Rioneed: VRMMORPG

Ibro entered his palace as he went directly towards his high chair. He sat on it in the middle of the huge hall and waited patiently. He had guessed the identity of those players. 

They were the family of that missing team of players. Ibro thought about his next move while waiting for his visitors.

'System, what is the cost of unlocking the next function?'

'You have reached the maximum limit for this version of the system. If you wanted to have more options and functions, then you need to upgrade the whole system.'

Ibro asked with doubt:

'Don't I need to upgrade my energy from PSR to Ro energy first?'

'No, that would be to make the system take the final leap. Now you can only raise the level of the system by using SPR stones.'

Ibro wasn't sure if this system was trying to take more stones from him in this way or if it was telling the truth.

'Can I upgrade your level like… forever?'

'Sure, but don't forget that I'm limited by my current pseudo-system rank. That meant that my functions and services are all weakened in quality. So don't depend only on that.'

Ibro understood what the system meant. He asked again:

'When I manage to raise your rank to the complete system rank, will I lose all the functions I unlocked and the abilities I opened?'

'You will have all of them in the Pseudo-system rank. If you wanted to upgrade them to the complete system rank, you need to use PSR stones then.'

Ibro knew it; this system was always thinking about ways to take away his PSR stones. Ibro sighed; he had no other choice except following this scheming system scheme.

'How much PSR stones do you need to upgrade, and how long will it take?'

'I would need 1000 SPR orbs. It won't take a minute to upgrade.'

Ibro heard this new term, so he asked:

'What are these SPR orbs? I only had stones.'

'The orbs are higher than stones. Each orb is formed from 1 million SPR stone. And I have already turned the whole energy you didn't absorb into stones. 

As the stones accumulated in huge amounts, I transformed them into orbs. Now, you have over 20k orbs.'

Ibro was sure that this upgrade was this system trick. This system seemed to drool over his orbs.

'Ok, fine, upgrade yourself then.'

'Thanks, system holder.'

'What a shameless greedy system.'

The system neglected Ibro's comment as he moved at once to upgrade itself. Ibro sat on his chair thinking about the next move to do. Should he focus on invading the players' community? 

Or should he focus on freeing the NPCs? Or both? While he was deep in his thoughts, Gorsag appeared with the company of players. 

There were around 50 players. They were all middle-aged and some were even old-aged. Ibro didn't move to greet them, while Gorsag bowed his head while saying:

"I have brought the players as you requested, my king."

"Good job, Gorsag."

Ibro then looked towards the players while asking:

"I have heard you waited for me in my city for such a long time. What business do you want from me?"

The oldest players moved at once towards the front followed by the arrangements of all younger players behind them. When they finished this simple meaningful move, they had turned out to be 3 groups, not one. 

Ibro looked to the three heads of these players. His guess this time had slightly been off the mark. They weren't only Sara's family; there were an additional two forces here. 

Ibro didn't mind the bonus though. These players were doomed to fall under his control the moment they crossed the palace doors. 

Gorsag had understood his king well, so he had brought big numbers of guards with him. He would wait for the slightest sign from Ibro to attack those players. 

The plan was set and traps were ready. Everyone looked towards this group of players like they were delicious food.

"We came to discuss a few terms with you as a player in this game."

The one in the middle talked with an arrogant tone. He was used to giving orders and not to reason with them. His behavior was obvious; he didn't put Ibro into his eyes at all. 

Ibro didn't get angry as he knew how arrogant the higher-ups in any world were.  It was a human sin and weakness. Ibro looked to those intoxicated with power and thought deeply. 

Would he force them to join his rule? He hated this kind of person. But, they weren't only representing themselves. 

Ibro was sure they held great positions back in their world. Aiming for those behind them, Ibro put his eyes firmly over them.

"First of all, you didn't introduce yourselves."

The old man spoke again with arrogance:

"You don't need to know our names, as we won't be friends. People like you are always destined to be forever below us. We ju…"

Ibro was really tired; he didn't have any patience to hear this shit, so he waved his hand to Gorsag. 

At once, 100 guards surrounded this group of players. The middle-aged men were panicked, but the three old players up front didn't flinch. They even smiled.

"Do you believe we came here unprepared?" the same arrogant player spoke again while taking something out from his inventory. 

It was an orb that was similar to teleportation orbs Ibro say before. Ibro smiled as he pointed out towards this orb:

"Are you trying to threaten me with this orb? What will you bring here to me? An army of players?"

The old man laughed then he said:

"No, actually I won't bring you players. This orb isn't like any usual orb you have seen before. This will open a two way portal towards a hideous place in this universe. 

You will be forced to face huge armies of strange monsters. Even if you bypass them, you will be killed by some rogue NPCs who will hunt you down. Now, order yo…"

'System has been upgr…'

Ibro didn't have the time to hear both of them, he issued an order immediately:

"Activate the isolation dome."

Ibro's voice was so serious that it shut down both of them. The old player looked in suspicion towards Ibro while the system voice echoed in his ears:

'That man had a teleportation portal to the gate world. Isolation dome is activated. I will use more energy to sh…'

'Just stop them from escaping. Activate the confuse function.'

At once, a small version of the dome appeared surrounding the whole palace. Before these players could even move a muscle, a wave of energy surged through their bodies suddenly without any warning. 

They lost any ability to move or even think. They stayed like this for five seconds. Five seconds of no movements inside your enemy's forte wasn't a smart move at all. 

When they regained their control over their bodies, they were tied up and surrounded by many guards. Each one had eaten his own omega stone. 

What happened next was simple, as each one of them disappeared before they reappeared again after a few minutes. Ibro wasn't interested in them when he received the orb from Gorsag. 

This orb was nearly the same as the orbs he saw before. The change was in these inscriptions that were engraved on it. He could read this writing as he said it out loud in surprise:

"The Eternal City of Mosak."