373 Pine Wood City

The view from the window was truly very refreshing. The green land outside reminded him a lot of home, so much so that he started to get a little homesick.

"By the way Emily, I don't think I've ever asked you, but where are you from?" Alex asked.

"Oh, I'm from Cherrywind city," Emily said. "How about yours?"

"I'm from a village north of Mapleleaf city. My parents own farmland there," he said.

"Oh, you're from the countryside? I didn't know that?" Emily said.

"Yes. I was also homeschooled, so I am unaware of a lot of different things a boy my age should know by now," he said in a melancholic voice.

"Homeschooled? Why?" Emily asked curiously.

"Oh, the school was just too far, so my mother decided to teach me everything instead," Alex said.

"Even high school stuff?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. My mother is kind of a genius. She just has to learn something once and she will understand it. She takes care of the financial aspect of the farm and overlooks the entire production, while my father works in the fields tirelessly for hours on end," Alex said.

"Wow. My parents just own a small store in the town. Fortunately, it sells well enough for us to make a living. I had planned on earning from the game, but it seems I won't be able to anymore. The reincarnation really screwed with me," Emily said with a sad voice.

Alex didn't know what to do; he had never been around crying girls.

"Umm… let's not talk about those. Just studying and finding a good job should earn you much more than what the majority are earning from the game," Alex said.

"Yes, I just have to keep fighting, or should I say— I have to keep grinding," Emily said with a chuckle.

Alex's heart skipped a beat when he saw her smile. "Umm… are you bored? You wanna watch a movie?" Alex asked.

"Sure, what's it about?" Emily asked.

"I'm not sure myself, but I heard it's really good," Alex said and put on a movie on his phone. He put an earphone in and put one of the buds on each of their ears.

Alex scooted a little closer to Emily, who also came a little closer and watched the movie.

The movie was apparently a remake of a very old movie of unknown origin. In the movie, the main character was a normal man who thought his life was normal as well. However, one day, after gaining a red pill from another man, he realizes that he was inside a simulation and that the real world was out there all along.

Alex was entranced in the movie and so was Emily. By the time the movie ended, both of them were beyond surprised by how fun it was.

"Woah, that was a good movie," Alex said.

"Yeah, it was fun. I can see why they would remake it now," Emily said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"You know, the whole going into computer software and making your life their kind of thing. Don't you think that's very apt for the current times?" Emily asked.

"Oh, yes. I can see it now. It's the same as our current world, except everyone who is in the real world knows the game is…" Alex stopped.

"Yeah, they know the game is fake," Emily finished his sentence.

Alex fell started thinking about how that might not be actually true. There was more to the game than meeting the eye.

The teacher came by in a few minutes and passed along a few snacks to the students. Although there were only a hundred or so students in total, they were taking proper care of each and every single one of them.

In fact, the teacher actually seemed to be happy that he didn't need to look after so many students at once.

Alex spent the rest of the journey talking with Emily, getting to know her better. Emily also got more and more open with him and talked without any hesitance.

"Oh look, is that the city?" Emily asked as she pointed outside the window.

Alex looked outside the window and saw the skyline of Pinewood City. It had a very unique skyline compared to the other cities.

While it was mostly similar in that it also had many tall buildings, one of the buildings actually had a massive spherical metal ball on top of it.

"Ah, it seems we are here," Alex said.

The train soon stopped in the station and everyone walked out of it.

"Urghh! My back hurts from sitting for so long. I'm so used to just sleeping in the bed or inside the capsule while playing the game."

The people started complaining left and right. Alex also stretched a little as he also had a similar problem.

The teachers then made the students walk a few minutes away from the station to the hotel they were staying at. The girls and boys were separated and made to stay in different floors.

Alex was put together with 3 other boys he had no idea about. He introduced himself to them, and that was the most of it.

The teachers called them to have lunch and all the students gathered in the dining hall of the hotel. The food prepared wasn't particularly good or bad, but Alex ate it with no problem.

Once the students were done eating, the teachers took them to a lounge area where they were allowed to play any tabletop games there.

Alex walked up to Emily and went around playing a lot of different things. Some card games, some dice games, etc. There were many games and everyone there played them all.

"Come, and take these cards," the teacher said, and everyone went around to take a card each. Alex looked at what he had got. "Eh?"

They were going to play bingo.

The teacher started saying numbers and Alex started cutting them off on his card. He needed 5 lines, and he had 4 of them already.

"Damn, just a little more, and— "

"BINGO" someone won before him.

He looked to the side only to see Emily with a wide smile and her hand raised straight.