'I will just tell Mom that I like someone and need some time to progress my relationship with her, and that should help me get a few months of peace.' Alex thought as he cleaned the car, knowing his mother would only drop the topic of his marriage once she got an answer which satisfied her.
"Alex, You have something on your mind." Alex's father asked, wiping the car from the other side.
"I was just thinking that should I tell Mom I have a crush on someone, but then knowing Mom, she would definitely want to know who she is and all about her," Alex replied.
Alex told his father, knowing he would handle the situation and save him from the trouble of making a story about his fake crush.
"I will do it for you." Alex's father replied with a slight chuckle.
"Alex, have you joined any guild, or are you still playing solo?" Alex's father asked, changing the topic.
"I am playing solo for now, but after reaching the third Rank, I plan to join some guild," Alex replied.
Alex did tell the truth as he planned to join a guild using his fake Reaper persona, and he was going to do that to help his father's company gain the rights to advance technology from the galactic shop.
After the appearance of the Galactic Shop, every business wanted the advance technology available in it, but to get one needed the Ancient world currency and the Galactic shop currency.
The Ancient world currency could be acquired easily, but a player needed to reach the fourth Rank or join a guild to gain the Galactic shop currency.
All fourth Rank players would earn a specific amount of Galactic shop coins for doing different activities. For example, completing a quest could give them 100 GS Coins, while gaining a good Title could give them 100K GS coins.
The Guilds, on the other hand, could earn a large amount of GS Coins by completing more challenging tasks ranging from helping a kingdom solve some problem to killing wandering world bosses.
The difficulty of acquiring the GS Coins made them more valuable than anything, and those who had them used them in a way that best benefited their interest.
"Alex, The Son of your Uncle Fabian, is a high-ranking member of the guild, which is Ranked 114th, so if you are interested in joining that guild, I can ask Fabian to tell his son to recommend you to his guild," Alex's father said.
'If I remember correctly, Amar currently should be a member of Fallenblades guild.' Alex thought, trying to remember everything he could about the Fallenblades guild and their future.
"I will keep that in mind," Alex replied.
While Alex was having a conversation with his father, Lady Margaret was having a conversation with Varon to decide whether he could use the cleansing fruit or not.
-------------------
"Darrien decided to give the last cleansing fruit to the Domain Ruler?" Varon asked, sounding quite surprised.
"He did, and he wants Domain Ruler to use it before his second Rank promotion." Lady Margaret replied.
"Domain Ruler can't use the cleansing fruit before reaching at least the peak of third Rank as it is too risky, and Darrien should know better than anyone about it," Varon said, not sounding pleased.
"Darrien is doing it because Domain Ruler has acquired the Ruler Pride skill." Lady Margaret said after hesitating for a moment.
Varon stayed silent as, after hearing the reason, he understood that the decision made by Darrien was correct and would tremendously benefit Alex, but the potential conciseness made him not want to take the risk.
"If Doamin Ruler wants to use the cleansing fruit after knowing the pain he needs to suffer, then let him use it, but he needs to return to the Malefis Domain to do it," Varon said.
-------------------
'I can't wait to see what benefits the cleansing fruit would provide me.' Alex thought as he entered his VR capsule.
After a few seconds of darkness, Alex opened his eyes, looking toward a wooden ceiling laying on a comfortable bed which surprised him for a moment, but he didn't think much of it.
'I don't know why I am sleeping in a hotel room, but who cares.' Alex thought as he left his bed and started stretching to get comfortable with the feeling of his avatar.
Alex's real-world strength and game avatar strength were far apart, so after every login, his consciousness needed a few seconds to get comfortable with his body.
"Elder Darrien, can you please take me to the training chamber so I can start the cleansing process," Alex said, and an instant later, his vision went blank, and the next thing he saw was lush green trees.
"Domain Ruler, We need to return to the Malefis Domain for you to use the cleansing fruit." Lady Margaret said in her soothing voice.
"Guardian Elmara wants to collect data from the cleansing fruit." Lady Margaret said.
'I am not surprised she wants to collect data from the cleansing fruit,' Alex thought.
'Let's get this over with.' Alex thought as he held hands with his two guardians before activating the continental teleportation skill.
-----------------
[Two Hours Later]
After getting teleported to the Malefis Domain, Alex met with Varon, who took him to the Lady Elmara place, and after a scary warning from her, he was seated on the workbench in her lab, ready to consume the cleansing fruit.
"Domain Ruler, You can consume the cleansing fruit when you are ready to experience the pain of a lifetime." Lady Elmara said, giving Alex a thumbs up with a bright smile on her face.
'If the benefits weren't so tempting, I would have changed my decision after hearing about the pain.' Alex thought, remembering the words he heard a few minutes ago from Lady Elmara.
Lady Elmara said to Alex that the pain would slowly reach such a level that he would want to die, and if he was unable to bear the pain, then his consciousness would break, and he would end up becoming a retard or worse.
Alex wasn't worried about receiving brain damage in the real world because if the situation reached anywhere near that point, he would be forcefully logged out by Zero, but the issue of pain was different.
'I am not missing an opportunity because of the pain.' Alex thought, looking at the starry crimson fruit in hand.
'Let's do this.' Alex thought and, without delay, took his first bite.
Alex felt like biting into jello with otherwordly taste, and without delay, he took three more bites, finished the fruit, and started munching on its flesh to enjoy its flavors.
'The taste is just amazing.' Alex thought, feeling all the anxiety melting away as the fruit flesh turned into liquid and slid down his throat.
"Lay down." Lady Elmara said.
Alex did as he was told while having a bright smile on his face reimaging the otherworldly taste of the magical fruit.
Alex lay down on the bed, and as he remembered, his arms, legs, waist, and neck were cuffed in place, making him unable to move while the workbench got covered in runes of multiple colors.
After a few seconds, Alex started feeling sleepy as the blood flow in his body slowed down considerably, and his body temperature dropped sharply.
Alex started feeling cold, making his whole body shiver, and that situation lasted for a few minutes, but slowly his heartbeat went to normal and blood flow in his body increased, making him feel healthy and alive.
The feeling of comfort only lasted for a few seconds, and then he started feeling a sharp pain in his chest or, more precisely, in his heart.
'This pain better be worth it.' Alex thought while gritting his teeth, feeling like his heart was getting ripped to pieces.
The pain was getting higher with the passing second, but Alex kept his mouth shut and occupied his mind with good memories.
After feeling his heart get pocked by what felt like rusty needles for ten minutes, Alex heard a notification that made him want to puke blood and curse out loud.
[Vitality -10]
'What the hell?' Alex thought, seeing the system notification, but before he could even get comfortable with the fact that he lost stats opposite to what he expected, he heard another notification.
[Vitality -10]
'System Close Notifications.' Alex said, going back to thinking about all the good experiences of his past life.
After twenty or so minutes, Alex started feeling pain in his stomach and then slowly in his arms, legs, face, and head, and after little over an hour, his whole body was in pain, making it impossible to think of anything other than pain.
Alex's head felt like it would explode at any moment while his body felt weaker and weaker with every passing second, and by now, his mouth was a bloody mess as he had accidentally bit his tongue and cheeks quite a few times.
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