“What happened to your eye?” Devan asked while pointing at his blind side. He seemed genuinely curious and was not only trying to open a conversation.

Rhax thought about lying, but then he decided that it was worthless to lie about his scars. It was not like it would bring him any harm if he shared the story. It was something that would make him famous and even respected by people for doing it.

“I got it from a Direwolf.” He only uttered these words. He didn’t want to continue, why? This was a psychological tactic, by giving the receiver of the information a vague answer it would make them hungry for more. And that would make them more interested and more focused when they hear the story.

“A Direwolf?!” Devan’s voice was booming, his eyes were open whole and his face looked like a child wanted one more cookie.

“Yes,” Rhax said slowly, it was working, he was making Devan more interested by the second.

“How?” Devan’s voice was getting louder.

“Well, when I first spawned here, like 1-2 days ago, I came across Olivia and her brother Adam outside of the city. So, I tagged along with them, when we passed through the forest the Direwolf appeared. I sent Olivia running and stood to fight it, to be honest I wasn’t bare handed, I had a knife with me. So, after an intense and blood-filled battle, I managed to kill the Direwolf, but I was not unscratched, my right shoulder was bitten by the Direwolf, I lost my left eye and I had claw marks and biting marks all over my body. And don’t let me start on the pain.” Rhax shrugged like it was a normal story, he knows it was not, but he has to make Devan believe that this was something easy. Why, you ask? Well, of course to make himself look cool.

He was a normal human outside of the game, and he wouldn’t mind a little bit of admiration inside the game.

Devan looked like he just heard the best story in his life. His eyes held respect and even some reverence for Rhax. Rhax liked seeing that, it was an emotion he never saw directed toward him. Reverence was something he gave to others and not the other way around. So, seeing it inside someone he just met gave him some hope, hope that maybe he can someday be a man who is admired by people from all over the world. He wants the world to admire him, he wants to feel special, he wants to be someone, and not just a person in the background of the world.

Maybe it is something that is far reaching, he was almost 30, he was not married, wasn’t that attractive, and he was a geek. He knows how it sounds, if he said that he is these to anyone who doesn’t know him, then they would believe that he is one of those people who live in their parents' basements and only play video games or indulge in their hobby which became an addiction to them.

But he will try, because if he tries, then it will happen. If he didn’t have this mentality then his bones would have been the Direwolf’s chewing toy by now. If he doesn’t try then how would he know it is impossible. He would never say these words to anyone because they are extremely corny, and he is not a Main Protagonist of an Anime or a Novel. He is an average Joe, but one with a dream. And damn the world to Seven Hells if he will let it decide his fate just because he isn’t interesting. He is the owner of his fate, and no one will decide it for him.

“Oh my God! You killed a Direwolf with only a knife while still at level 1! Are you a professional player?” Devan was breathing hard, Rhax almost feared the man was going to pass out.

“No, I’m a history professor.” Rhax was comfortable sharing his job, it wasn’t something he was ashamed of, and it would not affect him in any way to share his job.

“No fucking way! Have you played Ethea before?!” Devan’s face was getting extremely red, probably from excitement and the adrenaline pumping into his stream.

“Nope, first time, this is actually the longest I have been on my feet from the start of the game till now. I spent the whole time in bed because my injuries were too much.” Rhax concluded. It was true, he spawned in, fought a Direwolf, was knocked out, logged out, came back, he was immobile and his injuries were pretty bad.

Devan opened his mouth and closed it like a fish trying to breathe outside the waters. He was completely speechless. It seems that he had an idea as there was light in his eyes. “Do you have the recording? And if you have, can I see it?”

Rhax blinked in confusion. “Recording? I didn’t record while fighting the Direwolf.”

Devan laughed. “You really don’t know? It is a feature in the capsule, you don’t have to start it, it will automatically record everything and then upload it to a file on the internet that only you can access because it requires the serial number of the capsule and a password you put in yourself. So, if you log out now, and go look inside the capsule settings you will find the file.” Devan explained excitedly.

Rhax nodded his head in understanding, this was actually pretty useful, why didn’t he know about it? “Is this how the content creators get their materials?” He asked.

Devan seemed to have the best idea in his life. “Yes, and you know what, you can post it on the internet. It will break the internet, a level 1 killing a Direwolf with only a knife.”

Rhax thought of the idea, it was a good one, but was he ready to take the risk? After seeing the reverence in Devan’s eyes, Rhax knew what he wanted, he wanted to be admired, and he would make it happen. This will be his first step.

“A question,” Rhax said with caution in his voice, “the video will be a first person POV right?”

Devan sucked on his lip for a second and then answered. “Well, yes and no. You see, the AI has done another amazing thing after the update, when filming it will switch between first and third point of view depending on the shot and how well it will look with that certain point of view.”

Rhax couldn’t help but exclaim. “Wow, this is amazing!”

“I know right, and have you seen the NPC’s, I almost forgot they were not real humans and this was a game.” Devan agreed with him.

Rhax nodded and looked at Olivia who was now calmly sitting in her mother’s lap waiting for him. He has to agree with Devan, the AI is terrifying, the level of Its understanding of humans must be something only Gods can achieve. He can see with his own eyes how everyone in the room they were in had a unique personality and background. They seemed real, and not just a bunch of data being pumped into a server. He now really understood why people initially thought Ethea to be another world that we can access with our brains. The realism was simply terrifying.

They chatted more for a couple of minutes and then said goodbye to each other. Devan informed him that he can always find him at the Church and if he needed anything then he could come to him.

After saying final goodbyes Rhax walked toward Julia and Olivia who was watching him. Olivia got down from her mother’s lap and ran at him when he was close. She clung to him like a magnet. “Are you okay, Ser Rhax?” She asked in that childish voice filled with innocence.

Rhax couldn’t help but give her a smile to reassure her. “Don’t worry about me, I’m alright. It would take more than that to hurt me. Now let's get back, I strongly feel that your father needs help right now.”

Olivia seemed to like the idea as she smiled and nodded her head. Rhax turned to Julia who was watching him, Rhax can see the questions she had in her eyes. He had to find an explanation to what happened, he would never tell a soul about what he saw in that Abyss. He felt like it was something that people won’t understand, even if he explained it to them.

As they walked out of the Church, Rhax finally saw it. It was a big thing! The church itself was like 10 meters high and had an amazing style to it. Rhax can see that whoever made the Church knew what they were doing, the statues and the pictures all along the walls of the Church were breathtaking.

When they finally reached the entrance, Rhax was met with a huge statue of a woman at least 10 meters high. The woman looked majestic, she wore a Greek toga, her face was carved into the white stone like a picture and not a statue. Needless to say, she was amazingly beautiful. She looked so real, that it made Rhax uncomfortable. He felt like something was watching him from the statue's eyes.

Rhax tore his eyes from the statue and noticed that there were people at the base of the statue, some were carrying flowers, some carried grain and some carried parts of trees. They all put down their sacrifices, and that's what it was, at the base of the statue. It was an offering to Tera to give them good time and bless them.

Rhax saw Olivia and Julia go to the base of the statue, they both knelt at the base and then Olivia took out a flower from her pocket and put it under the statue, they then did the Sun Sign and cupped their hands in prayer.

Rhax looked at this with interested eyes, he was not Rhax right now, no, he was Marcus. He was a history professor. He wants to see how this society is affected by its religion. People may discredit religion as it didn’t bring a lot of things to history. But Marcus knows better, religion is the main reason for their being history.

“Without religion there is no history, and without history there is no religion.” Marcus mumbled under his breath. It was a sentence he heard from somewhere when he was in his first year in High school, and it always intrigued him to no end. He spent hours trying to understand it, but it was fruitless, because he was looking at the wrong places. He was reading old texts and books, thinking it would bring him the knowledge to understand the full meaning of the sentence. But it seemed that it was in front of his eyes the whole time, he only needed to go into a Church or any other religious worship house and just watch the people.

Someone tugging on his pants made him snap out of his thinking mode. He saw Olivia looking at him with worry in her eyes. “I called on you for 5 times and you didn’t respond, I was scared you would scream and thrash in pain again.”

Rhax didn’t know how to comfort her, so he just patted her head. “Don’t worry, kid. I was just thinking. Also, to what purpose did you sacrifice?”

Olivia smiled and spread her arms. “I asked the Goddess for you to never feel pain again and live happily.”

Rhax was touched by this, it was not everyday someone did that to him, so it is understandable why he is so touched. He bent down and hugged the little girl. “Thank you, Kiddo. This is the nicest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Olivia had a cheeky smile on, she was a little red in the face, probably from the suffocation of being hugged by a man the size of Rhax. “No problem, Ser Rhax. You deserve it.”

“Rhax” He corrected.

“Huh?” She looked a little confused by his statement.

“Enough with that Ser shit, I’m not a knight, just call me Rhax.”

The little girl of 6 years smiled at him showing her teeth. “Sure thing, Rhax.”