After yet another failed attempt to log out, Pang Te was already beginning to despair.
He was also a "warder." He handed over his body to the Warding Center for monthly care, paying a few dozen dollars a month. They would take excellent care of his body.
To be honest, food, clothing, and other necessities in the real world cost more than that each month. Yet the Warding Center could somehow meet people's physiological needs at such a low cost.
He had no pressing need to log out. He simply felt uneasy about being unable to do so.
Just as his expression grew complicated, a hand came to rest on his shoulder.
His body shuddered, and then a girl's bell-like laughter rang out behind him. "I scared you, Pang Te, you coward!"
Pang Te rolled his eyes and turned around, where he saw a beautiful girl.
She was his wife.
His wife in the Virtual World—a "native."
They had gotten married, and it had cost him roughly ten thousand dollars. Seven thousand of that, equivalent to seventy silver coins, had gone toward buying land and building a house.
Actually, quite a few people built houses outside the city districts, where it cost nothing. At most, they had to pay a few hundred dollars for labor. There were plenty of workers willing to do it.
But out of concern for his wife's safety, Pang Te had spent all that money to buy land and build a house in a well-policed area inside the city.
The rest had gone toward buying various furnishings and giving some to his wife and her family.
They had met by accident.
During one territorial battle, Pang Te had been defeated by a high-level Professional from the opposing side and fallen into a river with severe injuries.