Love Leveling
The alarm blared like a siren torn from the heart of a warzone. Kim's eyes opened slowly to the cracked ceiling above him, paint peeling like sunburned skin. Another day in the slums. The same narrow room, the same flickering light, and the faint hum of power lines stretched over rusted rooftops outside. He rolled over, groaning, and pushed off his blanket — one that was once white, now mottled with grey.
His Eden Zero capsule glowed faintly in the corner of his room — his most prized possession. It had cost him more than he could afford. A black-market loan, months of skipped meals, and promises that the "game would pay for itself." He had no choice. Not when she was in there.
Her name? He didn't know. He only remembered her voice and the warmth in her laugh. A mysterious girl he had met in Eden Zero before his old trial account had expired. They'd fought side by side for three days. Just three. But those days changed everything.
Now, he was back, with a real capsule and a real account — even if it was the lowest rank: F-9. The grind was real. And the only way to see her again was to reach S-rank.
He strapped in. The capsule hissed as it sealed, his mind slipping into the hyper-immersion matrix. Sight faded. Sound warped. And then —
"Welcome back to Eden Zero."
The forest came into view. Towering trees twisted into the sky, each bark shimmering with faint coding glyphs. Birds that didn't exist outside this world chirped, leaving digital trails with each flap. The smell of moss and rain lingered in the air. Eden Zero was stunning. Almost too real.
Kim crouched low, adjusting his gear — just a wooden dagger, a beginner's cloak, and a tattered inventory belt. The HUD blinked in the corner of his vision. Nothing new. No messages. No allies.
His first stop was the edge of the Emerald Brushline — a place crawling with glitchbeasts and corrupted sprites. But there was a reason he came here first. He had heard rumors: some players had seen strange lights deeper in the woods, and hidden beneath the roots of an ancient tree was a glowing symbol — a developer's mark. A dev-mark always meant something. A test? A hidden quest? Kim wasn't sure.
As he trekked deeper, something shimmered on a stone nearby — etched in a glowing font:
"A companion waits in silence. Not all treasures are found in gold."
He blinked. That wasn't part of the normal assets. He reached out to touch it, and the message flickered, then vanished. An Easter egg? A tease from the developers? He filed it away in his mind. Maybe it was connected to a new patch. Maybe it was a clue.
Kim didn't have time to linger. His mission was simple: grind, level up, and earn enough coin to pay off this month's capsule loan. If he missed even one payment, the loan sharks would come — not just for the capsule, but his entire home.
He exited the forest just as the towers of a nearby city came into view — the Bronze District, the first safe zone for new players. Here, trades happened. Quests were picked up. And rumors flew like birds during migration.
He sighed and glanced back at the forest. Somewhere in this vast digital world, she was waiting. And he wouldn't stop until he found her again.