Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Adam finished setting the table and asked "What about it then? How did that french guy react?"

Elizabeth's laugh deepened as she replied "Oh he was angry! He spat out whatever he began eating and asked for the boss. The boss was even more pissed off than that guy, so after licking the french guy's boots he stormed in the kitchens. The boss then 'finally' discovered the truth about that pig, and fired him out of anger!"

Adam was stunned, wasn't that too harsh? But Elizabeth then added "Although we didn't learn the details, the client was here for a business opportunity with the boss' sister, who owns a big company. The sister of the boss sent the french guy to us as a favor to her brother, so serving an overcooked steak doesn't just impact the restaurant, it may even impact the deal with the company of the boss' sister. So the boss was extremely pissed off, and so was his sister, so he got fired."

Adam smiled and asked "What about it then? Who is going to be promoted?"

Elizabeth shrugged and said "No idea. But whoever gets the promotion will still be better than him. But enough about me, how was your first day, you didn't say much but you look especially radiant today."

Adam was stumped, then smiled ruefully. He couldn't hide his change to his parents. He sat down and said "It's too soon to be sure of anything, but I made quite an impression…"

His father asked "What's your ID?" Adam looked at his father, who had put down the newspaper and taken out a tablet. Adam said "Valiant Heart. If you don't find anything then search for Rosewatch…"

However, he was cut short by his father's laughter. Elizabeth stopped what she was doing and approached her husband, curious about what he saw.

As she saw the tablet, she also burst into laughter. Adam tilted his head and asked "What's so funny?"

His father replied teasingly "Oh good question, My General!"

Adam was utterly confused, what was he talking about? He approached his father too, and saw that he was on an article. When Adam read the title, he froze.

THE VALIANT GENERAL OF ROSEWATCH!

Below the title was an image of Adam when he was making his speech, the point of view being from one of the troops at the front.

Adam knew what made his parents laugh so hard, it was the pause he had taken while he talked. It was oddly similar to a superhero he had almost worshiped when he was younger, Mr General. Aii that was embarrassing…

Adam returned to his seat and went on his phone, his face blushing a little. After a moment his mother returned to cooking and said with an unusually worried and serious voice "Adam… don't push too hard, okay?"

He was stunned for a moment before hurriedly saying "Don't worry, I'm not! I'm really not! I really like the game, and I do intend on becoming a pro!"

His father asked "Did those two guilds approach you?"

Adam nodded and said "They did.. but I refused their invitation." His father smiled and said "¨Playing hard to get I see… You plan to join a Super Guild instead?"

Adam once again shook his head though, and said "I will create my own guild."

As he said that his parents fell silent, and that was understandable. Nowadays creating a guild while going pro meant a lot, it was like creating one's own company. What Adam was doing was like refusing the invitation from the biggest companies in the world to create his own startup.

After a moment his mother laughed "Really my son, you would rather be the head of the chicken than the tail of the phoenix!"

This diffused the tensed atmosphere and the two joined her in her laughter. Still, Adam added "Mom, dad… I'm really confidant on this one. I have a partner with me, and the two of us were among the first worldwide to reach the cities. Heck, I may very be the first worldwide myself. And we also got an achievement, we were the first to kill a Chieftain Boss in the entire world!"

Had it been in the world of Old Adam, or simply a hundred years in the past, speaking of video games like that with one's parents was simply unthinkable, but nowadays even the elderly knew about video games, and Epoch was even more important than sports like Football worldwide. As for Adam's parents, although they didn't play the game, they did know a few things about it.

Adam's father got up and went to sit next to his son as he said "Adam, we believe in you. And we support you. Show them all who you are, and dominate them."

Adam looked at his father, touched, and nodded with a smile. After that their talk became a little more mundane as Adam's mother finished cooking and they ate together.

Once done, Adam decided to go out with some friends, well his only friends. However, even after he sent a message on their group, none of them answered so Adam didn't leave his house.

He didn't go play either though. Today had been really intense, he had played for many hours and went through multiple difficult fights. If he really needed to he could continue playing, but he would rather rest his mind than force it.

He had already forced his body beyond his limits for two whole years, and although he had achieved his goal, he had died as a result so he would rather not push his mind this time.

So that's why, he would rather take it slow. For now, even though it had already been 4 months since his 'death', his body hadn't fully recovered, and he thus still wasn't at the max of his form, he would still need some time.

Of course, despite this temporary weakness, he was still incredibly energetic, more than the average person at least. Since it was only his mind that was tired, Adam decided to work on his body, after all even though there were the nutriments and some electroshock sent to the body as to stimulate the muscles, in the end he had laid unmoving for the better part of the day, and so physical exercise was advised by the developers.

Adam switched between different exercises and ended up working out until midnight. At that point, his body was so tired the slightest move had become impossible, so after drinking an entire bottle of water he went to sleep.

As if he had a clock in his brain, Adam woke up at 7.00 am, exactly. As he did he saw several notifications on his phone, and realized they came from his friends.

As expected, the reason they weren't there was because they were playing Epoch. At first he had been confused as to why none of them would answer, but while working up he suddenly remembered that they already had cabins in the past, just that they didn't use them much.

From what he remembered they weren't bad in VR games, but they never joined any guild, they were more casual players.

Anyway, after answering the messages and asking about their ID in-game, Adam painfully got out of his bed and ate a little before brushing his teeth and taking a shower. His sore muscles made everything painful, but he was used to it since he was pushing his body lately.

It wasn't as hardcore as before though, he was barely hitting the limit before stopping, and this time the nutriments added to his body while playing reinvigorated his body, allowing him to muscle up quicker without any side effects.

Once in game, Adam first checked his notifications and was happy to see that most of what he put on sale was bought. He still made a quick trip there though to refresh all his announces.

When he was done, he finally headed to the Northern Gate where he had planned to meet with Eddy's team the day before. They had said they would meet early in the morning, but they didn't specify any hour so he guessed slightly after 7.00 am in real time would be a good time.

And it seemed to be the right choice since as he arrived there he saw that only Eddy and the Cleric from the group, the Islander named Louisa.