The Second Life of Adam Cosmos

Somewhere in the deeper section of the forest, a party of five players is clearing a catacomb.

Shield Bash!

“Bro, I got their aggro! Pump your arrows in it!”

Piercing Shot! Double Shot!

“Jake, don’t make it weird!”

To anyone up-to-date with the top guilds and the current ranking, they would immediately recognize the two players.

The tank is Jacob Williams, currently at Level 66. And Cole Williams, a Ranger Archer at Level 67.

They are both from the Flora Guild and they are working alongside a small team of independent players. The brothers are currently in the top 20 of the Lorikan Rankings and in the top 100 of the Unified Rankings.

The reason for them teaming up with independent players instead of their guild members is that Cole is dating one of the independent players and is doing her a favor by helping her level-up.

Or at least, that's one of the three reasons.

“Babe, prepare to cast your healing on my brother." said Cole, affectionately addressing the cleric.

“I know that, silly!” the cleric responded while rolling her eyes. “And when will you pump all your arrows in me?”

Healing Wave!

“Cut the flirting!" said a female warrior wielding a two-handed greatsword. "There’s still six of them!”

She then turned her attention to one of the nearby skeletons and attacked it.

Mighty Slash!

Her attack cleaved a Skeleton Warrior neatly in half, causing an instant kill.

“Dex, focus your shots on Cole’s target!” the female warrior barked at the fifth member of the team. "Do not switch target until it's down."

“Sure thing, Bex!”

“Don't call me Bex.”

“But it has a nice ring, you know? Dex and Bex!”

“Dex, keep shooting!” the warrior repeated.

“Hey sis, stop flirting, you two!” Jess teasingly told her sister.

“Yeah, stop flirting, you two!” echoed Cole.

“Shut up!”

Shield Charge!

Shield Bash!

Taunt!

“Lovebirds, I got all aggro on me again." yelled the tank, Jacob, at the four bickering mid-combat. "Start killing!”

The two archers focused fire on a single target while the tank kept the attention of two skeleton. Meanwhile, the female warrior is directly fighting another not aggroed by the tank.

Despite their banter, it is clear that their team is a competent one.

Not long after, the targets have been eliminated. But the fight isn't over yet.

“It’s the Necromancer’s turn. Prevent him from summoning again!” the female warrior shouted. “Jess, buff please!”

Her sister immediately cast a buff.

Divine Boon!

The spell converts half of the user’s total damage output into divine-attribute attack. The buff only lasts for 20 seconds but it is enough to cleave a defenseless Necromancer.

It previously summoned a dozen skeleton minions to the team but the players were able to eliminate the skeletons despite being outnumbered.

Mighty Slash!

A Necromancer with no minion is an easy target. So with little challenge, they defeated the boss and the essence was distributed to all participants.

Normally, pro gamers like the brothers would have insisted on a contribution-based distribution of essence. But in the interest of doing a favor to his girlfriend, the distribution was set to equal instead. That, and there's other reasons why they decided to join the independent players.

“Awww! Thanks Cole!" Jessica flirtatiously thanks Cole. "I gained a level thanks to you!”

“No need to thank me, babe!" responded Cole nonchalantly. "That’s why I’m here.”

“Whoa! I gained a level too!” said the Dex, the youngest member of the team. “Much appreciated, buddy!”

“Dude, we're not buddies." Cole coldly responded. "And I didn't do it for you.”

If it was up to Cole, he would have been happy with just the four of them. Him and his brother, plus his girlfriend and her sister.

But a third, or rather fifth wheel, came in the form of Dexter. And clearly, he has a crush on his girlfriend’s sister.

Unbeknownst to Bex, Jess, and Dex, the brothers had an ulterior reason why they agreed to help them level: it is to assess the potential of Jess' sister, Rebecca who is currently in the top rankers of the Lorikan server. But to the trio, they thought the two brothers came to impress Jess who recently started dating Cole.

Unbeknownst to Jacob, Cole had been trying to hook up his brother with Rebecca.

Unfortunately, it seems neither are interested in the other.

The two had barely exchanged glances and are just focused on grinding for the past 2 days since they left the Forgotten Temple.

So, to Cole, Rebecca has simultaneously passed and failed not one, but two secret tests.

Guild recruitment: check.

Bro's potential girl: fail.

“Okay, let’s split the loot.” the one who hates being called Bex, Rebecca, reminded the group.

“Nah, we’re good.” Cole shrugged with a friendly smile. “You can keep them all.”

“Wait brother, let’s at least check- OUCH!”

-10 HP!

“As I was saying, we’re good.” said Cole, while throwing a meaningful look at his brother. “Right, Jacob?”

“Ahem. Erm, yeah.” nodded Jacob. “We’re good. Like what my brother said.”

“Very well, then.” said Bex, paying no mind to their banter.

She acknowledged his response as officially forfeiting the gains from the catacomb.

Meanwhile, the one called Dex, is already checking the loot.

“Look at what we have here- Oh, not again.” said Dex with a disappointed tone. “It’s just another one of those hearts and pages.”

Although they knew enough of gaming to understand that the loot would be of some yet-to-be-discovered purpose, the independent trio are hoping for a far more pragmatic loot like magic accessories, class tomes, or weapons and armors. Sadly, all they have are a few Necromancer's Heart and some pages of the Voynich Scripture.

But a second later, he became excited again.

“Oh, there’s a couple more of these herbs. Do you mind if I take them?” asked Dex to Bex. “I can convert them into poison. Could be useful, you know?

“No.” replied Rebecca. “Go ahead.”

He had been hoping for something that can help boost his combat effectiveness so that he could be of more use to Rebecca, err- the team.

But his marksmanship, unfortunately, is average at best. And to be fair, that is because he’s not really an archer, but a Toxin Herbalist.

His class specializes in extracting poison from various sources and applying it as he sees fit.

For his weapon, he has chosen a bow and arrow so he can inflict poison to enemies from a distance. A decision he made when he learned that Rebecca had chosen to pick up a two-handed greatsword and heavy armor.

Unfortunately, the dead are immune to poison.

And as for the Necromancer, unfortunately, he didn't have much of a chance to showcase his poison due to Bex making quick work of the boss.

“Oh well, better try again. Right, Bex?” Dex smiled at the warrior.

“Don’t call me Bex.”

“So, you’ll be leaving for today, then?” Jess asked Cole.

“Yeah, we’re needed back in the plains. The GM wants all Flora members ASAP.” responded Cole, while planting a kiss on Jess' lips. “Sorry I can’t stay long.”

“Wow, that’ll never stop being amazing. It feels like a kiss.” Jess said in awe.

“If you think that's amazing," Cole began to say with a mischievous look. "Why don’t we try having se-”

“I already told you, stop flirting!” said Bex in irritation.

“Okay, sorry!” said Cole apologetically, “Anyways, we gotta go. Gotta work with the guild again.”

“Thanks for the assistance, Cole, Jake.” replied Bex while courteously thanking the two pro gamers, shaking both their hands. “I’m disbanding the party now.”

[Party Formation: Equal Essence Distribution]

Rebecca, Lvl. 60 (Leader)

Cole Williams, Lvl. 67

Jacob Williams, Lvl. 66

Jessica, Lvl. 58

Dexter, Lvl. 54

“See ya, My Cupid.” winked Jess to Cole. “Let’s eat outside tomorrow, okay?”

The brothers tore a teleportation scroll- it is tethered to a specific location in the plains where the rest of the Flora Guild are located.

And with the departure of the brothers, the party of five became three.

The leader, Rebecca, reformed the party. This time, it is with a contribution-based setting.

“Okay, let’s keep grinding.”

“You know what, sis? I think you’re good enough to join a pro guild.” said Jessica to her sister. “Have you seen the way his brother fights? I think you’re better than him.”

“He’s a tank, I’m a DPS warrior.” responded Rebecca while shaking her head. “Our roles are different so it’s pointless to compare our skills in combat.”

“Nah, Bex... Rebecca, I think Jess is right.” Dexter chimed in. “No one's gonna believe you're an amateur player with the way you fight.”

In truth, she wants to become a guild member of a pro gaming company as it is a surefire way to earn steady income. But she has some misgivings about joining Flora.

First, she didn’t want to enter due to her sister’s relationship ties. If she were to join a guild, she wants it to be on her own terms.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, she’s not sure if joining a guild is the best thing to do. There are many independent players who do well on their own. She’d rather not tie herself down with a company if she could avoid it.

“I’m still not good enough,” she said in response, not going into detail of what she’s really thinking. “I’ve just lost my ranking in the top 20s.”

“Duh, sis. You’re still in the top 100!”

“Anyways, this talk isn’t giving us any essence. Let’s keep grinding.”

“Wait, sis.” asked Jessica. “Anything worth selling from the loot?”

“I’m not sure,” said Rebecca dejectedly. “We got another one of those hearts and that weird page. I don’t know if it’ll sell again. We’re lucky enough that the two pages we found sold at a good price.”

“Maybe if we put them up for auction again, someone will be interested in it?” Jessica hopefully suggested.

“I hope so too. But we’ve reached our selling quota.” replied Rebecca with a sigh. “We can’t auction anything until next month.”

The sisters have previously put up a couple of items for auction in the Mercury Auction House. It was a variety of weapons and armors they found while exploring the catacombs.

Unfortunately, it didn’t net as much profit as they’d hoped. The items they put up for sale paled in comparison to several completed sets and superior weapons that went up for auction a few days ago.

In the end, they only earned a few hundred bucks on all the weapons and armors they've found.

But to their surprise, the Voynich Pages that they didn’t think would amount to anything turned out to net quite a decent profit. They earned a total of $2600 from it.

In actuality, it was Dexter who found the pages but he decided to give it to Rebecca to score some points of favor from her.

“Well, at least our rent is paid.” said Jessica consolingly, more to herself than to her sister. “I’m sure there will be more items of value we can sell later.”

Or rather, their rent from two months ago will be paid by their recent earnings.

But she didn’t voice it out loud. And neither did Rebecca.

“Yeah, let’s hope for the best, sis.”

***

Rebecca and Jessica Rivers grew up in a relatively well-to-do family. They grew up in a town in California where their father had a moderately successful restaurant.

Their future was pretty much all set but tragedy happened.

Five years ago, when Rebecca was just 17 years old, their father was killed in a tragic car accident. Not long after that, the restaurant went bankrupt.

But unfortunately for the Rivers, that wasn’t the end of their troubles.

Their mother was later diagnosed with cancer and most of their savings was used for their mother’s hospital expenses. Unfortunately, it is a battle that their mom ultimately lost.

As a result, the two sisters have become orphans.

Rebecca, now 22 years old, has taken it upon herself to rebuild the life and future they lost. She promised a better life for her sister who just turned 20 this year. But in reality, she had no clue on how to proceed.

Nearly all the money's gone and a very small amount was left from their savings. It wasn’t even enough for a single year of college.

And then, the World of Pangea’s release date was announced.

Rebecca originally intended to take a degree related to Virtual Reality gaming. But the tuition fee is too expensive. She tried to apply for a scholarship but she sadly didn’t make it. Her sister Jessica tried as well but also didn't make it.

It was then that they had an idea, if they can’t be programmers, perhaps they can enter the world of gaming. After all, it is a very lucrative industry and many have made their fortune from gaming.

So, why not? The money they have left may not be enough for college, but they can at least buy two gaming capsules with it.

And the moment they opened their eyes in the World of Pangea, they knew their choice had been the right one.

NAME: Rebecca

LEVEL: 1

ESSENCE: 0 (300 essence to reach Level 2)

STATS

Vitality 9

Endurance 9

Willpower 9

Strength 6

Dexterity 9

Perception 9

Intelligence 9

Clarity 9

Harmony 8

Mystery 9

NAME: Jessica

LEVEL: 1

ESSENCE: 0 (300 essence to reach Level 2)

STATS

Vitality 6

Endurance 6

Willpower 10

Strength 6

Dexterity 5

Perception 10

Intelligence 10

Clarity 10

Harmony 8

Mystery 9

The siblings had starting stats in the 80s! Of course, at this point, no one knew of this significance. But Rebecca had a feeling that this is a sign that she’s on the right path.

A survey would be conducted about a month from now of the average starting stats among players.

And according to findings, anyone with a starting stats of 80 or above is exceedingly rare. There’s only one player with a starting stats of 80 for every 1 million players.

Later on, this study will serve as a basis for yet another survey. According to the findings, the vast majority of the players who belong to this rarity had very successful gaming careers.

Of course, that is before the apocalypse happened.

***

As for Dexter, he used to work at the restaurant the Rivers' owned. He didn’t really have to work as he came from a rich family, but he always had an unrequited crush on Rebecca.

So when he found out that the Rivers would play the World of Pangea, he followed them and ordered his own capsule under the guise of being curious about the game as well.

Upon starting the game, he just randomly picked a paradigm and a class- he ended up choosing Creation Paradigm with the Toxin Herbalist class.

But unfortunately, his starting stat was average- only in the 60s and he hasn’t shown any remarkable aptitude for gaming. And despite his best effort to show off in front of Rebecca, he has not done anything of note yet. Clearly, this wasn't enough and that is why he tried to compensate by being useful in other ways.

He gave her a seemingly useless page. Despite his instincts telling him it could be of some intrinsic value, he casually gave it to them in hopes of impressing Rebecca.

Well, the pages he gave ended up netting a decent sum for the siblings. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to warrant even an expression of gratitude from Rebecca. Though Jess, at least, sincerely thanked him for it.

Although it sold for a fair price, it wasn’t enough to earn him any affection. But this didn't deter him.

If anything, it made his conviction stronger. The higher the fruit hangs, the sweeter it is as the saying goes.

And so, he is subtly leading the pair to more secluded parts of the forest for some privacy- he doesn’t particularly care even if they get killed by powerful monsters as he doesn’t really have any strong motivation to excel in the game.

If they die, then so be it. He can try to hang out with Rebecca in the real world.

But if they don't, then a single day in the real world is equivalent to 3 days in-game. That means he can spend more time with her in Pangea.

In his mind, either way works.

Who knows? Maybe their first kiss would be in this world? That doesn’t sound so bad.

From the way Jess reacted earlier, it seems a kiss in this world is just like in real life.

Although he doesn’t know what a kiss in real life feels like, he doesn’t mind experiencing his first kiss in virtual reality.

He can not hold his excitement. Fortunately, his gaming capsule is managing all his excitement for him.

Back in the real world, his vitals are consistently depicting an extremely heightened state of arousal. The pod’s intricate systems are working its hardest to consistently relieve him of it to ensure his blood flow remains within normal parameters.

In fact, several doses of nutrients and fluid had already been injected by the system to his body to prevent him from suffering any ill-effects.

“Hey Rebecca, check this out.” said Dexter, trying to imitate Cole’s tone when he was speaking to Jess. “I think I found a trail to the mountains.”

***

If Adam had been present, he would have been surprised that Rebecca's group found the crypt this early on.

In fact, the deviation from the original time Rebecca entered the crypt is none other than due to Adam's own actions. Bex, Dex, and Jess were part of the chamber players- although they were originally grinding in the catacombs, they found the enemies to be too dangerous to continue risking it and instead headed to the chamber as soon as the notification that the ritual has began.

Originally, the trio died and had to wait 24-hours real time before they can log back in. By then they would have been behind the guild pros, and even Cole would not see the benefit of helping them grind due to the high gap between their levels.

Yet Adam's actions inadvertently caused them to be on close standing with a pro-gamer's level this time.

And on top of all that, Dexter's own motivations lead them to the crypt several weeks earlier than they originally did.

It is clear that a very different chain of events are laid in store for the trio due to Adam's actions.