[Welcome host to the VRMMORPG Astral Survival.]

[Please sign up to start playing the game.]

As soon as Lucas put on the head gear, he felt being sucked through some vortex and everything blacked out for a moment. But soon, the surroundings changed and Lucas found himself standing on a grassland and in front of him was a blue screen with words written on it in white.

He understood that this must be the form he would need to fill to sign up. He raised the virtual keyboard present in front of his stomach a little and typed on it and filled the form up. 

Next he was asked to customize his character and since he was very eager to adventure, he went with the default one which was an Avatar of himself wearing a mask. Lucy too did the same on her side and both got ready for their first adventure. 

[Detected another user login from the same IP address. Would the host like to team up with the other user?]

(Y/N)

[Please say yes or no or select manually via the keyboard.]

Lucas said yes as he knew that it must be his sister. He was taught general knowledge by his mother and knew what IP address meant. 

Beside Lucas, another person appeared. It was Lucy with a veil on. She too went with the default settings and was currently in her home clothes like Lucas.

Lucas's avatar was wearing a grey shirt and black shorts with a black face mask. Lucy's was wearing a black skirt and grey sweatshirt with a black veil covering her face. 

The two wore matching colour outfits almost everyday. Leya liked looking at them dressed like that and the two also had no objection about it as they too liked being matched like that.

Lucas ran to Lucy and held her hand. He ran once again and pulled her with him. He said cheerfully

"Big sis, let's go and find some treasures and kill some monsters!" 

Lucas has been watching Astral world survival videos for almost two years and he liked them a lot as people came across many treasures and hunted monsters and did various other things. He thought doing such activities was fun and so he always wanted to try it out for himself.

Lucas was nothing but an innocent and gullible five year old child and so was Lucy. All children loved such little adventures and when rewards such as treasures were involved, it always piqued their interest.

Leya was trying to slowly educate them on how the world worked and such treasures and things were nothing but a scam in general but she didn't go overboard or explain them things in detail.

Children were children and forcing them to accept facts is the worst thing that one could do to them. The correct way to make them learn is through activities and practical methods. This game, Astral Survival was one such method Leya was currently making use of to educate and shape her two little ones.

Lucy pulled Lucas's hand and made him stop. She hit his head gently even though they were in game and said 

"Don't be so eager. Look, we don't have any weapons on us and if some monster attacks, we will be killed."

"Oh! I completely forgot about that. Sorry, big sis." Lucas smiled awkwardly and said. 

Indeed, his sister was right. He really was too eager and their mother has always taught them to not go on any adventure empty handed. A protective and an offensive weapon must always be with them when they set out on an adventure.

Lucy said with a smile 

"You must've skipped the tutorial in a hurry, I assume. I watched it. We get starter items during the beginning of the game. Check yours out in the system panel."

Lucas nodded his head and did as he was told. He summoned the blue screen in front of him with a thought and tapped on it a few times. Soon, a new string of words appeared that read 

[Ding!]

[Starter pack received.]

[Obtained x1 wooden sword, x1 wooden shield, x1 healing potion and x1 resurrection slip.]

Lucas equipped the sword and shield and the potion and slip were stored in his inventory. Lucy too did the same and they finally set out to adventure.

…..

"Ara, it seems my teachings weren't in vain." 

Leya smiled and muttered when she noticed the chat between Lucas and Lucy and how they equipped themselves with weapons before setting out.

…..

Lucas and Lucy were walking side by side. They were moving towards the first checkpoint, which was present deep in the jungle. 

Brrrrr! 

A growling noise was heard by Lucas and Lucy and they both felt a little scared by it. They still tried to be calm and be on guard but despite that, their trembling legs gave away their true emotions.

Nothing could be done about it. At the end of the day, they were still five year old children who were separated from their mother currently and were out in the wild.

Though it was a game and a virtual reality world, it was still very realistic and due to magic being available in the world, it only added to boost its realistic components. 

Lucas and Lucy were feeling as if they were the only two who were walking in the jungle and the noise of the trees swaying or the insects chirping added a hint of creepiness into this lonely feeling making their heart palpitate. 

Brrr! 

The two heard a growl once again and Lucas furrowed his brows. He tried to locate where the noises was coming from and after not being able to find it after a few minutes, he stood in front of Lucy with his back facing her and said seriously

"Big sis, stay behind me, I'll protect you." 

Though he said it seriously, he was a five year old and it sounded anything but serious. He seemed adorable and cute while saying it. Lucy walked a little closer to him and hit his head gently. She said with a bit of annoyance

"It's not me who needs protection, it's you. I am your big sis and I'll always protect you. Stay behind me now." 

Lucas was about to deny it and argue with her when he heard the growling noise again. This time, it was much louder than before.

Lucas and Lucy stopped their argument and both turned around and had their backs facing each other. They stuck closer and tried to leave no openings or blind spots wherein they could be attacked suddenly. This was taught to them by their mother. She assumed that it may be of some use when the two were together and taught them this.

A growling sound was heard again but this time much louder and seemed more closer. Lucas and Lucy's heart was beating faster with each passing second and they both were trembling a lot. But they still held their sword and shield and waited to face the enemy.

"Roarrr!" 

With a roaring sound a leopard-like creature pounced onto Lucas and Lucy. It slashed its claws onto Lucas's body first but Lucas dueled for two years with his mother and had developed good reflexes. He blocked the claws with his shield and attacked it with his sword.

The creature jumped away after finding its prey to not be damaged at all and unknowingly blocked the sword attack. It pounced again but this time at Lucy and she too blocked it with her shield and tried to attack with the sword.

They weren't proficient with using two weapons in two hands. They were only taught sword techniques as of yet and those being the basic ones only. This was their first time using a shield.

Leya made them train the sword with both hands. Everyday, they practiced the basic movements with both their hands and also dueled with their mother for two rounds with each round for one hand. Thus, Lucas and Lucy could fight with the sword in any of their hands.

They didn't get two swords in the starter pack and were given only one. The other weapon they got was a shield and they wouldn't just throw it away as waste. They assumed the shield to be a sword used for blocking only.

This was although a wrong technique, it still worked well and they both were successful in defending the attack of the creature twice. The creature kept pouncing on them and attacking them while they continued to block and attack it.

The game difficulty was easy and the level was also very low right now the two were currently fighting a very low ranked creature that only knew to pounce and retreat.

After a series of exchanges, they started doing damage to the creature and after the health bar of the creature dropped to a very low level, it retreated and ran away.

"Huff…Huff…Huff…"

The two sat on the ground with their backs touching each other and supporting them and breathed heavily. The game was very realistic and the stats you had in the real world were the only ones that could be used in the game. 

There was no option for leveling up through items or points or any option to raise their body stat attributes. This was a game made to ensure the children were ready for the main Astral world and so, one needed to train themselves in real life to get better at this game.

Lucas and Lucy were five year olds and such a task was sure to exhaust them. They weren't exhausted just physically but also mentally. They had to be on the edge for such a long time and they feared of getting hurt and being killed. It was an instinctual reaction and everyone had such to survive better.

[Detected low stamina levels.]

[Recovery needed. Please drink recovery potion to recover within 20 seconds or automatic log off will start.]

Lucas and Lucy heard a cold mechanical voice in their heads. They checked their status screens and saw a few lines of words.

They had no recovery potion but only one healing potion and instead of waiting to be logged out, they did it themselves. This was another feature of the game.

Exhausted stamina would lead to players needing to drink some potions to recover or would be logged off. They could log back in but if the system detects the player is still exhausted, it won't let the player start the game.

Thus, Lucas and Lucy logged off and exited the game.