Chapter 1: Loading...

Sunday...

The morning sun was shining brightly in the cloudless sky; the wind was cold, a clear indication of the upcoming winter.

The entire city was brimming with traffic even on a Sunday morning. An old man, probably in his eighties, was standing at a zebra crossing while looking on at the passing vehicles with an unreadable expression. Multiple men and women were passing by him without acknowledging him.

A young man around the age of nineteen stopped right beside the old man, and took hold of the old man’s hand.

“Let me help you, old man.” With that, he started to cross the road, pulling the old man with him.

“You know old people like you shouldn’t come out of their houses, I mean this world just sucks,” he said, when they reached the median in the middle of the road.

The old man looked at him with a thin smile on his face. The vehicles on the other side were still passing, so he stopped at the divider, but the old man kept walking; when a huge truck was about to smash the old man, the young man pulled the old man back.

“Woah, watch it there grandpa, or it will be a game over for you.”

“My fault. It’s been so long since I have been here.” The old man spoke in a gentle and grandfatherly voice.

“Where have you been living then, in caves?” The young man asked, a bit rudely; while giving the old man the once-over. The man was wearing a weathered white robe. He had unkempt, long white hair along with a long white beard.

The old man just laughed at the young man’s question.

“Actually, you look like the ‘Old Mage’ from the fantasy game. You know, the one that came out last year,” continued the young man.

The behaviour of the young man was very rude, but the old man just laughed at the young man’s words.

“So, you like video games, huh?”

“Of course, old man. People, like me, like only two things.”

“And what are those two things?”

“Sex and video games. Isn’t it obvious? You must be living under a rock, if you don’t know about it.”

“As I said before, it’s been a long time since I came here.”

Once the vehicles stopped in the other lane, the young man again pulled the old man to cross the road.

“I would have stayed longer, but you see, my clan is at a critical level against the intruders, and if I and my teammate give our best, we can definitely get a big level up. So take care,” the young man said, after they had crossed the road and looked at the old man; who just kept staring at the young man with a confused look, clearly on his face.

“In ‘The Clan Survivor’, it’s the hottest thing right now, old man; you really need to update your knowledge.”

“So, it’s some kind of sex game?” The old man asked bluntly, with what one could consider a creepy, perverted expression on his face.

“What? No, old man. It’s a multiplayer game, where you build your clan and then expand it.”

“But, you said young people, like you, like two things-sex and video games. So, wouldn’t it be more fun to play a game which has sex in it?”

“Wow, you old pervert; well, old man, there are games like that out there, but they are more like jerk-off material. They are not as fun as this one. I mean they don’t even give updates, the graphics are also cheap, and after some time, things become a bit repetitive.”

“Ohhh.” The old man just shook his head, like he understood what the young man was telling him.

The young man turned around, and was about to walk away, when the old man spoke.

“Say, would you be interested in playing a game that involves sex?”

The young man now turned back and released a hearty laugh. “Of course, old man. But it has to be a fun one, I mean not the jerk-off material, you know, a bit of realism.”

“Yes, it is realistic,” the old man mumbled, but the young man turned around and walked away, leaving the old man behind, who had a thin smile on his face. It was the same smile he had had centuries ago.

James Strode was walking back home with a spring in his legs.

The reason for his happiness was the successful raid that their clan had conducted. It’d been six months since he started playing The Clan Survivor, and four months since he met Alex, another gamer.

They, along with other talents, had built their clan and in the last four months; they had grown a lot as a clan. Just today, he, as an Archmage, was at Level 21, and their clan was at Level 18. He was the brightest player on their team.

Today, they attacked a Level 20 clan, and with his tactical expertise, they got a swift win. It gave each of the members multiple rewards, along with a level-up for their clan. Now their clan had reached Level 20. He, himself, got an Invisibility Robe, along with a level-up, which meant he was a Level 22 Archmage.