MMORPG: Birth of the World's Luckiest Player-Chapter 138: The Evolution of the Game

By the time Marcus and Anya returned, it was already past eight. Moonlight washed over the quiet streets, mingling with the steady glow of the streetlamps as they walked back toward the apartment. Just as Marcus had expected, Chloe was waiting outside, her rigid posture and sharp gaze making her anxiety painfully obvious. The moment she spotted them, she strode forward, her expression darkening.

As Anya’s designated bodyguard, Chloe took her responsibility seriously. letting the person she was paid to protect wander off alone again, felt like a personal failure she just couldn’t stomach. Her temper flared the instant she saw them together.

Marcus and Anya stood side by side, enduring the storm. Chloe’s lecture came fast and fierce, her words sharp enough to leave no room for excuses. At times, it was hard to tell whether she was Anya’s protector or her commanding officer.

What surprised Marcus was that Chloe didn’t single him out this time. There was no pointed hostility, no thinly veiled accusations aimed only at him. Instead, she focused on the situation itself. They had disappeared without warning, turned off their phones, and left her frantic with worry. That alone was unacceptable.

As Marcus prepared to leave, Chloe suddenly fixed him with a hard stare.

"Marcus," she said flatly, "if you plan on breaking Anya’s heart again, don’t expect me to let it slide."

The warning was abrupt, almost jarring. Chloe had said things like this before, and Anya had hinted at the same resentment, but Marcus genuinely did not understand it. In his mind, he was the one who had been abandoned, the one left to pick up the pieces. He had never figured out how their memories of the past had diverged so sharply.

"And one more thing," Chloe added, her tone still stern. "Next time you take her out, make sure she keeps her phone on. Do you have any idea how worried I was tonight?"

Marcus froze for half a second, blinking in disbelief. Chloe, who had once opposed any contact between him and Anya, was now speaking as if their next outing was a given. It felt surreal, as if the rules of the world had quietly shifted while he wasn’t looking.

"Right. Got it," he said quickly, not daring to question it. Chloe being this reasonable felt like a miracle, and he had no intention of ruining it. For the first time, it seemed like something between them had finally eased.

---

After Marcus left, Anya followed Chloe back into their suite. Chloe’s irritation hadn’t fully dissipated, so Anya decided it was time to smooth things over.

"Don’t be mad, Chloe," she said, her voice soft. "I won’t run off like that again. Next time I go see Marcus, I’ll make sure you’re right there with us."

Chloe let out a slow breath, her worry still evident. "Anya, you really don’t understand how scared I get. What if something had happened?"

Anya smiled and waved it off. "Relax. I’m safe with Marcus. Nothing bad is going to happen when I’m with him." She gave Chloe a playful wink. "As long as you two can manage not to argue, I promise I’ll bring you along next time."

"Why would I even bother arguing with that... that playboy?" Chloe shot back, but her heart gave a hard, traitorous thump against her ribs. She turned her face away, hoping Anya wouldn’t notice the heat rising in her cheeks. "I don’t even want to talk to him. I’m just worried about you."

"Oh, stop it," Anya teased, her eyes catching the faint blush coloring Chloe’s neck. "You’ve never gotten this worked up over any other guy. We’ve been best friends forever, Chloe. I know you."

She leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "You like him."

Chloe’s eyes went wide. Her pulse kicked into a frantic rhythm. "Me? Like Marcus? That... that complete jerk? No way. I can’t stand him." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Anya’s grin widened. She was clearly enjoying this. "But you’re my girl, Chloe. You’re supposed to come with me when I get married someday. If you don’t like the man I choose, what am I supposed to do? Find a new maid? Someone who actually approves of my future husband?"

"Anya!" Chloe sputtered, thoroughly flustered. "You’re being ridiculous!"

"Okay, okay," Anya said, finally taking mercy and changing the subject. "Oh, that reminds me. Marcus told me today that he plays Dominion too. We could meet up with him in the game sometime."

That got Chloe’s full attention. Her frustration vanished in an instant. "He does? What’s his username?"

"That’s a secret," Anya replied, humming a little tune. "If you want to know, you’ll have to ask him yourself."

---

When Marcus walked through his own front door, he found Lily and his younger sister Amber stretched out on the living room couch, watching TV instead of being logged into the game.

"Hey, big bro’s back!" Amber called out cheerfully. Her eyes swept over him, sparkling with mischief. "Wow, you look great. All dressed up and handsome. Was it a hot date?"

Marcus groaned on the inside. Amber had a real gift for saying the exact worst thing at the exact worst time, and doing it right in front of Lily felt like walking into a trap.

"Don’t even start," he said, trying to sound firm. "You don’t know what you’re talking about."

"He does look unusually good today," Lily added, smiling in a way that made Marcus immediately uneasy. "So tell me, Marcus, did you make any progress with the ladies?"

It was a trap. He could feel it. Amber’s devilish influence was clearly rubbing off on Lily.

"The game’s down for maintenance," Amber said, her tone shifting to pure annoyance. "Lily and I were ’this close’ to getting out of the newbie village, and then the server just booted everyone. It’s so annoying."

"Maintenance?" Marcus frowned. "Since when?"

"They’re rolling out a massive update," Amber explained. "They’re adding a whole Marriage System and basically overhauling the game’s realism. Oh, and Dragonfly Corp is using it to launch their new Bio-Pods."

"Bio-Pods?" Marcus asked, intrigued.

"There are three tiers," Amber said eagerly. "Silver, Gold, and Ultra. The Silver Pod lets you stay online for twenty-four hours straight by handling all your physical needs. It costs ten thousand dollars. Gold lasts three days for fifty thousand. And Ultra lets you stay logged in for five days straight, but it’ll cost you a hundred grand. The higher the tier, the more immersive it gets."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "They actually managed to make that work?"

"Apparently, yeah. People on the forums say the tech was originally developed by the Space Agency for long-duration missions, and Dragonfly Corp adapted it for Dominion."

Marcus laughed softly, a spark of excitement lighting his eyes. "Perfect. We’ll buy three. One for each of us. Let’s see what it’s like to live like the elite."

He’d made over ten million dollars from selling the Guild Creation Token. Compared to the true giants of industry, it was nothing. But to him, it was life-changing.

Back when he worked at Mellory Financial, one of the most prestigious firms in the industry, his annual salary had been a hundred thousand. The money he earned from a single in-game item already surpassed what he might have made grinding away for decades. The future suddenly felt vast and full of possibility.

Amber stared at him as if he’d just spoken another language. "Wait... what did you just say?"

The look of pure shock on Lily’s face was a perfect mirror of her own.