Blue Star Commercial Plaza was a newly booming shopping street in the neighborhood, and Kiriya had heard all about it. It wasn't far from his place, just a twenty-minute jog away.

  By the time Kiriya reached Blue Star Commercial Plaza, the sun was already high in the sky, well past mid-morning. All the plaza's staff were at their posts, and the crowds were constant, mostly students out shopping.

  Kiriya didn't pause for a second. He hurried around to the back of the plaza, asked for the Game Exploration Department's exact location, and walked straight in.

  The department's office was on the top floor of the mall. When Kiriya saw the Game Exploration Department door sign and pushed the door open, he was stunned by what he saw inside on the spot.

  In the small room, four stunningly beautiful girls were sitting at their desks. On two large sofas, a few of them were holding stacks of magazines, chatting away happily.

  Even more eye-catching was their casual, cool attire, simple low-necked tops paired with all sorts of short skirts, accentuating their slender, graceful figures to perfection.

  Just then, a girl dressed in a sharp formal skirt suit with a tie walked over, sized Kiriya up and down, and asked. "You must be the Kiriya that Lina sent over, right?"

  Kiriya nodded quickly. "Yeah, that's me. Is this the Game Exploration Department Lina talked about?"

  The girl smiled, pressed her lips together, shook his hand lightly, and spoke in a bright, frank tone. "Welcome to Snow Moon Studio! I'm Mira, one of the members here."

  Mira came off as poised and easygoing, with delicate features. Kiriya blinked in surprise, confused. "Snow Moon Studio?"

  Mira explained with a smile. "Yep! Our studio was set up exclusively for Eternal Art Online, and we're temporarily attached to the Blue Star Group's Game Exploration Department. In the future, we'll be the core gaming elites leading Blue Star Group's entry into EAO."

  Kiriya finally realized what was going on. Lina had gotten him into a gaming studio like this.

  Her words had barely faded when the other girls all came over one after another. A girl in a short blue skirt blinked her bright, lively eyes and said with a smile. "I'm Summer. What's your name, handsome?"

  Kiriya glanced at her; her legs beneath the short skirt were fair, smooth, and shapely, utterly alluring, and replied. "Just call me Kiriya."

  Summer giggled, her voice sweet and playful. "Hi Kiriya!"

  Next to Summer, a quiet, gentle girl looked at Kiriya and smiled softly with warm eyes. "My tentative in-game ID is Rainie. Just call me that."

  Kiriya nodded gently, his gaze shifting to the girl in the pink skirt beside Rainie. She was looking at him too, and smiled faintly. "I'm Petalia. Nice to meet you."

  Kiriya wasn't used to such polite small talk, so he waved a hand casually. "You too."

  Mira pointed to a chair nearby, gesturing for him to sit. "Have a seat!"

  It was obvious Mira was the studio's leader; all the other girls looked at her with a hint of respect. Kiriya sat down as told, his eyes sweeping the office instinctively, but he didn't see Lina anywhere.

  Mira noticed his confusion and smiled to clear it up. "Don't bother looking. Lina's not here for the time being. With EAO about to launch, the rest of us were hired by Blue Star Group to be professional gamers; we're the advance team for the company's entry into the game. When the company invests in virtual industries in the game later, we'll all have our own roles to play."

  Kiriya nodded, seizing the chance to ask. "So, I'm officially a member of Snow Moon Studio from now on?"

  Mira couldn't help but smile, pressing her lips together. "Absolutely. Right now, there are six of us in the studio. With you here, we're a perfect seven."

  Kiriya counted in his head that there were five people here, including himself, all the rest beautiful, attractive girls, and a little thrill of delight bubbled up in his chest. I'm gonna be surrounded by beautiful girls every single day from now on!

  But even by noon, after Kiriya had eaten lunch in the company cafeteria and packed some pastries for a late-night snack, he still hadn't seen Lina anywhere.

  After all, EAO was launching worldwide tonight, and an all-nighter gaming was a given. Having some late-night snacks on hand never hurt.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Before he left, Mira dropped a stack of documents heavily on her desk and announced in a clear, loud voice. "Top management's orders, every single one of us in the studio has to log into EAO tonight. By tomorrow morning, everyone needs to reach level 10 and earn two gold coins, which we'll hand over to the Operations Department together!"

  Kiriya frowned when he heard that. "Two gold coins? I heard making money in the early game is insanely hard..."

  "Hard or not, we have to get it done." Mira smiled, going on. "You don't know this yet, Kiriya, but our CEO, Warren, plans to take advantage of EAO's massive launch to let us build up the virtual industries in the game and make something big of it!"

  Kiriya blinked in surprise. "Really? That Warren's a damn visionary..."

  Mira smiled, sharing his sentiment. "Tell me about it!"

  Kiriya didn't ask any more questions about exactly how the company planned to run its in-game industries—for him, getting the task done was the top priority right now.

  Reaching level 10 in one night wasn't too hard, but two gold coins were a real headache.

  Everyone knew that in the early stages of EAO, low-level mobs only dropped copper coins. A hundred copper coins traded for one silver coin, and a hundred silver coins for one gold coin. Two gold coins meant twenty thousand copper coins. How many mobs would he have to grind to get that many?

  But then he thought about it, he was a seasoned gamer with years of experience. There was no way he'd be worse at this than the girls in the studio.

  By the time he got home with his late-night snacks, the sky had turned completely dark. Kiriya checked the time, only thirty minutes left until EAO's official launch, and an uncontrollable surge of excitement bubbled up in his chest.

  He hurried into his room, locked the door, and set up the Mind Gear carefully, adjusting all the settings. "Heh heh. This Mind Gear's a gift from Lina, even if the way I got it wasn't exactly glamorous."

  The second he put the Mind Gear on, the system immediately scanned his iris, confirmed his identity, and pulled up the game's login screen straight away.

  In a vast void, a tiny fairy fluttered in a circle and landed on a branch in front of him. Her clear, sweet voice rang out in his head. "Greetings. I am your guide fairy for Eternal Art Online, and welcome to the login screen for your first time! You have not yet created a game character. Would you like to do so now?"

  A jolt went through Kiriya's heart. He'd completely forgotten that character creation opened an hour before the game's launch!

  He immediately confirmed with his thoughts, choosing the safe, standard Human race once again. After the system scanned his facial features, Kiriya didn't make any adjustments, confirming his character's appearance right away.

  Then he typed into the username box: KingOfNothing.

  Click confirm!

  Ding—

  "Sorry! This username is already taken!"

  Kiriya raised an eyebrow, typing in another one: NightVisitBrothel!

  "Sorry! This username is already taken!"

  "PureDuckling!"

  "Sorry! This username is already taken!"

  Damn it! Taken again!

  Kiriya took a deep breath to calm down. Fine, might as well pick something with a little personality.

  He typed quickly: TheMostHandsome!

  Ding—

  "Sorry! This username is already taken!"

  Shit! Another one: KiriyaSkipsDinner!

  The system's mechanical voice was steady as ever. "Sorry! This username is already taken!"

  Utterly frustrated, Kiriya gritted his teeth and typed a random English ID on the spot: KiriyaNoir.

  Finally, after a crisp ding, the system prompt rang out—

  "Congratulations! Your game character has been created successfully!

  Twenty-one minutes remain until the game's official launch. Please wait patiently!"

  What followed was an endless wait, and Kiriya had never felt time pass so slowly.

  Back in his school days, he'd always played games with a group of friends, laughing and chatting the whole time. But now, he was alone—about to step into the world of EAO all by himself. He wondered if he'd ever run into his old friends in the game.

  Twenty minutes flew by in the blink of an eye. A sweet, melodic chime suddenly rang in his ears, and the game's launch countdown finally started at sixty seconds!

  Rumors said many games gave exclusive gear and lottery chances to the first players to log in, and Kiriya was determined to seize that opportunity!

  He stared fixatedly at the countdown numbers in his mind, his fingers tensing up, ready to log in with a single thought at any moment!

  Ding!

  "System Notification: Dear player, please note that 10 seconds remain until the game's official launch!"

  "9!"

  "8!"

  "7!"

  ...

  "3!"

  "2!"

  "1!"

  "System Notification: Eternal Art Online is now officially live!"

  Welcome to the world of Altheria!

  Kiriya had long since tuned out the system's prompts. The second the countdown hit zero, he channeled his thoughts and logged into the game!

  A bright light burst before his eyes, and the next moment, he was standing in a simple, ancient beginner's village. The village's buildings were all stone-age architecture, their shabbiness almost infuriating!

  Ding!

  "System Notification: Greetings. You are the 6th player to enter Eternal Art Online. You have been awarded 100 EXP points as a special reward!"

  Kiriya blinked in surprise as a warm current washed over his entire body, and golden light swirled gently around him—he'd leveled up on the spot!

  He opened his character stats panel at once and saw that his current EXP was zero. It seemed 100 EXP was exactly what he needed to level up from 1 to 2.

  A twinge of disappointment tugged at him. He'd thought being one of the first to log in would get him a legendary weapon or a stat boost, not just this measly reward. But at least leveling up to 2 right away saved him a bunch of mob grinding time; it wasn't a total loss.

  He opened his inventory to check, and there were only two starter items inside: a rough wooden stick and a tattered cloth robe that barely covered his body.

  [Broken Wooden Stick] (Crude)

  Attack: 0-1

  Level Requirement: 0

  [Ragged Cloth Robe] (Crude)

  Defense: +1

  Level Requirement: 0

  ...

  They were still two pieces of gear, so he might as well put them on first!

  Kiriya put on the gear in a flash, gripped the wooden stick, and turned to walk out of the beginner's village.

  The teleportation array in the village was flashing with constant white light, and hordes of new players were logging on one after another.

  He had to get out of the village and grind mobs fast—if more players showed up, he'd probably end up fighting over them!