Glimpse of You a Thousand Times

Chapter 21: Where it All Began

"I bet he is having fun."

Her eyes were filled with nostalgia and a slight smile was painted of her delicate face.

 She continued strolling away from the street market and came across an internet cafe. 

"I wonder if there are many changes that happened in the server. It's been  almost a week when I last played but with that dope around, I'm sure that the entire game is in a crisis due to imbalance of power," she mused.

"Should I? Or should I not?" she thought.

"Are you going to rent a computer, Miss?"

She was taken aback when the cafe manager approached her. She would never have thought that her desire to return to the game was so strong that she herself was unaware that her body moved on its own to enter the cafe.

"Ah- yes please."

"You can go to PC 47 at the very right corner of the second floor," the manager gestured.

"Alright."

She felt nervous but excited at the same time. Every step corresponds to her beating heart. She then reached her destination and readied herself to be immersed in that glorious world which she belonged to. 

Slowly loading the game, she let out a deep breath. Resoluteness can be seen flickering in her eyes. She grasped her mouse and clicked on that log in button and entered her account.

[Username/ password is incorrect. Please try again.]

Her vitality was forcefully sapped dry reading the message on her screen. She wanted to smash her head onto a wall for forgetting about the most crucial information that she should have known from the very beginning.

"Damn! As expected, they confiscated and changed my password for this account. I just hope they did not delete my character though," she gnashed her teeth together thinking about the worst case scenario for her beloved avatar.

She grew up together with it so it is reasonable for her to feel sad of what might have happened to it. 

She made a brief pause and hovered her cursor over the sign up button and created an alternate account to visit her world.

On her screen was a form displayed that she has to fill in. 

"Tch. I never thought starting anew can be this hassle. Unfortunately, all of my personal account are no good to go so I have to start from scratch."

It took her about ten minutes to recreate her accounts and was now stuck at the final phase of her intended goal.

"Hmm... this question is tricky. I'm not really good at this," she mused.

"I can't use my old username though, I can't leave any tracks from my previous account. That old fart is a cunning man and might have planted some of his people to lurk within this server." she added.

"Ah here it goes. I'll just use the random pick."

[System Notification: You've chosen the username Mysterious Virgin! That's awesome!]

Her body stiffened reading her new IGN. 

'Damn! Is my luck that awful to end up with this name?! What's up with this name anyway?!' she cursed deep in her heart.

"Tch. Never mind, I'm just passing by anyway. It won't even hurt for sticking up with this name for a while."

She clicked enter and was welcomed with a very familiar view she saw a year ago. She hesitated for a bit but continued to play anyway. She felt nostalgic deep inside while she smoothly passed through all of the quests given to her by the NPCs. Her run was so smooth sailing unlike the past that she reached the required level to join a guild. 

She paused for a bit and was conflicted whether to join her previous guild or not since she came back all the way to the game to check on that dope.

She hesitated for a while but decided to enter his guild. Originally, she was curious as to what kind of guild he is leading because of his childish behaviors. She first thought that it will be a mess and will disband after a week when he took over the leadership. However, beyond what she has expected, that guild continued growing to the point that it rivaled hers. She even used to recruit him to swap to her guild but he declined.

It did not take her long enough to be accepted and was bombarded by a flood of welcome messages.

PK Master: Oh we have a new blood! Let's welcome her guys!

K.O: Yo hi there! Pleased to meet you!

Lunch Thief: Hooray! We've got a lady folks!

Puppeteer: Oh oh oh! What's this?!

Lunch Thief: I stand corrected guys, we did not only get a lady old farts. We've got a Virgin! A mysterious one to be exact!

Xtremenator: Hahaha stop it you guys. It's not nice making fun of a newcomer.

PK Master: Says the person who just laughed a while ago.

Xtremenator: Hahaha quit it! It's hilarious, okay? I mean her username is quite bold for a girl!

PK Master: Oh stop it. If I know, you're laughing with a poker face again, right?

Xtremenator: Haha how did you know?

PK Master: Uhh it was just an educated guess. 

Xtremenator: I see good point!

K.O.: Damn it! Quit acting dumb you moron.

Everyone kept on bantering with one another and Jia Ne found it very amusing.

"So this is how it's like here. I see, birds of the same feathers flock together," the corner of her lips curved upward while reading their conversation.

She just replied thanks in the guild chat and resumed playing the game. Right now, it was easier to catch up with the degree of achievements by low level characters therefore she went into the arena and took down players one by one. 

She was so engrossed with what she is currently doing that she no longer noticed how long she has been playing. Equipped with her previous experience and intensive knowledge about the game, she finally reached the top five in the arena for her current level.

She paused for a bit and checked her opponents one by one then decided to move back a little. She lacks good equipment and weapon thus her character right now cannot compare with them. 

She thought for a while and decided to give it a try. She then employed her strategic skills and impressive hand control to its maximum level to challenge the player ahead of her. Sweat trickling on her forehead can be seen and the tapping of the keyboard and her heavy breathing are the only sounds that can be heard around her. A few moments later, her knitted brows finally relaxed and a surge of emotions filled her heart.

She sighed and directed her gaze on her skin.

[VICTORY!!]

[System Notification: Mysterious Virgin defeated CodeZero in the XX Arena. All hail our new King!]

She was left speechless and her hands turned into a fist. She then thought for a while and muttered:

"Never thought that I still have it within me. I guess for this feeling, this is where it all began."