, then blew a breath into his cupped hand and sniffed.

  "Ugh."

  He nearly gagged on the ghost of last night's instant mac and cheese. He scratched his head sheepishly. "Uh, I was in a hurry. Forgot to brush."

  Lila’s brow furrowed, but she didn't say anything. She rolled down all the windows, then handed him a small bottle of mouthwash and a pack of wet wipes from her glove compartment. "Clean yourself up."

  Kael took a swig of the mouthwash, tilted his head back, and gargled loudly before spitting it out the window. He then used a wipe to scrub his face.

  "All done."

  Lila glanced at him, then pulled out a fresh wipe and gently cleaned the corner of his eye.

  Kael watched her, his gaze fixed on her focused, gentle expression. For a moment, he felt a little intoxicated.