Saland and Haytham headed towards a very dense forest and ventured within. They walked until they reached a camp situated outside a mine. As they approached, a large, muscular, bald man with a bare torso, orange handlebar mustache, and only work jeans on, came to meet them and said, "Hey newcomers, welcome to the abandoned mine! I'm Rabajen, and I'll be your guide in exploring this mine that was rediscovered just yesterday."
Immediately, Rabajen slapped Haytham on the back, causing him to stagger, and Rabajen laughed. Rabajen gave the two pickaxes and two helmets. A man dressed in a suit and tie in the middle of the camp said, "Good morning everyone, my name is Crowar, and I'm the investor in this quest. Here, you can keep all the materials you find, but if unforeseen events happen, I will compensate you with at least 1000 Monolite, which, for those who don't know, is the currency of the VR WORLD."
Immediately after the short speech, a crowd of people approached the entrance, which was supported by wooden beams. Beyond the entrance were rails and minecarts that led downwards. Rabajen said, "These you see are work carts that will take us to the underground work area." The trio boarded the carts and, guided by Rabajen, arrived at the work area, which consisted of numerous underground tunnels. Rabajen said, "Follow me, I'm very experienced, I'll take you to a good area for mining." Saland and Haytham followed him until they reached the depths of many underground passages. They immediately began to dig and placed the minerals they found in sacks.
Haytham swung his pickaxe at a rock, which he managed to break in two, and from it emerged a beautiful violet-blue sphere. The mineral was of medium size and emitted a fairly strong light. Immediately, Rabajen shouted, "Oh my god, you've found an incredibly rare mineral! Usually, there's a very low percentage of finding one. In mines, you can find rarities of: low value, medium value, high value, and priceless value, and the mineral Haytham found is of priceless value. That stone is called a stellar sphere, and it's mainly used to enhance weapons."
Out of nowhere, explosions began to be heard, and a giant lizard-like monster approached them. Immediately, Rabajen dashed forward and knocked out the large lizard with a punch. Haytham grabbed the sack containing the stellar sphere, and the trio exited the tunnel and saw that creatures similar to the one they had just faced were attacking several players.
Suddenly, a man with fairly long silver-grey hair, wearing a black leather jacket that reached his legs, grey pants, and a belt with two pistols on his waist, appeared out of nowhere. The man, without saying anything, drew one of his pistols and fired two laser-like shots towards Saland and Haytham, but Rabajen stepped in front and parried the two shots, stood up, and said, "I don't know who you are, but if you touch my boys, I'll tear you in two! Thanks to my innate ability 'Hardening,' I can withstand your blows."
Immediately, Rabajen dashed towards the gunman and tried to punch him, but the man fired a beam of light, hitting him in the shoulder, and Rabajen fell to the ground agonizing. The gunman said, "In the end, he was nothing special, I just needed to power up the shot."
Saland and Haytham stood their ground, and the gunman said, "My name is Seyler, and I'm a lone bandit. My innate ability is to generate the monsters you see, and my pistols use my own mana as projectiles." Suddenly, Saland ran towards Seyler and tried to attack him with his bare hands, but Seyler easily parried all the blows and punched Saland, who, unexpectedly, teleported behind Seyler and kicked him, but the gunman blocked with his right arm and shot Saland with his left arm, wounding him in the side.
Saland was on the ground, and Seyler pointed his gun at Saland's head, but suddenly a shot wounded Seyler's right shoulder. Haytham was trembling and held Seyler's left pistol in his hand. Haytham said, "This is my innate ability 'Phantom Thief,' it allows me to take objects that I can identify and grab from a certain distance."
Seyler was surprised, but immediately tried to shoot Haytham, who dodged the shots by briefly running on the wall and tried to hit Seyler, who moved and shot at Haytham, who intercepted his shot with his own. Haytham began to understand how the pistol worked, and when Seyler summoned two of his creatures, Haytham immediately eliminated them with a single shot, destroying the beasts' cores. Haytham noticed that he had become slightly faster and could do parkour much better on the walls and was good at dodging Seyler's shots.
Just as Seyler and Haytham were about to shoot each other, Saland blocked Seyler's legs from behind, causing him to lose his balance, and Haytham managed to hit Seyler in the head, who said, "Damn you all! You'll never understand the value of what you've found!!" and dispersed into particles of light.
Saland and Haytham went to the poor dying Rabajen, who turned his head towards them and said, "My dear boys, you've gained much more experience than I would have expected. Use the stone you found for your weapons. Before I leave, I tell you: welcome to the fake real world, the VR WORLD!!" and with these last words, he too dissolved into particles of light.
After the fight, Saland and Haytham eliminated the few remaining beasts and saved the survivors. At the exit, Crowar stood there applauding alone and said, "Thank you for saving everyone and defeating that bandit. I watched your entire fight with that bandit, I'm very sorry about Rabajen, he was a good guide and example. When he returns, I'll compliment him on his epic death. You will be given 1000 Monolite, plus another 2000 Monolite for defeating the bandit." Saland asked confused, "But will Rabajen return?" Crowar replied, "Of course, this is a simulation, not real life. You'll see him again in about a day." All the Monolite were given to the two, and with the stellar sphere, they set off towards Valley.