When Akkhi logged out of Triphumi, the weight of real-world gravity slammed onto his tired body.He removed the secondhand VR helmet slowly, placing it beside his thin mattress.Morning sunlight slipped through the cracked window of the tiny rental room he shared with his little sister.
His muscles ached as if he had been beaten a hundred times—the result of spending the entire night training his body and lightning affinity until he was on the brink of collapse.
Without complaining, Akkhi stood up and made breakfast quietly.A simple bowl of rice porridge and two boiled eggs—a minimalist meal carefully measured to stretch their weekly budget.
Before his sister woke up, he picked up his old phone and called the only friend he trusted—Mekha.
Mekha's shouting burst through the speaker instantly."AKKHI! Dude, where have you been for two whole days!? You entered the game already, right!?"
"Yeah… I did."
"Finally! I'm already at the main city, Sincopé! So? What did you get? Any rare skills? Awesome weapons? I got Ice Mage—super broken, bro!"
Akkhi gave a faint smile."I… chose a basic Warrior."
"…What!? Why!?"
"But I got lightning affinity."
"…Okay. That's at least decent. So how much money do you have now? Don't tell me you only made 1 Gold."
Akkhi glanced at his balance.2.5 Gold.Money he earned not from hunting monsters—but from cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry for NPCs.
"…Around 2.5."
There was a three-second silence before Mekha screamed."BRO—WHAT!? 2.5 Gold in TWO DAYS!? You're insane! Keep going, dude. You'll make real money in no time!"
Mekha had no idea where that money truly came from.And Akkhi didn't bother explaining.
💔 3.2 Reflections of a Harsh Reality (Flashback)
Mekha's words dragged up memories Akkhi tried so hard to bury.
He saw it again—the small wooden house he once lived in, plastered with seizure notices from the bank.His parents, both brilliant engineers, falling into debt after a disastrous investment.Then the accident…And suddenly, they were gone.
All that remained was a mountain of unpaid loansand a young boy forced to become both father and mother to his little sister, who was too young to understand why the world had turned so cruel.
He worked every job he could find—washing dishes, hauling crates, scrubbing floors—and from those struggles, he unknowingly developed the rarest skills in the VR world:
[Life Skills – Advanced][Endurance – Advanced]
Back to the present—Mekha was the only person who had ever seen him fall and get back up again.
"I told you, Akkhi," Mekha's voice softened."You're sharper and tougher than anyone I know. You're patient. Careful. You don't give up. I swear you'll earn enough to pay off everything and take your sister somewhere better. Trust me. Use the game to your advantage."
Those words were the final push that made Akkhi spend the last of his savings on that worn-out VR helmet.
⚡ 3.3 The First Test of Lightning
Akkhi logged back into Triphumi, no longer to mop floors or wash blankets.Now, he had a goal.
He headed toward the grassy field outside Night Butterfly Outpost—once crowded with beginner players, now empty, filled only with the weakest monsters in the game:
Black-Furred Rabbits(Level 1 enemies no high-level player bothered with.)
Perfect targets for testing his newly awakened power.
[Encounter: Black-Furred Rabbit]
The rabbit lunged.Akkhi dodged instinctively—Agility he had trained through endless repetitions now kicking in.
He punched once.A basic strike—minimal damage.
He didn't stop.He steadied his breath, gathered every ounce of focus, and pushed the fatigue through his fists.
"Initial Thunder!"
Crack—!!
A deep blue spark burst from his knuckles,a miniature thunderclap that slammed into the rabbit's side.
[Black-Furred Rabbit defeated instantly!][Lightning Affinity +0.1%][Reward: 10 Copper]
Akkhi staggered.Even that small spark drained his stamina violently, leaving his hands trembling.
"…It hurts," he exhaled."But it works."
And so he continued:punching, sprinting, dodging,training his fists the way others trained their weapons.
While other players spent real money to upgrade their gear—
Akkhi forged his own body into a weapon.
Slowly, steadily, he felt it—his path taking shape.A path where digital sweat could be turned into real-world income.
The path of the boy who would someday be known as the Thunderborn.