I opened up a trade menu with him immediately and placed the item in the designated slot. FeelinLucky confirmed the trade. A few seconds of silence passed before my online friend’s face changed. Underneath the hood of his robe, the item appeared. A black mask with baleful yellow eyes and a jack-o-lantern grin was plastered to his face. FeelinLucky jumped with joy.

            “Suzuha, Ajak, thank you so much! I owe you both. I came back with ingredients to make food to help with the item farm, but I’ll just save them for the next raid night. You two won’t have to pay for any of the food I make for the next month.”

            Suzuha held up 3 fingers, “Make it three.”

            “For you, Mamasita, I’ll make it five.”

            “And back down to one month. I don’t know how many times I have to say this. I will not be your online girlfriend.” Suzuha emoted a sigh. “I could be a guy who runs around with a revealing fox-girl avatar for all you know.”

            I shook my head, “Everyone in the group knows you’re a girl in real life, Suzuha. We’ve all been on video call with each other before.”

            “Anyway, on to a new topic,” FeelinLucky shifted gears, “Where’s Kit-Kat. Wasn’t she supposed to be here too?”

            “She said she was helping some irl friends with an endgame dungeon,” I replied.

            “She did say she would meet up with us tomorrow for the expansion launch at Canopy.” Suzuha continued.

            We opened our maps and fast traveled to the plaza in Canopy. The hub city was oddly empty, but considering maintenance was starting in 5 min, it was no surprise. Anybody left were those finishing up last-minute preparations.

            The beautiful city hidden deep within a dense forest made a perfect respite for adventurers looking for a break from the dangers of the wild. Anything that any player would need could be found within the multitude of wooden buildings built into the trees. The green canopy of trees only allowed rays of light to shine through, but due to the lighting program the developers used, the streets were perfectly lit. Beneath our feet, the dirt and grass pathways should have kicked up dust, but that much detail was not programmed in. 

            My friends and I bid farewell and logged out. We wanted to get that bonus experience for resting in a safe zone. I stared at my avatar, Ajak, splayed across the character select screen on my computer. Wonderous Champions really was a wonder. All the graphics were incredible for an MMO. Hell, there were incredible for any game. You could see the details on almost every muscle on my Brawler class character. Not wearing a shirt helped, but even his thigh muscles showed through the martial artist pants I had equipped. His headband was only partially visible underneath his hair. The most striking feature was his eyes. A brilliant green with slit pupils was only visible if you looked closely in-game. This was the only feature denoting that Ajak was not the same race as other humans. Most games would not have bothered to deal with the clipping, but the developers put countless hours of work to make this game.

            In contrast, I, Leon Grander, stared at my own out-of-shape body. I wasn’t fat by any means, but I definitely was not in shape. Being a worn-out accounting major in college did not leave me much time for exercise. At least my hair color was the same.

            Since the expansion was releasing tomorrow, I made sure that all my homework for the week was done. I had no want to stop partway through to finish a school assignment. It was late and I had a long day of fun planned for tomorrow. My nightly routine consisted of the usual shower, brushing of teeth, and then hitting the sack. I dreamt of the adventures I would have with my friends come the morning.
             

            Things worked out a little differently than planned, however.