You passed the test and entered the academy as a star student.
Throughout the next four years, you will learn twelve new skills in the academy and level up forty-nine times as a mage.
And time passed...
Well, this was what should have happened.
Normally, whenever Nova started a new game and joined the academy, this informative prompt flashed in front of his eyes. Yet, this time, he was still looking at the sky, and nothing changed.
The only different thing was the woman sitting behind the desk. She was looking at Nova as if he were an idiot.
"What are you waiting for? Didn't you say you were ready?"
"Huh?" This dialogue was different than what he was used to. No, there shouldn't have been any other dialogue.
"Sigh... Do you perhaps actually need time before the test? I can give you time till tomorrow. Tomorrow, you should come back and take the test. There will be no refunds if you don't come on time."
Nova, not understanding what was happening, focused on the dialogue and nodded, accepting the offer.
He needed to understand what was happening first.
---
"These b*stard developers... Did they bring an update without me knowing? Was that the reason I was banned?"
Nova thought that the only explanation could be that the game was updated. But it was almost impossible. As one of the best players, he always followed the announcement.
Even if he missed it, he was friends with other good players. At least one of them or the viewers would definitely mention it.
"Maybe this is a surprise event or a surprise update. If not one of them, there is only one option left, but it is impossible. Or maybe it isn't..."
Nova looked at his hands and slowly raised them. Then, suddenly, he touched his pants.
"Sigh..."
What he thought was that maybe he slept for two days instead of one, or maybe even more. But in that case, it would mean that he... you know, soaked the drawers since he wasn't in need of using the bathroom right now. When he checked his pants, though, they were okay.
I think I will leave the game and check the date. There will surely be updates on the website. Maybe even patch notes. The woman was creepy...
The woman behind the desk looked just like a secretary with the pencil skirt and half-suit top.
She was also wearing one of those sharp-ended glasses, making her scary enough for Nova to run away. She was scarier than the zombies.
Thinking that, Nova brought his hands to his head to remove the half-immersive VR goggles. But... His hands only touched his head instead of the goggles.
Half-immersive meant that the player could control their character without an extra tool and see from the character's eyes as if they were inside the game. But they could still move their bodies in the real world. They also didn't feel pain when they were hit in the game.
But now, Nova couldn't move his real body. Or maybe he did, but he couldn't feel it. For a second, an absurd idea came to him. One even more absurd than sleeping for two days.
"No way, something like that can't happen! Don't embarrass yourself thinking about it, Nova..."
He started looking around. Everything was realistic. But the game was already realistic. He nipped his arm to check if he was in a dream. But it hurt.
Wait, it hurt!
There was no pain in the game, but his arm hurt. Nova's mind started working really fast.
Did I really... enter the game world? No, it doesn't make any sense. But it hurt!
He started going around the city. There was more than one way to determine whether he was delusional or not. He found a random NPC, a street vendor.
"Hey, do you know today's date?"
"It is the 27th," the vendor answered.
"27th of what?" Nova asked again.
"Huh? September 27th," the vendor answered once again. But, seeing that Nova was still looking at him as if waiting for him to continue, he said, "September 27th, 1400 calendar year."
It was the date on which players started the game. But the next question was the actually important one.
"Did something happen yesterday?" Nova asked.
"Huh? Let me see. I opened up my shop and sold everything. It was a good day for me! But no, nothing else happened. Did you have something in mind?"
Nova felt like hot water was emptied out on his head. The NPCs in the game never answered any questions regarding the days prior to today's date.
This was because they hadn't existed before that. So, except for the big events like the past of this world, they didn't answer personal questions.
He remembered that there was a manual exit, but no one used it since removing the goggles was easier and made more sense.
He looked top right, where there should be an icon. But nothing appeared in his vision. He opened the status window, but there was nothing related to the exit there.
His heart rate increased as he couldn't find anything. Was he stuck in this game and in this appearance? Did he have to live this life now?
More importantly, what would happen when stage one started?
Wait, I have to calm down! The academy skip didn't work, so I still have five years before stage one.
This was not a game world one would like to enter, even as they dreamed about the life inside a game. GAP was a really hard game with continuous dangers and guaranteed death on the fourth stage.
But not me! I can beat the fourth stage. I won't die no matter what.
Nova decided to live through this game. He was the best at it, and if he needed to fight to live, he would do that.
With that, he started planning the future instead of worrying about it.
Everything would go to his plan. If they didn't, he would change everything!