The once populated city of Dormi was almost like a ghost town. What used to be a modern city bustling with activity became a desolate and quiet aggregation of concrete buildings, much like many of the cities nowadays. Majority of the people chose to move to artificial worlds where they could escape the hardships of the real world, leaving only the remaining ten percent of the total population.

It was only natural. Those artificial worlds were much safer and conflicts were reduced because of the abundance of food and materials. It was the utopia humanity had always hoped for.

Despite the temptations of a so-called perfect world, there are still those who cling on to the old ways. To them, it is through the old ways that humans could truly evolve and acquire insight from suffering.

Astrid's family was part of that minority. Astrid herself, however, liked both the real and the artificial world just the same. She liked staying in the real world and hanging out in her room where she could study artificial world development through courses offered online.

With the air conditioner on full blast to counter the summer heat, she sat at her desk typing some codes into her laptop. Just when the music switched to her favorite song by Takane, her phone rang.

Her eyes landed on the name displayed on the screen: Luna. She accepted the call and placed it on speaker so she could continue typing.

"Astrid! Come here! We need you," Luna's voice was in panic. She sounded as if she was running.

"Are you in a dungeon?" Astrid asked.

"Yes. We need an extra DPS. There are too many mobs here. Amelie died several times." Suddenly, a loud crash followed. "Holy crap. She died again!"

"I'm sorry. I'm a glass cannon!" Astrid heard Amelie's voice in the background, as well as the sounds of monsters. Someone probably revived her.

Astrid stopped typing. "Which dungeon are you doing anyway? Minotaur?"

"No, Cerberus," Luna replied.

"That's a hard one. I'll be there in a bit."

Astrid ended the call and closed her laptop. She hurried into the normal-looking door beside her, which was actually a dimensional gate that led to the world of Aries. It was common for a home to have at least one gate such as this.