Marco's boots sank straight into the mud with a loud wet suck. Cold water rushed in and filled them up to his ankles. It smelled like wet earth and something faintly rotten, the mud gripped his feet.
He looked down at his hands. Bigger than he remembered and callused. A fresh cut on one knuckle that definitely wasn't there five seconds ago. He flexed them. The joints moved exactly like real ones. The skin felt warm from the sun, and when he rubbed his thumb across his palm he could feel every tiny line and callus.
"Okay," he said out loud. "This is…a lot."
Around him the other nine players stood scattered across the same rice paddy, all of them in plain grey peasant clothes, no weapons, nothing in their hands, just wet cloth and bare feet in the muck. The air carried the sharp smell of green rice stalks and distant wood smoke. Mosquitoes already buzzed around his ears. His back felt the first hint of real strain just from standing in the uneven mud.
A short guy with a messy beard spun in a slow circle, arms out. "Bro. I can feel the wind on my balls. There is actual breeze happening down there. And my toes are freezing. This isn't pixels. This is cold mud between my actual toes."
That got a couple of nervous laughs.
Then Kuya Bong stepped forward. He bent down, scooped up a handful of mud, sniffed it, and licked his finger.
"Real," he declared. "Smells like my lola's backyard after typhoon season."
The entire group went dead silent.
"Dude," Jett said, voice cracking. "Why."
"Quality control," Kuya Bong answered, completely serious. He wiped his hand on his tunic and grinned. "Tastes like dirt… Good dirt. Five stars!"
Marco pinched the bridge of his nose. "We are literally in a rice field and you're doing a Michelin review on mud."
Before anyone could reply, Dani's voice cut through, sharp and annoyed.
"Kuya Bong! Put that down right now! I've spent eight years stopping you from clicking every shady link in Discord and I am not starting my first day in this game babysitting you because you decided to taste random mud."
Everyone turned.
Dani stood a few meters away, arms crossed, wet up to her knees. Short black hair, sharp eyes, and the kind of glare that could melt steel. Definitely not the teenage boy voice they had all heard in Discord for the last eight years.
Marco's brain did a hard reboot. The voice, the posture, the way she was already babysitting Kuya Bong like it was muscle memory. Everything clicked at once.
"Wait," he said. "You're… a girl?"
Dani raised an eyebrow. "Congratulations, genius. You cracked the case. And yes, I've been babysitting this old man through every crypto scam, NFT rug pull, and 'free iPhone' link for eight years straight. Voice changer was the only way to keep you idiots from acting weird the second you knew."
Jett's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "But… your voice changer… it was so good. You sounded like a chain-smoking fifteen-year-old with anger issues."
"I am a chain-smoking twenty-two-year-old with anger issues," she snapped. "Now stop staring and help me get out of this mud before I actually drown Kuya Bong myself and blame it on a spawn bug."
Kuya Bong clapped slowly, still covered in mud. "Respect. All these years I thought I was gaming with my future son-in-law. Turns out it's my future daughter-in-law. Even better. Dani, you want me to carry you?"
Dani pointed at him. "Do not start with me, old man. One more word and I will actually drown you in this paddy and tell everyone it was a spawn bug."
Ser_Otomo_IV laughed so hard he lost his balance and sat down in the water with a splash. "This is the best beta ever. Ten minutes in and we already have drama, free mud bath, and a surprise gender reveal. My knees actually hurt from sitting in this cold water. That's some next-level realism right there."
Marco tried to walk toward the group and immediately regretted it. His foot came out of the mud with a loud pop and he nearly face-planted. Every step felt heavy, the suction pulling at his legs like the field didn't want to let go. He could feel his heartbeat in his ears and the slight burn already starting in his thighs.
"Guys, focus," he said, breathing a little harder than he expected. "There's a village right there. Look at those people, they're staring at us like we just fell out of the sky."
Sure enough, a dozen villagers had gathered along the edge of the field. An old woman with a basket on her hip stared openly, mouth slightly open. Two kids pointed and whispered behind their hands. A man holding a hoe scratched his head like he was trying to decide if they were dangerous or just stupid. A couple of women near the fence exchanged looks that clearly said "what fresh nonsense is this."
just_here_4_rice raised his hand and waved like he was at a theme park. "Hello! We're… uh… new farmhands! Here for the harvest! Please don't call the guards!"
The villagers did not look convinced. If anything, they stepped back a little.
Kuya Bong, undeterred, started wading toward dry ground. Halfway there he stopped, bent down, and pulled a small wriggling leech out of the mud.
He held it up between two fingers. "Look at this little guy. In real life I would scream. Here? I feel nothing but curiosity." He flicked it away. "Ten out of ten immersion. My heart rate is actually up. I can feel it."
Dani groaned. "Kuya Bong, drop it before I lose my mind."
Marco finally reached the edge of the paddy and hauled himself onto the narrow dirt path. His clothes were soaked and heavy, clinging to his skin in a way no game had ever managed. The sun felt warm on his face. A real sun, with real heat that made sweat start along his hairline.
He looked back at the others still struggling in the mud and couldn't help grinning.
"This is insane," he said. "I can smell the rice. I can feel every single mosquito bite starting. My back already hurts and we haven't even done anything yet. The air even tastes different."
Jett finally made it out, panting. "Yeah. And my character has zero stamina. I ran like ten steps and I'm winded. This isn't a game, this is a fitness bootcamp with extra steps. My lungs actually burn."
Ser_Otomo_IV clapped him on the shoulder, leaving a muddy handprint. "Welcome to Battle Realms Online, where dying probably hurts and taxes are real. My ass is freezing from that water. That's commitment to realism."
Kuya Bong joined them last, still smiling like he'd won the lottery. He looked at Dani, then at the rest of the group, and spread his arms wide.
"Children," he announced, "we are no longer in our mom's basement. We are in the rice field. And I, for one, have never been happier to have wet socks."
Dani shook her head. "I hate all of you."
But she was smiling too. Just a little.
Marco turned toward the village path. In the distance he could see two figures coming down from the hills, one older, one younger, both moving with the easy confidence of people who belonged here.
His stomach did a small flip. Not fear exactly. More like the feeling right before the first big drop on a rollercoaster you know is going to be amazing and possibly lethal.
Before they could start walking, Kuya Bong's eyes lit up. A small village boy, maybe seven years old, had wandered closer to the fence out of curiosity. Kuya Bong suddenly broke into a gentle jog, arms out like he was herding chickens.
"Come here, little man! Let's see how NPCs react! Do you give quests? Do you run away? Let's test the AI!"
The boy's eyes went wide. He let out a startled yelp and bolted back toward the village, shouting something in the local language. Two women immediately rushed forward, one scooping the kid up while the other glared at Kuya Bong like he had just threatened the entire harvest.
Dani facepalmed so hard it made a wet slap. "Kuya Bong! Stop chasing children! We've been here five minutes and you're already terrorizing the locals!"
Kuya Bong slowed to a stop, laughing. "He ran! Did you see how fast he ran? That was real fear! Not scripted! This game is too good."
The group started moving again, wet, muddy, laughing, and completely out of their depth, while more villagers gathered at the fence with very concerned faces.
None of them noticed the system message that flickered in front of each of them for half a second.
Welcome to the Dragon Lands, peasant. Try not to die on day one.
— The Dragon remembers.
Marco read it and kept walking.
This was going to be fun.