LR 3 Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Ajax looted the orc. He'd been farming the ugly green skins for longer than he'd like to admit.

"Oh joy. Another tusk to sell." Ajax watched as an eighth stack of one hundred started in his inventory.

He and the girls had escaped Tyren with a literal castle full of loot two days ago. But Ajax didn't feel guilty, the royal family imploded with no small amount of help from Richard.

Having completed the dungeon and his criminal status removed the group got out of dodge before they could be roped into the mess that had become Tyren.

The forums painted it as pure chaos. The royal family all thought dead, dukes had sprung up like weeds offering players nearly endless quests to kill rivals or campaign for them.

More than a few disgruntled player were posting on the forums asking what to do now that a particular noble who'd given them a quest was dead. There was no respawning for the NPCs.

Then the rumors of what killed the royal family floating about, a battle between demons and angels had taken place and now there was a race wide manhunt for the perpetrators.

Ajax however was working through his own issues. The full part of the five of them had gone on to level as fast as they could in preparation for the upcoming convention and Ajax's own plans for joining a professional team.

But he was alone now, the girls had all logged off for the day preparing for the convention in their own way.

"System, how much longer do I have before I need to go?"

<You have a half an hour before you're alarm 'go to airport' goes off.> System informed Ajax.

The rest of the group were offline. They must have already headed out. Hazel of course was still around, given that she was a NPC or at least part of this world. Ajax wasn't quite sure if NPC was the correct term when things like magic transfered over into the real world. He had a nagging feeling that this world was a bit more real.

Hazel was farming lower level monsters having joined them a full ten levels behind. But unlike Ajax, this was her real life. She came out of Tyren with them after the rest of the Royal family was killed in the fight that Richard started.

The rest of the kingdom seemed to think she was dead, which was good for now. Ajax had no idea what would happen if it came to light there was a survivor of the royal family, not to mention she was bound to him as his follower now.

Ajax had expected her to be sollen or depressed after the death of her family, but these last two days she became fierce. Almost her entire waking hours were spent grinding skills and levels. She was becoming a bit scary if Ajax was honest.

"Hey Hazel, I'm heading out to meet up with the rest of them. I might be off for a while." Ajax said through party chat.

A worn voice answered back. "No worries. I'll just come find you and kill you if you take too long."

Ajax chuckled nervously, that was a joke right?

Light surrounded him as he teleported back to his Personal Space to log off.

***

The PIU hissed as the lid slid back, Ajax squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light and waited for the mesh to deflate before he moved.

He still marveled at what the PIU was capable of as he crawled out of the device that made Legendary Rule the first of it's kind as a full immersion virtual reality game. The machine converted experiences into electrical signals making playing the game almost indistinguishable from reality.

But Ajax knew it was more. "Cloak of Shadows" He whispered to himself. When he tried it the first time he was amazed that it actually worked, it was more than just a spell.

Shadows pooled and wrapped him in a black hoodie. His Shadow Fiend from Legendary Rule spoke, she came with the spell and made it clear to Ajax that LR wasn't just a game.

"Your world makes me uncomfortable. The mana here is so thin." Violet said.

"It's not so bad." Ajax said, it felt like he needed to defend his world. He had tested spells outside the game and he seemed to have no ability to recharge his mana except when he was playing.

<Based on what Violet said and my access to media I would have to agree with her. It does appear that Earth is suffering from declining mana according to the symptoms Violet described.>

System's message scrolled in the corner of Ajax's iLids. The AI had helped Ajax connect his PIU to his iLids giving him a virtual assistant, something he'd always imagined was reserved for the wealthy.

Feeling a tad crazy for trying to talk to two entities he met in game. He fished out his duffel of clothes that he'd prepared the night before and slung it over his shoulder.

"Hey Reinhart." Ajax greeted his roommate as he left his room.

"Hey Jaxie." Reinhart smiled around his fortified ramen, he'd been keeping odd hours since his big new electrical job. "Heading out?"

"Yeah. It feels weird to leave Chicago." Ajax couldn't help but feel nervous. He had a few hour drive to college, but he could count the number of times he had been out of the state on one hand.

"Let me know how Cali is." Reinhart winked.

Ajax flushed. He knew his friend was more referring to the girls he was going to meet there. Ajax had confided in Reinhart that he now had more than one girl he was dating at the same time. Harems were for the rich and Ajax never thought he would have multiple girls much less a group of four girls he played LR with.

"I'm sure it will be sunny." Ajax smiled a bit too wide. He was looking forward to meeting the girls. He didn't much care what they were like in the real world, they all had emotional bonds that wouldn't break just because they looked different.

Not to mention if they were like Ajax, they might have toned up a little in the game. His shirt was tighter than before his chest having filled out due to the crossover that had occurred between the game and life.

"You going to be okay all on your lonesome Reinhart?" Ajax teased. His best friend and roommate had been working himself to death the last few weeks. He got a big project, but it was wearing him out.

"The new building just finished the floors. Now it's time to start running the smaller cables. This place must be something big, I've never seen so much power run into a single building." Reinhart shook his head. Ajax had heard him complain about some suit wanting 'the best of the best' but it was complete and utter overkill according to his friend.

Ajax checked the time again wondering if he needed to get going.

Reinhart noticed. "Get going, you know Sarah will be early so you might as well head out now."

"Yeah, don't want to leave her alone for too long. Who knows what kind of trouble she will stir up." Ajax joked. Sarah was the third musketeer of their group when they grew up. The three of them had done everything together and Sarah had picked up gaming to hangout with them.

Later when AI's hit the workforce she became a Gamer Girl and made a career out of her streams. Ajax and Reinhart watched her stream when they could, she was hella popular. One of the more famous ones and raked in more money than Ajax's rather unused degree and Reinhart's electrician trade.

But Ajax had broken out of the pack in Legendary Rule and hopefully this convention would help him get into a professional team. In the game he was grouped with MissyQ who was the number one gamer girl and a famous player in her own right. She told their whole group that the convention was an 'open secret' and where pro teams recruited.

Shaking his head clear Ajax gave Reinhart a bro hug and they shared well wishes before System notified him that his GMCUber was almost here.

As he stepped out of his building a small black car pulled up to the curb with the GMCUBER logo taking up half the front. He never quite got used to everything being covered with logos and ads, if they kept at it the corps were going to run out of surfaces to plaster their names on.

"Please confirm you are: Ajax Demos." A robotic voice asked as Ajax approached the car. Ajax waved his wrist over the handle and let the AI read his ID chip.

The car clicked open and Ajax stepped into the soft interior just large enough for two people. But it was comfortable for him by himself. The door closed and it's own and he was off to the airport.

***

Sarah fidgeted at the airport bar. She had arrive far too early, but she HAD to come out to Ajax. This was the last damn chance and she'd chickened out of the rest of the opportunities the last few days.

She leaned back in her chair and sighed up to the ceiling.

Sarah had been pretending to be her ex-girlfriend MissyQ in the game with Ajax. They... well, they were an item now. Her and Ajax, something she'd wanted since middle school. But by the time she realized it, they were friends, just friends.

She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration just thinking about how stupidly dense he'd been when she tried to suggest they go to prom together. She almost throttled him when he said he didn't want a friend date, he wanted a real date.

Stupid.

Then she cooked up this stupid idea to pretend to be Missy since Ajax was head over heels with her ex. No one knew of course, their online personas of MissyQ and Harpy were rivals, an idea they cooked up over dinner at one point for publicity.

Missy hadn't cared about the scheme and was more than happy to go be anonymous for a bit in a game, she had it rough. MissyQ's fame was the level that came with paparazzi and stalkers.

But then, they just had to meet in game. Obviously, Missy had realized who Sarah and Ajax was after they met. However, she was into Ajax because he liked her but didn't know who she was.

Now they were both sleeping with him in the game and were going to have to come out as they were all meeting up at Melissa's for the convention.

Fuck, why couldn't she just go along with my idea of faking it through the convention. Though, Sarah knew why, her friend was as excited to surprise him and Sarah was dreading it.

She rest her head against the cool stone wall. If she didn't get this over with before Ajax met the actual Missy at the convention. Because when she revealed she was Sky, it was going to throw a big 'ol fat questions out there: who the fuck is playing as MissyQ?

Ajax should be happy right? He's got four girls, probably two more here soon.

A chuckle slipped out at that. When they had proposed the idea of him having a harem he freaked out. But they had settled into it now. The last couple nights since they escaped Tyren, Ajax and the four girls had all been sharing a bed. Even if Adriana had yet to break that final barrier with Ajax it was only a matter of time.

Her mind circled back to the problem at hand with a groan. She had to tell him.

"Another drink?" The AI bartender asked.

Fuck it. "Sure." She could use all the liquid courage she could get.

Bruce: Okay, I've started this. Getting back into LR wasn't too hard, reread 1&2 and set my book templating back to how I used to do it in LR compared to Mana. They are shorter, snappier chapters than Mana, but here we go! I'm ready to go for the train wreck that is Sarah coming out to Ajax, buckle in.