《ARIA Online》 Chapter 1 ¡°240,000 dollars? US dollars? Bloody hell...¡± I shook my head as I locked my phone and slipped it back into my pocket. According to the article, a man in New York had already dropped 240K USD on ARIA Online. ARIA Online, the new fantasy VR-MMO that can¡¯t even be played yet. Apparently, the man had spent all that money on character creation alone. And here I was, on the other side of the world, stressing out over the 3000 Yen I had to pay for the eleven pound bag of rice sitting in my shopping basket. I found myself recalling one of Natsumi¡¯s favorite sayings: ¡°The more you think about it, the more unfair the world seems.¡± When she was still alive, when we lived in the States and had our own home... before I forgot the sound of her voice, and when we spent our days in each other¡¯s arms¡­ Once upon a time, I had been happy. And when I had been happy, those words of hers had always fallen on deaf ears. ¡°Cheer up,¡± I¡¯d tell her. ¡°There¡¯s no point thinking about things you can¡¯t change.¡± How the tables had turned. These days, I found myself constantly thinking about things I couldn¡¯t change. Not on the scale that she had, no. Where her heart had always broken for the great injustices of the world, my heart always focused on smaller, more selfish things. Things like how much I wished Natsumi, the love of my life, was still by my side. Or how much I wanted a better job in this hurting economy. How I wished I had made different choices, so that the scars on my person would be fewer and further between. I could not change any of these things. I could not bring Natsumi back to life. I could not change my skills or what they were worth. I could not change the past. Life was not a game, after all. And yet, despite all these things, I was thankful. I had been blessed with at least one last reason to live. ¡°Daddy, daddy! Can we get these?¡± My young daughter, Emi, was a few feet ahead of me. She had one hand on the edge of an island freezer and was pointing at something inside it with the other. She bounced a little on the balls of her feet and was looking straight at me, her eyes wide with excitement. I smiled and made my way over to her. ¡°What did you find?¡± ¡°Look, look!¡± I¡¯d never seen her this worked up over food before. Even ice cream couldn¡¯t make her eyes light up like there were doing now. I raised an eyebrow, but decided to humor her. I looked down at where she was pointing. Chicken pot pie. I had heard once from acquaintances that grocery stores in Tokyo sometimes sold the stuff. But never, in four whole years, had I ever seen a single chicken pot pie in the entirety of Ishikawa prefecture. ¡°It¡¯s your favorite! I remember!¡± And she was right. Long ago, in a different chapter of my life, I had adored my mother¡¯s chicken pot pies. Baked to perfection, the golden crust would crumble under the pressure of my fork. When the pie broke open, the broth would spill out, bringing along with it the delicious aroma of slow-cooked chicken complemented with mushroom, carrot, and thyme. Then it became Natsumi¡¯s pies. She¡¯d borrowed my mother¡¯s recipes, but she would add her own flair to them. As a result, her chicken pot pies always contained an odd, but refreshing, kick. For the longest time, I didn¡¯t know what it was she was adding ¨C I eventually figured out that she¡¯d been baking wasabi powder into the shell. By that point though, the weirdness of it had been offset by how accustomed I had grown to its taste. Honestly, I was rather surprised that Emi remembered my love for chicken pot pie at all. She was only around four years old the last time we¡¯d had it. Nonetheless, this moment brought a warmth to my heart; there was nothing quite like the thought of your eight year old child putting your interests before their own. ¡°You¡¯re right, it is my favorite. But are you sure you don¡¯t want something else? Curry, maybe? I don¡¯t think you liked these pies so much when you were younger.¡± Without any hesitation, she nodded her head. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m sure.¡± I sighed. My daughter looked at me expectantly, and I glanced at the price marker. 2000 yen each. It could be worse.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Alright, grab two of ¡®em.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± She reached her little hands into the freezer and picked the two boxes sitting at the top of the pile of pies. With a wide grin on her face, she turned to me and offered me one of them. Naturally, I accepted it. ¡°Do you want to put yours in the basket?¡± ¡°No. I want to hold it.¡± ¡°Okay. Well, that''ll take care of tonight¡¯s dinner. And this should be enough rice for a while. Alrighty, I think we¡¯re ready to go. Let¡¯s line up at the cash register, Emi.¡± We made our way to the back of the line, and I examined my pie box while we waited. Microwavable Chicken Pot Pie. Classic American Style, ¡°Just Like Mama Used to Make.¡± 100% real chicken broth and white breast meat, with broccoli, celery, carrot, and mushroom for vegetables. ¡°Break one open and enjoy the taste of home.¡± ¡°Kids will love it.¡± The various descriptors, in tandem with the picture on the box, did wonders for hyping up my evening¡¯s meal. Of course, I was under no illusion that the pie would actually be anything close to what my mother used to make. But be that as it may¡­ chicken pot pie is chicken pot pie. ¡°Next, please.¡± The cashier, an elderly, bespectacled man who ran the shop together with his wife, dipped his head slightly as I approached. I had bought my groceries almost exclusively at his store since moving to Kanazawa, and one could say that our small families had grown rather close. ¡°Good afternoon, Akagi-san.¡± I returned his gesture. ¡°Afternoon, Maruyama-san.¡± ¡°How are you?¡± ¡°Fine, thank you. And yourself?¡± ¡°Living the dream, living the dream. Always have been, always will be.¡± I chuckled as I placed my items on the counter. I motioned with a tilt of the head for Emi to place her pie on the counter as well. She quickly obliged, acting with a sense of hurry that was entirely overblown for the situation. Maruyama smiled warmly at her as he watched. She beamed back up at him. ¡°Did you find everything okay?¡± ¡°Yes, Maruyama-san!¡± I half expected her to salute the old man. She didn¡¯t. ¡°Good, good! Now, let¡¯s see¡­ Rice¡­ thank the gods for rice¡­ and chicken pot pies.¡± He sniffed and then paused, appearing to contemplate for a moment. ¡°Sorry for intruding, but I heard your little exchange earlier. These pies are your favorite?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I laughed awkwardly, and perhaps a bit sheepishly as well. ¡°Yes, yes they are. I used to eat them a lot, but I wasn¡¯t the one making them. I can¡¯t really bake and¡­ you know. I''d like to buy these microwavable ones more often, but this is the first time I¡¯ve run into them since coming to Japan.¡± ¡°Is that so? If you¡¯d like, I can start stocking these regularly.¡± ¡°Oh, Maruyama-san. I couldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t be much trouble at all. Besides, you¡¯re not the first one to buy some. It¡¯s a novel item, and I¡¯ve already sold quite a few.¡± I didn¡¯t know how to respond. While I struggled to find the right words, biting my lower lip, Emi cut in. ¡°Yes please, Maruyama-san! Daddy really loves these. Mama¡­ mama used to make them for us.¡± And that did it for the old man. ¡°Well, I believe there¡¯s nothing more to be said here, Akagi-san. Chicken pot pies you want, and chicken pot pies there shall be. And you ¨C¡° He raised his hand to eye level and pointed a finger at Emi, wagging it in an almost childlike manner as he did so. ¡°Can get a discount.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± ¡°Maruyama-san ¨C¡° ¡°On second thought, you get a discount too.¡± ¡°Maruyama-san¡­¡± The old man turned to me and looked me dead in the eyes. It was a sudden change, but the playful cheer from just moments earlier was gone; his expression had become a serious one. ¡°Please. Let me do this for you.¡± I knew at that point that there was no use arguing. Not that I was unhappy or anything about how things had turned out. In fact, I was silently thrilled. After all these years, chicken pot pie was finally back on the menu. ¡°Thank you.¡± The tension in his face receded. ¡°Not at all, Akagi-san. Not at all.¡± I made a slight bow. Nodding a quick acknowledgement and without another word, Maruyama took the items from where we¡¯d placed them and swiped them over his scanner. Boop. Boop. A short pause, as the bag of rice took more effort to move. Boop. ¡°5000 Yen.¡± So be it. I handed him the money and received two plastic bags in return. One contained the rice and the other, the pies. ¡°Sweetie? Would you do the honors?¡± I lifted the second bag off of the counter and gave it a little shake. The frozen pies made a satisfying sound as they bounced around the inside of their thin cardboard boxes. Emi nodded her head up and down with the same exaggerated movements as before. When she stopped, it occurred to me that it seemed like she was trying hard to put on an act of some kind. Her lips were pressed together and her jaw was clenched; her brow was slightly furled in thinly-veiled concentration. Puzzled and unable to understand this behavior, I gave her a quizzical look before reaching out my arm to hand the bag to her. She snatched it from me, cupped it in her arms, and hugged it to her chest. Well, whatever. I turned back to Maruyama-san, still filled with an overwhelming sense that I wasn¡¯t quite deserving of this kindness he was showing me. Moreover, this was hardly the first time, and I¡¯d done little for him and his wife in return. His expression told me he knew exactly what I was thinking. The dimples in his cheeks and the soft wrinkles around his eyes, however, told me also that he couldn¡¯t disagree with me more. Somehow, this man had seen great value where my own eyes could not. Where I considered myself nothing more than a rusty cog in the machine, he saw me as a loving father, struggling and pushing through day by day for nothing but his daughter¡¯s sake. He spoke before I could. ¡°Akagi-san. Keep fighting. For Emi, keep fighting.¡± Warmth. ¡°I will... Thank you again.¡± I bowed once more and, wishing to leave before my emotions got the better of me, quickly made to exit the store. I walked only a few feet before turning halfway around, having realized that Emi wasn''t yet following me. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Maruyama-san gave Emi a big thumbs up, one that he tried, but failed, to hide behind his register. They exchanged winks. Ah. So that was it. That¡¯s why he¡¯d known to stock those pies in the first place. I was on the verge of tears. Her face glowing with innocent joy, Emi gave the old man a sweet little wave. She then turned towards me and half-skipped across the short distance that had separated us, her dark brown hair bouncing up and down around her shoulders all the while. No longer cupping the bag of pies and instead holding it with her right hand, she reached out her left so that I could take it. I did. Warmth. My one last reason to live. I did not know if she knew, but she was my anchor. For years, the storms of life had tossed me around. Wave after wave had come crashing down, all threatening to sink me in the depths of my despair. But after all was said and done, I had not gone adrift. Here I still was. Time after time, her love for me, her gentle heart and her sunny smile, saved me from myself. I closed my eyes. The spring in her walk. The lilt in her voice. She was truly her mother¡¯s daughter. Her mother¡¯s¡­ and mine. In that moment, I realized I¡¯d been wrong. All this time, I¡¯d been lying to myself. Once upon a time, I had been happy. That was true. But the thing was¡­ I''d never stopped. Chapter 2 Wow. Color me surprised, but that pie had actually been very, very good. I rested my fork on my plate and sighed in satisfaction. Save for a few light streaks of sauce on the rim of the plate and a small sprinkling of crumbs, there was no indication that a pie had ever been there. Emi, meanwhile, had not been able to finish hers. Surrounded by its spilled innards (which were conspicuously devoid of chicken), the pie sat sadly on its little plate, the top layer of its partially eaten shell drooping down like the curves of a deflated balloon. I chuckled at this image. Emi was clean and meticulous when it came to most things, but eating was not one of them. While she had still been eating, I¡¯d considered calling her out on it and lecturing her again on the importance of vegetables. However, after remembering what had transpired at the grocery store, my conscience ruled heavily against it. I had told myself I would just work a lot of veggies into the rest of the weekend¡¯s meals. If all she had to eat were peas and rice, she¡¯d tough it out and eat peas and rice. That I was sure of. As for the remains of the pie¡­ ¡°Emi. You know you have to finish the rest of this eventually, right?¡± She was watching cartoons on the aging TV hanging off the wall. She had her back leaning against the table, on the side opposite from me, and she didn¡¯t turn when she responded. Her eyes were glued on the screen. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Tonight?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t. I¡¯m really full.¡± ¡°Tomorrow?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Okay. Then into the fridge it goes.¡± I stood up, using my right arm to push myself off of the floor. After a quick stretch and slap of the cheeks to fend off the impending food coma, I picked up my own plate in one hand and Emi¡¯s in the other. I didn¡¯t have to go very far from there; the ¡°kitchen,¡± or at least the appliances and such that make up a typical kitchen, were in the same room, mere feet away from the table. Barely having to look as I did so, I set my plate and fork at the bottom of the sink. Some plastic wrap then went over Emi¡¯s plate, and I opened the fridge. The contents made for a bit of a sad sight, but such was life. There were cans of processed vegetables, some eggs, half a jug of milk¡­ and that was pretty much it. ¡°Well,¡± I muttered to myself. ¡°Makes this addition all the merrier.¡± I slid the rest of Emi¡¯s pie into the fridge, making a point to put it next to a can of peas. So I¡¯ll remember, I told myself. Humming as I closed the fridge back up again, I pulled my phone out and checked the time. 8:08 PM. Friday, March 31st. Thankfully, I had this Saturday off. It was the end of the quarter, and our goals for the period had not only been met, but had been far exceeded. While this did mean a small cash bonus for everyone in the company, the real reward was getting to return to a 40 hour work week, at least for the time being. Frankly speaking, I wasn¡¯t a huge fan of the working conditions in Japan. But I had to make do. For the foreseeable future, returning to America was simply an impossibility. I walked back over to the table and sat myself down to Emi¡¯s right. I rested my left arm on the smooth wooden surface and leaned my weight against its edge. With no work that needed to be done at that moment, I began to browse the article feed on my phone, glancing up occasionally to keep an eye on what Emi was watching. It was such a monotonous task, swiping my thumb constantly downwards to refresh the page, tapping every now and then on maybe one out of every hundred links and posts, the rare gems that actually managed to pique my interest. And yet I always did it. Everyone always did it. A completely pointless action, one that was incredibly easy to get lost in. Jumbles of bright images and sensationalist text, all fighting tooth and nail to grab my attention. All trying their hardest to be flashy enough to get me to stop and listen to what they had to say. For the most part, it was pure drivel. ¡°How Paul Marco¡¯s Latest Film, ¡®Five Nights in Paris,¡¯ Will Change Your Life.¡± ¡°Watch This Boy Prove Reincarnation Is Real.¡± ¡°Australian Middle School Girl Upsets With ¡®Eccentric¡¯ Photos.¡± ¡°The Fruits of CRISPR: Toshima, the Town Where Every Baby Has Cat Ears.¡± Actually, that last one sounded really interesting. I tapped it. I supposed part of the reason browsing these things was so addicting was the thrill I got when I finally did find something worth my time. It made me feel like I¡¯d accomplished something. I sighed. Clickbait. Ears that have a little extra hair growing on them are not ¡°cat ears.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I backed out of the article... and continued to browse. It was crazy, though. As the posts kept scrolling past, I realized there was quite a bit of coverage being given to ARIA Online, of all things. The up-and-coming VR-MMO, one that early reviewers had come out in droves to praise, one that was being hailed as the game that would change the industry forever. I hadn¡¯t been following its development very closely, but I at least knew that much. Well, that and the fact some asshole had spent a quarter million USD on it. A new headline popped up with my latest refresh. Calling All Gamers! ARIA Online Goes Live Tonight! Tonight? I opened the post.
Posted March 31st, 2034 at 20:27 By Kevin ¡°K?nigstiger¡± Tea At 0:00 JST, less than 4 hours from now, ARIA Online (The Ardent Realms of the Illadic Age) will be opening its servers across the world. If recent community discussions and sales figures are any indication, ARIA Online is going to be a smashing success. The creators of the game, Ambition and Harmony International, were the studio-publisher pair behind Black Sun, 2029¡¯s Sci-fi VR-MMO hit. As such, ARIA Online will be available exclusively on the same system as its predecessor. Black Sun players rejoice! Your Ether VR will not need to be replaced. The hype for the Ardent Realms has already become unbearable; streaming site Kafei is currently swamped with pre-launch parties, and character sharing threads on the game¡¯s official site are exploding in popularity. My advice to you? Hurry up and get in here! With ARIA Online¡¯s character-purchase model, the price to play is a mere $50*. Compare that to Black Sun¡¯s purchase price back in 2029: $500, adjusted for inflation. So come on! L2P, ya¡¯ll. *Exact pricing may vary by region.
At midnight, in four hours. I¡¯d forgotten. Well, I supposed that settled that. Having been an avid player of Black Sun at one point in my life, I had considered learning more about ARIA Online and getting it before its launch. But now that the deadline was so imminent, the desire sort of just¡­ evaporated. Just procrastinator things, I guessed. I¡¯ll do it tomorrow, I often told myself. But when tomorrow actually swung around¡­ Hahaha¡­ A little disappointed in myself, but not really caring that much, I set my phone on the table and turned my attention to the TV screen. It had just hit 8:30, and the next program would be coming up. If I remembered correctly, it would be ¡°Otome Ne ¨C¡± ¡°Otome Neko! Otome Neko!¡± Emi¡¯s cry of delight broke my train of thought and, at the same time, completed it. Strangely poetic, I mused. ¡°You really love her, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yup! She¡¯s so cool.¡± I smiled. Truth be told, I was quite the fan of Otome Neko as well. In fact, I had been so since the character¡¯s inception, some ten years prior. A cheerful catgirl living in modern day society. A cheerful catgirl that was also a notorious gangster. A cheerful, notorious gangster catgirl who ran around with a tommy gun, shooting at anything and anyone that got in the way of her surprisingly pure sense of justice. Even with a crazy synopsis like that, though, the show was actually very popular with kids and had even won the Parent¡¯s Choice award the year it started airing. The violence it showed was always of the more ¡°miss every shot¡± variety, the characters had surprising depth, and the various scenarios Otome Neko found herself in always taught healthy morals ¨C or at least important lessons ¨C at their conclusions. ¡°Oh. This is a rerun.¡± ¡°Daddy, daddy! It¡¯s Episode 115! Otome Neko vs. Detective Watanabe!¡± A fantastic episode. The first time I watched it, it had completely blown my mind. ¡°Emi, do you remember the story leading up to this?¡± ¡°Yeah, I do! Detective Watanabe was Otome Neko¡¯s best friend. He helped her a lot with catching criminals. He gave her advice too, on how to be a ¡®dark hero¡¯ without crossing the line.¡± ¡°You were convinced he was a good guy, weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes. But so were you!¡± I laughed. She had me there. ¡°That I was, that I was.¡± ¡°But a few episodes before this, she finds clues about the big bad guy from the start of the show. And then Watanabe-san starts giving her fake clues.¡± Big bad guy was one way to put it. Having read in between the lines of what the show put forward, the ¡°big bad guy¡± was aserial cop killer. I continued where Emi left off. ¡°So Otome Neko does a bit of digging and realized who the ¡®big bad guy¡¯ really was¡­¡± ¡°Detective Watanabe!¡± Though I couldn¡¯t see Emi¡¯s face, I could hear that her voice was a little scrunched up; she was pouting. And now here we were, episode 115. Near the end of this episode, Watanabe tells Otome Neko that the police department had been filled with horrific corruption for decades. He¡¯d watched it go on for at least half that time, but was eventually no longer able to just sit aside and let it continue happening. As a result, and consumed by guilt over his inaction, he had taken matters into his own hands. I shook my head and shivered at the very thought of it. Some of the best stories were the ones where the villain was by the hero¡¯s side all along. Bzzzrt. Bzzzrt. Two buzzes? A voice message? No one ever sent me voice messages anymore, unless it was for work¡­ I picked up my phone, tapped the message notification, and put the speaker to my ear. ¡°Hey, Soren! This is D.K. It¡¯s been like, two years... but you remember me, right?¡± Of course I remembered him. D.K. Daniel Kim. I sank hundreds of hours into Black Sun, and he was there with me for almost all of them. ¡°Anyways, I hope you¡¯re doing well, bro. I¡¯m pretty good myself, but hey. Cutting to the chase. That new game, ARIA Online? It¡¯s starting in 3 hours or so. I¡¯m hella stoked for it and want nothing more than for you to come along and check it out with me. Thinking about bringing the old guild into this game, too. So what do you say? For old time¡¯s sake? If nothing else, at least come chat, eh? Hop into my guild¡¯s voice chat or something. Just tap the link in the text attachment to this message and you¡¯ll be golden. Hope to see you soon, man.¡± The message ended. Huh. That had not been expected. Ever since I¡¯d stopped playing Black Sun, I¡¯d completely lost contact with D.K. As it was, it appeared that he¡¯d held onto my phone number the whole two years since. And now he was reaching out to me, asking me to join him again, this time in the newest MMO craze. ARIA Online. VR games, and the high risk of addiction that came with them. The call of the void. Well. I would just go and chat. Say hello, catch up a bit, and then tell him I¡¯m not interested. After all, it was either that or reading more clickbait. ¡°Hey Emi, I¡¯m going into my room for a bit. Call me if you need anything.¡± ¡°Okie.¡± I stood up again, opening D.K.¡¯s attachment as I walked into my room and shut the door behind me. This could be a bad decision. A very bad decision. In my heart, I knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to say no if he asked me to join the game with him. A whole can of worms was just waiting to be opened¡­ I tapped the link. Chapter 3 The darkness that had surrounded me suddenly dissipated, blown away like mist in the wind. In its place was now a glowing sphere of light, its edge licked by flickering tongues of flame. The sun? But no, it was far too bright. A different star, perhaps. As I continued to watch, its center flashed white, the pulse flaring outwards in an incandescent ring; when it cleared, the sphere was dimmer than before, and there were words where the flash had first appeared. They were words written in shadow, their various strokes pulsing outwards in a vain attempt to fight off the sphere¡¯s encroaching light. ARIA: The Ardent Realms of the Illadic Age. The words stayed in place for only a few moments before they faded away with what sounded like a sharp intake of breath. The sphere ¨C clearly a star at that point ¨C flared again, though not as brightly as the first time. I imagined that it may have been laughing. Without warning, my vision propelled forwards, and I hurtled straight towards the center of that star. I instinctively tried to close my eyes, but I could not; the game would not let me. As I drew closer and closer to the star, I began to feel its heat. It was not directed on any specific part of my body. Rather, it warmed my entire being. When I had come close enough that the light filled my field of vision in its entirety and the heat threatened to consume me... The star completely disappeared. I now found myself hovering in the air, facing a massive cathedral nestled on a mountaintop. The cathedral looked eerily out of place, as it was the only building that I could see amidst the mountains that surrounded it. Moreover, the rock upon which it stood had weathered over time, and appeared dangerously close to breaking off and falling to the valley below. The cathedral was abandoned, and its black, buttressed walls reached into the skies as if crying out for comfort; they had been left alone and dying for far too long. As I floated there, contemplating the meaning of this scene, a woman¡¯s voice began to speak, one that I did not hear, but instead felt reverberating throughout my entire body. ¡°Child. You gaze upon the Altarof Creation. Where Man was born, and to which Man will return at the End of Days.¡± The voice was laced with an incomprehensible wisdom. It was gentle, yet at the same time forceful, demanding of the utmost respect. It was the kind of voice that dug into your very being, the kind you simply could not ignore. ¡°Unguarded since the start of the current age, it has been left to rot away. Not unlike the souls of the peoples of this world. It is as a mirror through which the children of Man may see the state of their affairs, through which all may be made aware that their days are yet numbered. ¡°It is into this broken world that you have been reborn. You, a child of light, ignorant and pure. Where your heart takes your soul is your choice alone. Will you do the will of the gods, and act in their stead? Or would you break bread with darkness and bring desolation upon the land? ¡°But no matter which you choose, be warned: a great enemy approaches that neither holy nor unholy can comprehend. It is this that you must remember. This, that you must work to defeat¡­¡± I could hear screams. The sound of metal striking metal. The sounds of fighting. The sounds of death. ¡°Go, my child. Go¡­ and survive.¡± And with that, both the voice and the scene faded away. In the background, a classical guitar began to play a lively, yet haunting theme. A menu popped up.
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¡°Pick a language.¡± Right. I was in Japan, so the text defaulted to Japanese. In games like this, menus and such were operated using thought alone. Uhhh¡­ Eigo. English.
Please confirm your selection. Note that your chosen language will determine your character¡¯s starting region.
I read the words, but I didn¡¯t quite registerthem all. Confirm. The menu flipped over.
Welcome to ARIA Online! While world servers are not yet available, you can create your character in advance. Please note that appearance is randomized. The options you are presented with are the only ones you can change.
But damn. I did nothing for a moment, trying to make sense of what had just transpired, before the menus had appeared ¡°D.K. D.K., are you there?¡± ¡°Yeah man. What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°The vision with the star and the cathedral. That was the intro?¡± ¡°Yeah. Crazy, right?¡± ¡°I could feel the heat from the star. I could really feel it.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s sick. The tech for this shit has progressed so far, man.¡± I was playing this game on the same Ether VR system my army buddies had bought me six years ago. It was all due to the wonders of server-side rendering; with the dawn of VR, graphics cards and such were no longer necessary. The Ether system was only responsible for connecting a player¡¯s conscience to a game¡¯s central servers, where everything else was done. ¡°I still can¡¯t comprehend this stuff. That vision could¡¯ve been real, for all I know. How do they do it?¡± ¡°Hey, you tell me man. You¡¯re the one that messes with computers for a living.¡± ¡°Right. But if I knew the answer, I¡¯d be making a thousand times what I make now.¡± I shook my head. Or I would have, had I not been disembodied in that moment. The theory for how all of this worked was there, readily available for anyone to look at. It took an extremely rare group of people, however, to understand the system, let alone create it. Well, back to the task at hand: character creation. The menu had a single button under the text I¡¯d read before, one that said, rather simply, ¡°Start.¡±Stolen novel; please report. Start. The menu dropped down and was swallowed up by the bottom edge of my vision, revealing a small deck of cards that had been hidden behind it. Accompanied by a swell in the music led by strings and a drum, four of these cards removed themselves from the top of the deck and spread out before me. As they did so, I saw that they each had their own unique text and image.
Race Selection The world of ARIA Online contains a number of playable races and sub-races. Each of them has a rich history spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years, and each brings along with it a unique set of both strengths and weaknesses. Choose wisely: your selection will affect far more than just your character¡¯s appearance. To begin, choose a racial class.
The four cards detailed (and depicted in rather abstract paintings) the four selections that were available to me: Humans, Elves, Beast-bloods, and Daemons.
Humans The most numerous and prosperous among the races of ARIA, Humans, the Great Conquerors, are known for the sharpness of their minds and the strength of their spirits. What they lack in magical and physical ability, they more than make up for with their adaptability, endurance, and technological ingenuity. Racial class traits: Divine Spark - Gain 40% bonus job EXP Brains for Brawn - All damage output takes a 10% penalty (e.g. 100 damage spells only deal 90 dmg). Gain 18% bonus combat EXP Elves Elves were once known as the Wardens of the natural world. An old and proud people, they have since been driven to the wilds after centuries of war with the Humans and Beast-bloods. Though they are lithe in combat and skilled in the magical arts, their inability ¨C or perhaps unwillingness ¨C to adapt to an ever-changing battlefield hastened their fall into obscurity. Those who chose to remain among the humans live almost exclusively as second-class citizens. Racial class traits: Arcane Artistry - All magic is 20% more effective Set in Our Ways - Gain 1% less combat and job EXP from all sources Beast-bloods Blessed, in their own words, with the ¡°Blood of the Beasts,¡± these demihumans are the youngest of the races in ARIA. Strong and hardy, theirs is a people that stresses combat from an early age. Thus trained in the ways or war and aggressive by instinct, Beast-bloods are uniquely capable in physical combat. This does come at a cost, for they are not only below-average mages, but make for poor craftsmen as well. Racial class traits: Feral Instincts - Physical damage output is doubled. All magic is 35% less effective Unsteady Hands - Gain 60% less job EXP Daemons* Daemons are Humans and Elves who have made a pact with the supernatural, either holy or unholy. Though their powers are greatly magnified, they are bound by their vows not to attack creatures of the same alignment; they are similarly forced to kill Daemons of the opposing alignment to grow stronger. Racial class traits: Mandate of the Gods - Damage output is tripled. Gain 99% less combat EXP unless fighting other Daemons. Gain 100 times the normal amount of combat EXP from killing Daemons Chains of the Covenant - Unable to engage in combat with creatures of the same alignment *Daemons are geared towards the most hardcore of PVP players. While this class opens up new facets of the game, it also closes the door to a great number of others. Not recommended for your first character.
Now this was interesting. Every MMO I knew of had a number of races for players to choose from. But never before had I seen one where the races varied as much as they did in this game. It had likely been a balancing nightmare. That is, if balance had been a real concern at all... In any case, I knew right off the bat that I wasn¡¯t interested in Humans or Beast-bloods. In the case of the former, humans: not only did it feel like a rather ¡°plain¡± choice, but I also wasn¡¯t impressed with their apparent focus on job skills (which I assumed included mining, smithing, and the like). If I was going to play a VR game, the last thing I wanted to do was go through the tedious repetition of an actual job. Add on the combat penalties? Pass. As for Beast-bloods¡­ I liked how their traits favored physical power at the cost of trade skills. On that merit alone, it should have been a perfect choice for the way I wanted to play. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the aesthetic. While I could appreciate the look on others (I¡¯d seen some crazy Otome Neko cosplays before), I cringed at the idea of having cat ears and a tail on myself. That left Elves and Daemons. Elves were clearly meant to specialize in magic, while the Daemons¡¯ traits effectively limited them to PVP-oriented play. A very specific kind of PVP, at that. Holy and unholy Daemons, duking it out with each other while ignoring the rest of the world. It had a certain appeal to it, for sure. But at the same time¡­ ¡°Not recommended for your first character.¡± And as a player who revolved around his guilds, there was no way D.K. had chosen to go that route. Elf. The four cards representing the racial classes flitted back into the deck, and three new cards flew out.
Like Humans and Beast-bloods, Elves are not homogenous, and can belong to a number of sub-races. Snow Elf* The most ancient and rare of the various Elf races, Snow Elves make their homes among the snow-capped mountains of the Great Beyond. As powerful as they are beautiful, Snow Elves are perhaps the only sub-race of Elves that Humans deem equal, or even superior, to themselves. Trait: Ancient Knowledge - Begin the game at level 25. Earn 9% less combat EXP (additive with Elf racial class¡¯s 1% penalty) *Recommended for press accounts and showcasing the game. ARIA Online¡¯s level cap is 100; going from level 0-25 requires about the same amount of EXP as going from level 25-30. Wood Elf Once the rulers of all the Realms, the Wood Elves have since been driven back to the forests from whence they came. There, they have again set their roots, and work religiously to protect the sanctity of their homes. Trait: Woodland Paths - 2% boost to Agility; bonus increases to 5% when in forests Sea Elf The result of either a potent magical experiment or a pact with a sea god, Sea Elves are a sub-race of Elves that are capable of breathing underwater. Their settlements are located primarily on islands and continental shores in and along the Sea of Greed. Trait: The Ocean¡¯s Gift - Can breathe underwater
Like Humans and Beast-bloods, Sea Elves were an instant write-off. From what I knew, underwater breathing was generally useless in games like this. I assumed agility boosted ranged skills. But wouldn¡¯t that come into conflict with an Elf¡¯s innate magical ability? Why use a ranged weapon when the race¡¯s entire shtick was being good at magic? Perhaps it wasn¡¯t that simple? It sure was boring, though. I tried to furrow my brow. Well, if nothing else, the Snow Elves¡¯ trait was certainly unique. Getting a short-term boost in exchange for a hefty long-term penalty. Maybe if I played long enough as a Snow Elf, I would start falling behind and lose interest in the game. A surefire ¡°out,¡± so to speak. It didn''t hurt thattheir card had a strictly cooler image. A fur-clad figure holding a blood red banner in one hand and casting a ring of fire with the other. Compared to the Wood Elves¡¯ card, which featured an archer hiding in a tree. Mmm. Snow Elf.
Class Selection Classes in ARIA Online determine your character¡¯s preferred combat specialization, but are in no way final. For example, mages may eventually choose to fight with swords instead of staves, thereby becoming spellswords. Conversely, warriors may choose to forgo a sword and shield, instead wielding a staff as a knight-enchanter. The possibilities are endless.
There were three starting classes: warrior, rogue, and mage. Since I had chosen an elf, the choice here was pretty obvious. Mage.
Because this is the first character created on this system, you must choose a player name. Note that this is separate from your character¡¯s name, which will be generated randomly.
The easiest choice yet. Akagi.
Player name: Akagi Character: Snow Elf Mage Confirm?
Confirm.
Please wait while your character is generated. 0%
¡°Hey, D.K.¡± ¡°Yooo, you done?¡± ¡°I think I just finished making all my choices. I can¡¯t change my appearance, though?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s randomized, sadly. There should¡¯ve been a message about that in the beginning of character creation.¡± ¡°What about gender?¡± ¡°You¡¯re pretty much forced to play as your own gender... there¡¯s only a tiny chance you won¡¯t be.¡± ¡°What does that mean? A tiny chance?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, ha. It¡¯s not gonna happen. What¡¯s going on in your game right now?¡± ¡°It says it¡¯s generating a character.¡± ¡°Ah yeah, that¡¯ll take a bit, I think it took a few minutes for me. What did you end up choosing?¡± ¡°Snow Elf Mage.¡± For a number of seconds, there was silence on the other end. ¡°You saw the trait, right? You did, didn¡¯t you? 10% less combat EXP? And you still chose Snow Elf?¡± ¡°Yeah. If I¡¯m going to be honest, I don¡¯t see myself playing this for all that long. Even though the game seems like it¡¯s going to be amazing. Might as well skip the early grind if that¡¯s the case.¡± ¡°Bro, don¡¯t do this to me¡­ You can hit level 25 in like, 3 days...¡± ¡°I''m... I''m sorry." I tried to change the subject, if only a little. "What did you choose?¡± ¡°Human. On that note, do you have any idea how important jobs are? No, of course you don¡¯t.¡± I didn¡¯t respond. ¡°You fucked up, Soren.¡± He sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You made it pretty clear you didn¡¯t know jack about the game, so I should¡¯ve gotten you up to speed. Well, at least the snow elves look nice. Really nice. And I can¡¯t shake off this feeling that you¡¯re about to get lucky as hell.¡± He really liked doing that. Saying things that needed explanation and never explaining them. ¡°It¡¯s fine, D.K. But what?¡± ¡°I feel like you¡¯re about to get lucky as hell.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± He sighed again. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I lied, you probably won¡¯t get lucky.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I was thoroughly confused. We returned to silence, and I set my focus back on the loading indicator. It was almost done. 95¡­ 96¡­ 97¡­ 98... 99... 100%.
Akagi, your character has been generated!
Chapter 4 Thick, light blonde hair fell gracefully to her waist. A pale, cream-like complexion complemented her delicately sculpted features. She had full, rose colored lips. Eyes so vibrantly blue that they looked like they were glowing. For clothes, she wore a coat of white furs that ended at her hips; though her hands were uncovered, there were pockets amongst the fluff for her to warm them in. Short, tan culottes just barely poked out from under the coat and the rest of her legs were covered by knitted wool leggings patterned in soft, rosy colors. Black cloth was wrapped tightly around her knees, below which were a pair of fur-padded brown hide boots. Earmuffs, ones with elongated ends to account for what I assumed were leaf-shaped ears, stuck out from her hair on either side. And finally, around her neck was a large red shawl. On closer inspection, from the way it was stitched and the gold patterns around its blood-red edges, I realized that it looked a lot like the banner from the Snow Elves¡¯ sub-race card. Whether or not it was that same banner, I did not know. I took a deep breath. Had she been real, I could very well have fallen for her right then and there; in the back of my head, I asked Natsumi¡¯s spirit for forgiveness at this half-joke. Thankfully, my sin was in thought alone. Because as things were... This was the character that I was going to play. A girl. Presumably, this was what D.K. meant when he¡¯d said I was going to get ¡°lucky as hell.¡± I supposed ¡°lucky¡± was one way to put it. D.K. was one of those guy that played as a female character whenever they got the chance. I, on the other hand, was definitely not. I chuckled. Fate was a fickle mistress, indeed. Even in a game, I was unable to escape her antics. Not that this one was so bad, though. I imagined there were far worse outcomes to this than having to play as a gorgeous female Snow Elf. I turned my attention to the card hovering in the upper left of my vision, which listed the basic information for my new character.
Username: Akagi Character Name: Eira, The White Eagle Race: Snow Elf Gender: Female Class: Mage Starting town: Roumen
The White Eagle? Obviously, this wasn¡¯t her last name. A title, perhaps? And why was it pink? Just as I was about to ask D.K. about it, an alert popped up.
One person has entered your vicinity. Identified as: Emi Akagi. No public profile found. Alerting range is currently set to one meter.
I¡¯d told Emi to come nudge me a bit if it hit 10:15 and I was still in the game. Show clock.
22:15 Fri. March 31st
Right on the minute. ¡°Hey D.K., I have to go. I told Emi to wake me up at this time. She¡¯s probably shaking me right now as we speak.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. It took a few seconds for D.K. to respond, and I could hear food rolling around in his mouth when he spoke. ¡°Aw, what? Did your character finish generating?¡± ¡°It just did. The timing of this wasn¡¯t great.¡± ¡°Ah yeah, no problem. You going somewhere? Or...¡± ¡°Nah. It¡¯s just that Emi always sleeps at 11, and I make it a point to tell her a bedtime story and tuck her in every day on the weekends. Because I can¡¯t always do that on workdays, you know?¡± ¡°That¡¯s really sweet... but kinda sad too, man.¡± ¡°Yeah. We just have to count our blessings.¡± ¡°Truth. Well, be sure to tell Emi hi for me, huh? And you¡¯ll make sure to be back in time for the launch?¡± ¡°I will. And yeah, I¡¯ll be back as soon as she¡¯s asleep. Peace.¡± ¡°Peace.¡± Quit game. End VR session.
Are you sure you want to exit?
Yes. And with that, the UI that had populated my vision blinked out of existence, and everything went black. Less than a second later, my eyes were open, and I was back in a body and back in the real world. Emi¡¯s head was hanging over mine, sideways. Her face lit up as she saw me regaining my consciousness. ¡°Hi!¡± I grimaced, still a bit disoriented from leaving VR. ¡°Hey sweetie.¡± She hopped backwards as I made to push myself up in my bed, into a sitting position. After a wide yawn, I reached my hand to my chin and flipped the locking mechanism on my Ether VR. There was a click followed by a soft whirring, and the harness loosened its grip on the sides of my skull. I sighed in relief, as the pressure was actually quite uncomfortable. The feeling would disappear when the VR was active, but it added a fair bit of discomfort to the shutdown and booting processes. When the whirring ended, I placed my hands on either side of the harness and slipped it off, forwards. The Ether VR was shaped like a mix between a helmet and a pair of gaming headphones. There were two large sections that went on the sides of the head, around the ears, which were connected by a thick metal band over the top of the head and the locking mechanism that went down around the chin. I held it in my hands for a moment, marvelling at how this odd-looking contraption was all I needed to immerse myself in another world. ¡°Daddy, let¡¯s go.¡± I rested the system on my pillow, making sure it was still plugged in. Satisfied, I followed Emi out of my room and into hers, the door of which was directly next to mine. She had already taken a bath and changed into her pajamas, and she now hopped into her bed and pulled the covers over herself in what was almost a single, swift motion. ¡°Are you ready for storytime?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Okay. What would you like to hear today?¡± ¡°The Mirror of Matsuyama.¡± ¡°Again?¡± Though I questioned her, I was already at her bookshelf, and had my finger on the top of the book. ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± With book in hand, I rolled the chair at her desk to her bedside and sat myself down. The lamp on her end table was already on. Though this book¡¯s version of the story was written as a children¡¯s tale, its cover was a plain parchment brown, styled to look battered and worn. Along its side, written vertically, was the Japanese title: ¡°ËÉɽçR.¡° I opened the cover, revealing a painting of a mother and daughter. The mother was looking into a handheld mirror, while the daughter played with a doll in the foreground. I smiled a bittersweet smile. It was a such a heartwarming story. And at the same time, so, so sad¡­ *** ¡°Daddy... do you still think I¡¯ll grow up to look like mama?¡± I was up on my feet, and was in the process of pushing her chair back into place. When she asked this, I raised my head and looked at the framed photo that sat on her desk. It was a picture from long, long ago, and it had all three of us in it. Natsumi and I were standing, shoulder-to-shoulder. I held her, and she held a one year old Emi, who was wildly flailing her arms but smiling sweetly all the same. It was a picture taken shortly after Natsumi had been diagnosed with her sickness, and after I had been granted a dependency discharge. It was the last photo we took where Natsumi could still stand on her own. I closed my eyes. ¡°Of course. You¡¯re already starting to look like her.¡± Emi murmured contentedly. ¡°Mmm¡­¡± I straightened myself up and made my way back to Emi¡¯s side, where I crouched down so my eyes were level with hers. She was on the verge of drifting into sleep. ¡°Emi?¡± ¡°Daddy?¡± I tucked her in before sweeping her bangs aside with my hand and giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. ¡°I love you. Don¡¯t ever forget that.¡± ¡°I love you too, daddy.¡± I smiled. ¡°Daddy¡¯s going to be in a game for most of the night. But if you need anything, just wake me up, okay?¡± When she spoke again, it was nearly inaudible. ¡°Okay... Will I have to wake you up in the morning, too?¡± ¡°No, you won¡¯t. I¡¯ll be awake. I have to make us breakfast, remember?¡± ¡°Promise?¡± I stood up. ¡°I promise.¡± Chapter 5 The sound of chirping birds filled my ears. I could smell the fragrance of newly bloomed flowers, and the scent of dew hung in the grass. A soft breeze blew through the air, and it lapped gently against the skin on my face. And yet this was all accompanied by darkness. Surely, that wasn¡¯t right? I opened my eyes. They were met with a cacophony of color, flowers as far as the eye could see. Roses, lilies, chrysanthemums; if I could name it, I was sure that I could find it amongst the garden that surrounded me. I inhaled deeply, and spring itself seemed to fill my nostrils. I exhaled. The beginning of a new season. It was beautiful, and it was hard to believe that this was all in a game... Words appeared in the center of my vision.
Welcome to ARIA Online! Season of Revival, Moon 1, Day 15 Eira, Level 25 Mage Current location: Garden of Remembrance. Fifth District, Roumen.
Unlike before, when I had been in the character creation menu, I now had a body. The User Interface (UI), however, still looked very similar. The welcome text was in the center of my vision. In the upper left hand corner were my vitals ¨C HP, MP, and Stamina bars. In the upper right, a small map. And in the lower right, a few quick commands. I turned my head around to test the UI. It followed my vision. I wasn¡¯t used to things working like this, but I could see the wisdom behind it. Unlike Black Sun, where you simply sat at the bridge of a spaceship almost all the time, this game would obviously require quite a bit more moving around. Satisfied for the moment (I could customize things later), I drew my attention away from the UI and began to more thoroughly take in my surroundings. I was in a large, open garden arranged in a circle; I was on its edge, and had been facing one of the many patches of flowers resting on its ring. Save for a few smaller groupings of plants scattered throughout ¨C most notably, a large tree in the very middle ¨C the center of the garden was essentially a plaza, complete with benches and tables for people to rest at. I guessed that the center was as wide as three or four football fields were long. There were at least a hundred other people present and, upon glancing some of them over, I felt I could safely assume that they were all Elves like me. Whether or not they were all Snow Elves, however, I could not tell. About half of them were walking around, making conversation and exploring the garden, while the rest appeared to be exactly where they¡¯d spawned, taking in this marvelous sight that had greeted them. Well. Can¡¯t just stand around forever. Open Raidar Chat Services. Call Drift_King. I waited a few seconds for the request to go through. ¡°Yo, Soren. You in?¡± ¡°Yeah. I spawned in a garden with a bunch of other Elves.¡± ¡°Sounds about right. For me, it was the city center. Pretty sure it¡¯s where all the Humans are¡­ turns out a fuckton of people are playing as Humans. Just like the devs wanted!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°From one of their press releases. When they announced the races. You saw how unbalanced they all were, right? Elves are pretty weak compared to Humans. Beast-bloods sit somewhere in between. That was all so they could keep the race distribution consistent with the lore or something. Stronger Humans, more people play Humans. Weaker Elves, fewer people play Elves.¡± He grunted. ¡°Damn. This place is packed, I can¡¯t stop bumping into people. Everyone¡¯s trying to make it out of the city so they can go kill slimes and shit.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Well, I¡¯ll come meet up with you soon. I want to get a bearing on this place first.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure man. Whatever you want. Do wish me luck though, this is going to be an adventure.¡± Another grunt. ¡°Fuck!¡± He ended the call. I bit my lip. Thankfully, things were very peaceful here in the garden. Or they were, until¡­ ¡°Hey!¡± I turned in the direction of the voice, and saw someone walking towards me. It was a girl. An Elf with black shoulder-length hair and the same pale complexion as me. She was dressed in a completely different way, however, sporting anensemble centered around a dark blue dress. ¡°Wow, your character ended up really pretty!¡± Her voice was warm and reminded me of honey. Though to that end, it was also very, very sweet. A bit too sweet, in fact. Her words, meanwhile, caught me completely off guard. ¡°Oh, um¡­ thank you.¡± My eyes widened as I spoke. That was what my voice sounded like? It was deeper than the typical woman¡¯s voice, and it had a melancholy, but oddly melodic quality to it. It was hollow, yet fully rounded. Not quite raspy, but definitely¡­ sultry. ¡°Like, reallypretty. And woah, your voice!¡± ¡°I¡­ Thanks. Your character is, uh, really pretty as well.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie, though I knew her appearance couldn¡¯t hold a candle to mine. What a strange thing to think, actually. Even if it was true... She giggled. ¡°Well thank you too.¡± She held out a hand. ¡°I¡¯m Isabella.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯m¡­¡± I paused. Which name was I supposed to use? ¡°Is Isabella your real name? Your player name? Or your character name?¡± She giggled again. ¡°It¡¯s both my real name and player name.¡± ¡°Oh. You were lucky, snagging a popular name like yours.¡± She nodded. When I didn¡¯t say or do anything further, she tilted her head and gave me a questioning look. Her hand was still outstretched. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ Isabella.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry!¡± I shook her hand. ¡°I¡¯m Akagi. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± ¡°And me, you!¡± She scooted in closer. I raised an eyebrow at this, but she ignored it.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°So, Akagi huh? That name. Are you Japanese? Or are you just one of those people who really likes anime? An Otaku?¡± I certainly liked anime, but I didn¡¯t like it so much that you could accurately call me an Otaku. ¡°Er¡­ Half of both. As in I¡¯m half Japanese and I like anime, but not that much.¡± ¡°You¡¯re half Japanese? That¡¯s pretty cool.¡± ¡°Yeah, I suppose.¡± She reached out her left hand and grabbed my right. Before I could react, she was pulling me behind her towards a tall, white gate on one side of the garden. ¡°Well Akagi, the kinda awkward half-Japanese person who likes anime, but not that much.¡± She turned her head back to face me and beamed. ¡°Let¡¯s go explore, shall we?¡± I didn¡¯t know her. She didn¡¯t know me. This was all incredibly overbearing, and I didn¡¯t know how best to respond. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m supposed to meet up with someone. An old friend that I¡¯m starting the game with.¡± ¡°Do you know where she¡¯s going?¡± ¡°She? No, it¡¯s a guy.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She stopped, and I almost ran into her. ¡°Boyfriend?¡± ¡°No! No, absolutelynot. But hey, on that note. I think you should kn ¨C¡± ¡°Well then there¡¯s no problem!¡± We began moving again, and I continued struggling to keep up with her brisk pace. Now that I was walking and my legs were moving, I realized how strange it felt, being in a body of the opposite gender. Something was missing, that was for sure... ¡°So, where¡¯s he going?¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t say anything specific, just that he¡¯s leaving the city to go and kill slimes.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She stayed silent for a few moments, thinking about what I had just said. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not where we should be going right now.¡± ¡°Why not? We need to start levelling up somewhere.¡± ¡°Yes, Akagi. But we¡¯re level 25.¡± ¡°...Ahhhhh.¡± In many MMOs, slimes were the weakest monsters available, and new players would flock out to kill them in droves. While we were both new players, our levels were high enough that slimes likely wouldn¡¯t give us any EXP at all. ¡°So you¡¯re a Snow Elf too?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°You know, I wonder what it is that distinguishes us from the other Elven races. I thought it might be hair at first. But looking at you and me, how my hair is blonde and yours is jet black, that¡¯s clearly not the case.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the skin. I created my character as soon as it was available¡­ which was like, a month ago? Anyways, I browsed character sharing threads on the forums a lot after that, so I got a good sense of how all the races look. Snow Elves are super pale. Wood elves are kinda dark. And then Sea Elves have this weird blueish skin.¡± ¡°I see. So then everyone here is a Snow Elf?¡± I swiveled my head around to look at the other players in the garden. If what Isabella said was true, then these were all definitely Snow Elves. As I surveyed them, I noticed also that a majority were now moving towards the center of the garden. Indeed, I could make out that a small crowd had gathered around the base of the tree. More and more people were noticing this, and were calling out to each to begin moving in that direction. From what people were shouting, it sounded like the entrance to a levelling area was there in the center. ¡°Hey Akagi, wanna go check that out?¡± ¡°Yeah, sure. Just let me confirm what¡¯s going on, first.¡± My eyes fell on a player standing a short distance away from us. He had his back to the tree, and appeared to be looking for someone. I slipped my hand out of Isabella¡¯s and walked over to him. ¡°Hey, excuse me.¡± He jumped and tried to turn around faster than he could handle. He nearly tripped over his own foot, and yelped. He was able to catch himself before he actually fell, however, though he stepped forward a few feet as he did so, and only narrowly avoided colliding with me. When he straightened himself out, his face wasjust a few inches from mine. His features shriveled in embarassment and he quickly backpedaled away. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I ¨C I¡¯m sorry!¡± I was almost as taken aback as he was. ¡°It¡¯s okay! It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m sorry for scaring you.¡± It looked like my words had stabbed him right in the gut, because he clenched his teeth and tooka sharp intake of breath. It must have been my voice. In an attempt to diffuse the awkward situation, and perhaps without really thinking things through, I emulated the way Isabella had introduced herself. I reached out my hand. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ nice to meet you. My name is Akagi.¡± Rather than responding to my attempt at a handshake, he clasped his arms firmly to his sides. In a way, he looked like a living straitjacket. ¡°I¡¯m uh, Cy ¨C Cyberwolf. But it¡¯s ¨C it¡¯s spelled with a 3 instead of an ¡®e.¡¯ It¡¯s¡­ I know it¡¯s dumb! Haha¡­¡± It seemed that my sudden appearance had caused him to seriously doubt his choice in names. In my head, I put a palm to my face. ¡°Oh, not at all. It¡¯s nice and unique.¡± I chuckled nervously. Unfortunately, the chuckle came out sounding more like a giggle, and Cyberwolf¡¯s face turned cherry red in response. The sudden flush was especially jarring given the paleness of his skin. What a disaster. For lack of a better way to put it, I clearly did not understand how to ¡°girl.¡± This was an entirely different world from what I was used to, and I had no idea how women were able to deal with situations like this on what I assumed was a regular basis. As I opened my mouth to say something else (and in hindsight, inevitably make things worse), Isabella came to the rescue. She nudged me aside with her shoulder and shot me a stern look. ¡°You¡¯re a bombshell, Akagi. You can¡¯t just go around dropping bombs on unsuspecting guys like that.¡± She whispered this to me, but kept it loud enough for Cyberwolf to hear. I got the sense that this was intentional. She turned to Cyberwolf. ¡°Sorry. Ignore her. If you don¡¯t mind, we just wanted to ask you about the tree and why everyone¡¯s going to it.¡± Now that he was speaking to Isabella, and not me, he visibly relaxed; his shoulders loosened and his chest rose and fell. ¡°No ¨C no need to apologize. It¡¯s just that...¡± He glanced at me. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Isabella nodded sagely, indicating that she understood his pain. ¡°But... but I can answer your question.¡± ¡°Please.¡± ¡°The tree... I think as soon as everyone started spawning in, people noticed that some Elves in armor were standing around it. I guess we all thought they were players at first, but then someone talked to them and found out they were NPCs. They¡¯re guards watching over the entrance to Roumen¡¯s catacombs. There¡¯s a door to it inside the tree.¡± ¡°So there¡¯s like, a levelling area under the ground?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m pretty sure I was one of the first to go inside, and I heard a bunch of creepy-sounding things moving around in the dark down there. I didn¡¯t stay very long, but the guards said that the catacombs are filled with monsters. All level 25 and above.¡± ¡°Huh. That works out quite nicely. The perfect place for us Snow Elves.¡± Cyberwolf nodded. ¡°I think it¡¯d be good to go soon. I don¡¯t know how many Snow Elves are here in Roumen, but it could get pac ¨C¡± ¡°Hey! Cyber!¡± A few meters away from us were a trio of male players, and the tallest (and buffest) of them was waving to try and get Cyberwolf¡¯s attention. ¡°Hey guys!¡± Cyberwolf returned the wave before turning back towards Isabella. ¡°Those are my friends. I came out to get them so we could go level together.¡± ¡°Then we won¡¯t hold you any longer. Thanks for the help, Cyber. I¡¯m Isabella, by the way.¡± ¡°Ah, you¡¯re welcome.¡± At this, he began to step away, but he ended up hesitating and looked back over his shoulder. ¡°I¡­ hope to see you around, Isabella. Good luck.¡± His eyes fell on me again. Blushing, he continued on his way. I sighed. Before I could say anything, Isabella started laughing. Unlike the giggles from earlier, this was a laugh that came from the heart, and it was incredibly contagious; I found myself quickly joining in. When we were finished, she rested her hand on my back and gently patted it. ¡°In over your head, huh?¡± ¡°Yeah. Definitely.¡± She didn¡¯t have the same thing in mind as I did, but the statement held true in either case. Perhaps now was the time to clear things up. ¡°Isabella. I¡¯m actually a dude.¡± She smiled. ¡°Good one.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m serious.¡± ¡°Stop. You know how a joke isn¡¯t as funny if you have to explain it? This is kinda like that. Don¡¯t keep a joke going past the punchline.¡± "Really! I''m pretty sure there''s a small chance a player can end up playing as the opposite gender." "Akagi, I know. But that chance isn''t just small, it''s tiny. You know how I said I browsed the forums a lot? There''ve only been two known cases so far of people getting genderbent. Two! And how many characters have been made so far? A few hundred thousand?" "Tiny, but not impossible..." "What''s more likely? You got super lucky, or the kind-of-awkward girl I just met is trying really hard to deliver an already-dead joke?" I was about to protest, a little indignant at her casualinsult, but I decided it wasn''t worth the trouble. If what she said was accurate, the chances were indeed incredibly low. And short of exchanging real world info, there was little I could do to prove I was a guy. I didn''t know why she was so averse to the idea, but she would likely continue to write me off if I continued to try and justify my claim. Perhaps I could try to prove it later? Somehow? I supposed it really wasn''t that important of a detail... I knew D.K., for one, had been fine with everyone in Black Sun thinking he was a girl. For the first year, at least, before hebecame a mini-celebrity... I sniffed. ¡°The latter.¡± Isabella winked, though I could tell by her slightly furrowed brow that my words had made her at least a little unsure. "Right?" We stood there in silence for a few moments, Isabella mulling over what, I did not know, and me, contemplating my new existence as a girl. ¡°Well then, Akagi.¡± She grabbed my hand again, breaking me out of my thoughts. Without so much as another word, she began to walk again at that hurried pace of hers. Except this time, we were headed towards the tree. Her walk turned into a skip, and the next words to come out of her mouth were delivered like the lyrics to a marching song. ¡°To the catacombs we go! Let¡¯s kill us some monsters!¡± Chapter 6
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¡°There we go! I was starting to wonder when something like that was going to happen. When¡¯s the last time you heard of a game not having a rocky launch?¡± I didn¡¯t have to think long about my answer. ¡°Never.¡± ¡°Right?¡± She probably would have shot me a wink then, had she not been turned away from me, eyes fixed on the large monster before us. It was a hideous beast that stood over two stories tall; made of yellowed bones and dust, it looked as if it had come straight out from the depths of Hell itself. Long and slithering like a snake, but with a single arm on either side, it reminded me of a legless lizard. Or perhaps a snake with arms. Either way... ¡°Akagi! Give me a ward, now!¡± I was already in the process of casting the defensive spell, but I was nonetheless surprised at how fast Isabella¡¯s reactions were. My abilities had been honed in live combat, where a few milliseconds could mean the difference between life and death. And yet, her speed was only marginally behind mine. A beam of white light shot out from the head of my staff. When it reached Isabella, it split into hundreds of smaller beams, which proceeded to form a radiant sphere around her. The spell took effect none too soon, for the monster¡¯s arm came down right at that moment. The light flared at the impact of the monster¡¯s giant claws, and pieces of shattered bone flew in every direction. Had the monster been able to feel pain, it likely would have reeled back and screamed. As it was, however, it lifted its damaged claws and brought them back down on the ward. Then it struck with its other hand. Then back to the first, back to the second. Again and again, it continued to bash at the ward until its claws were ground down to glowing, white stumps. And the ward¡­ A sound like that of shattering glass met my ears, and Isabella lifted her shield in preparation for the next attack. While the monster¡¯s claws were gone, a direct hit from its giant arm would cause more than enough blunt damage to knock Isabella out, if not kill her outright. But no matter ¨C everything was going as planned. These monsters were powerful, but they were incredibly dull. Like this one¡¯s claws were now. Smirking in mild satisfaction at my terrible joke, I raised my staff again, but this time calling upon an offensive power. Hellfyre. This monster had come from the underworld; these scorching flames would hopefully send it right on back. A burst of orange erupted from my staff, turning white and then blue as it moved away from me and heated up further. The fire converged near the monster¡¯s skull (the one that served as its head, as there were many skulls within its body) and struck with a brilliant explosion of smoke and charred bone. The room we were in shook from the gut-wrenching scream of rage the monster let loose. It was blinded, and it began to thrash around wildly with its arms, aiming in the direction the fire had come from. At me. I jumped back, though one of the monster¡¯s swipes came dangerously close; had its claws still been intact, I would have likely gotten cut in two. It was an unfortunate limitation of Hellfyre, which was my single most effective spell against undead monsters. Because the fire not only needed to travel a short distance before it could reach its max heat, but would also begin to lose effectiveness if it traveled further than its ¡°sweet spot,¡± I had to position myself uncomfortably close to my target to use the spell to its full potential. Not so close that I would get caught by a stray slash if the monster was focused on Isabella, but close enough that it could easily hit me if it stretched its body out in my direction. Which, unfortunately, was exactly what it was doing now. It was slithering slowly towards me, inching forward, feeling out the space before it with its madly flailing arms. Hellfyre! Another flash of flame, but the monster had gotten too close and the attack was unable to fully prime itself. White fire slammed into the monster¡¯s face, and it was not enough to really damage the hardened bone. ¡°Isabella! You¡¯re up!¡± I continued to backstep and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Isabella unequip her shield. The kite shaped metal plate vanished into nothingness in a small flurry of twinkling dust, and she now gripped the handle of her sword with both her hands. The monster continued to flail about. However, I could tell that its attacks were getting less and less random. As we had learned from our previous encounters, these monsters had a keen sense of hearing, and the sound of my boots crunching on the loose stone floor was enough for it to keep honing in on me. I wanted to turn and run. But if I did so, the monster would almost certainly break out into a rampage and give chase; the only thing keeping it moving slowly was the fact that I could easily flank it if it charged. If I ran and it started to move faster, Isabella would not be able to catch up and carry out her part. Moreover, this was not the first time we had tried this strategy, and I knew Isabella was capable of pulling it off. I just needed to trust her. The monsters pulled back its right arm. The monster had inched ever closer, and somehow, I sensed that this time it would find its mark. I held out my staff in front of me, though I knew it would do next to nothing against the incoming blow. ¡°Isabella!¡± Isabella leaped into the air. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Akagi! I! Got! Youuuuu!¡± Yelling hysterically for the entirety of her jump, she pointed her sword downwards and tightened her grip. ¡°Raaaahhhhh!¡± She plunged her sword into the top of the monster¡¯s skull with a satisfying ¡°shlunk.¡± How her frail-looking weapon was able to cut through bone immune to a 2,000 degree flame, I did not know, but I was certainly happy that it could.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The monster¡¯s eye sockets began to smoke and loose bones started to fall from its wretched form, clattering madly as they hit the catacomb¡¯s cobblestone floor. Then, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, the monster went limp and keeled over forwards. I quickly stepped out of the way, and its long, thin body hit the ground with a resounding crash, raising up a thick brown cloud as it did. No longer held together by a dark magical force, its bones were expelled by the force of its fall and scattered in every which way. I raised my free arm to cover my face ¨C as luck would have it, the femur of some large animal found its way straight to the center of my gut. ¡°Oof!¡± I dropped my staff and reeled in pain. The blow to the stomach and the bottled fear from all our encounters thus far finally pushed me over the edge, and I bent forward and retched. But the insanity! Why was throwing up even possible in a game? ¡°Akagi! Hey, are you okay?¡± Isabella had pulled her sword from the monster¡¯s cracked skull and was making her way towards me through the screen of dust, a concerned expression on her face. ¡°What are you ¨C¡± The sight of me triggered a similar reaction in her, and she too bent her body forward. ¡°Bleeaaaaahhh.¡± When I was finished, I wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand. It was a little disgusting, but I didn¡¯t have many other options available. I looked up, and saw that Isabella was crouching in a slightly different position from where she had puked. She was wiping the back of her hand on the ground. She was scowling. ¡°You know¡­ I¡¯d say the two of us are oddly similar.¡± She turned towards me and smiled a crooked smile, a bit flustered from what had just happened. ¡°Yeah? I guess we kinda are.¡± I rested my hands in the small of my back and bent backwards, stretching out the front of my torso. ¡°Pff. Are you trying to say something, huh? Real subtle.¡± What? I followed her gaze and looked down. In real life, I would have only seen my pecs in the very bottom of my vision. But now¡­ Mmm. I glanced at Isabella. Her character¡­ was not quite as well-endowed as mine. ¡°Looks like we aren¡¯t that alike, now are we?¡± She spoke with ice in her voice, but the playful twitch in her eyebrows belied her attempt at sounding genuinely angry with me. I smiled, a smile that soon turned to laughter. She snickered along as her eyes darted quickly around. She was looking through her UI. ¡°That should be our fourth one of these, and add on a few dozen skeletons¡­ Ugh! Wow, only a quarter of the way to level 26¡­¡± Show progress to next level. Sure enough, the EXP bar sat at 26% filled. ¡°Over two hours of running around this place, and we¡¯re not even halfway to our first level up. I regret choosing this race!¡± In all honesty, I was starting to doubt the wisdom behind my choice as well. Not that we hadn¡¯t been having fun ¨C the monsters we encountered had all been very challenging. But that fact was also the main problem, because the monsters were perhaps a bit too challenging. Unlike in most other games, where monsters at the same level as a player were significantly weaker than said player, the monsters we¡¯d encountered so far ¨C save the skeletons, which served as cannon fodder for their serpentine counterparts ¨C were surprisingly capable. The first time we fought one of the skeleton snakes, we had almost died. It was only because we were near the entrance to the catacombs that we¡¯d survived. A trio of level 30 NPC guards had heard our screams and rushed to our aid, blasting the snake to smithereens with an endless stream of fireballs. It was them, also, that told me to try a spell called ¡°Hellfyre.¡± They¡¯d explained its limitations to me, and I was able to use it on the second serpent we encountered. Of course, I had almost died to an outstretched claw after firing it off, and that quickly led to our strategy with the wards¡­ In short, we were grossly ignorant when it came to the mechanics in this game. Apparently, the short ¡°Beginner¡¯s Guide¡± only listed skills and spells available at level 1, and it was only prior experience, from older games and otherwise, that Isabella and I were able to kill anything at all. Indeed, had we started at level 1, perhaps progression would have felt far more natural... I shook my head. The fighting we had gone through was a bit much for getting just a quarter of a level. And what was the level cap? 100? Insane. ¡°Akagi, could you heal me up?¡± She was sitting down, knees to her chest, her arms wrapping her legs closely to her body. ¡°Oh yeah, of course.¡± Healing Light. A dim, pleasant-looking glow appeared and embraced Isabella¡¯s body. Contentment washed over her face. ¡°Ahhhh.¡± Healing Light. I sat down next to Isabella, closed my eyes, and let myself relax. The feeling as my wounds healed, the scratches sealing up, the bruises washing away¡­ how would I describe it? Perhaps like bathing in a vat of warm honey¡­ ¡°This combat is pretty crazy, but I¡¯m definitely having fun. Are you?¡± ¡°Yeah. I haven¡¯t felt this kind of rush in ages.¡± ¡°You like the rush, huh? Well then what do you think? One or two more? Still no word from your friend?¡± I glanced at my vitals. Mana was almost out, and would likely take around a half hour to fully regenerate if I didn¡¯t exert myself too much. Health was topped off. And on the topic of D.K.: I hadn¡¯t heard a peep. ¡°Yeah, no word. And let¡¯s rest for a bit first, I¡¯m running low on mana...¡± ¡°Another reason I didn¡¯t pick mage. Keeping track of one bar is more than enough for me!¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a stamina bar?¡± ¡°It fills so fast I don¡¯t even need to watch it.¡± I wasn¡¯t convinced, but I didn¡¯t press the matter further. We sat there in silence for at least a minute or two, catching our breaths, our minds still filled with vivid images of the battles that we had just been through. If nothing else, this game would prove an entertaining diversion until I got myself killed. After that, I would pay D.K. back the $50 he gave me for my character¡­
Incoming call via Raidar Chat Services! Caller: Drift_King Accept?
¡°My friend¡¯s calling me.¡± Isabella nodded her head, motioning for me to pick up. Accept. ¡°Hey D.K., what¡¯s u ¨C" ¡°Yo Akagi! You¡¯re level 25, right? Snow Elf? Starts at level 25? Right? Right?!¡± He sounded scared, but extremely excited at the same time. ¡°D.K., what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shitshow out here, man! People are getting killed in droves! I didn¡¯t see it myself, but I heard some dumbass died to a level 1 slime. And the slime levelled up, see? And so some other level 1 players tried fighting this level 2 slime, but level differences are crazy so they all died. You get where I¡¯m going with this?¡± Uh-oh. ¡°What level is it now?...¡± ¡°14. It¡¯s tearing shit apart, and not even the NPC guards can handle it anymore.¡± ¡°Wait, what do you mean? The NPC guards are all level 30!¡± ¡°Dude, maybe the Snow Elf guards are, but we¡¯re Humans, okay? The guards here were level 8 and they showed up when the slime was at 10. They got shit on. Hell, they¡¯re still sending men in ¨C even some mages and cavalry ¨C and they¡¯re all getting shit on too. I heard someone ran into the city to grab the elite guards, but they¡¯re only level 16 or something. At this rate, they¡¯ll die too.¡± ¡°Wait, that sounds so stupid. Why don¡¯t the guards back off if they¡¯re just making the slime stronger?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s heading towards the city! If it gets through the gates, all the women and children NPCs will be in danger, dude. Nobody wants to see that.¡± ¡°What about the players?!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been grinding like crazy and I¡¯m only at level 7.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°So yeah. All the players who were out hunting these slimes are trying to get back into the city while more guards are trying to get out. You should probably get over here¡­ Yo, yo! People are saying it levelled up again! Please get down here, dude! I don¡¯t want to lose this character! I really don¡¯t!¡± ¡°Where are you at? Does the city have multiple gates?¡± ¡°Just the main gate. On the map it literally says ¡®Main Gate.¡¯¡± ¡°Okay, okay. We¡¯ll be there soon.¡± ¡°We?¡± End call. ¡°Isabella? We¡¯re leaving. We¡¯re needed at the city¡¯s main gate.¡± ¡°What? What happened?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll explain on the way. But basically, there¡¯s something threatening the city that only we can kill.¡± She looked incredibly confused. ¡°Well¡­ I uh...¡± She stood up and made a dash for the remains of the monster we had slain. ¡°Let me loot this first!¡± ¡°But my friend ¨C¡± ¡°Akagi. Loot! Loot.¡± She was already digging madly through the scattered bones, looking for the telltale gleam of metal under the catacomb¡¯s dim torchlight. I bit my lip. People were dying while we wasted time looting. But then again¡­ This was a game, wasn¡¯t it? It¡¯s not like you could actually die or anything... ¡°Ah, screw it.¡± I ran up to help. Chapter 7 ¡°Hurry up, Akagi!¡± She was only a few steps ahead of me, but she still had her head turned back around, her hands impatiently waving me on. ¡°Seriously? You and your loot are the only reason we didn¡¯t get here earlier!¡± Her eyes narrowed. ¡°My loot? Don¡¯t you mean our loot?¡± Still running, she pointed accusingly at the brooch hanging at my neck. ¡°I¡­ fair enough.¡± I wanted to say that she had gotten the better end of the deal, what with the nearly full set of light plate armor she now sported over her dress. However, I knew that my share of the spoils was at least comparable in value. It had been an incredibly lucky drop. Before, our kills had yielded little more than some gold, a few refinement stones, and the sallet helmet currently resting on Isabella¡¯s head. Incredibly, the last bone snake had dropped not only the breastplate and gauntlets for the armor set Isabella¡¯s helmet was from, but it had also given me my brooch. Isabella¡¯s thirst for loot, as it was, had turned out to be very profitable. Show tooltip for Accessory 1.
The Seer¡¯s Eye (Rare) Grants +15% mana regeneration while not in combat. One of many such stones created by Andras Fern, the greatest Black Mage of the Mirathic age, this Seer¡¯s Eye was once able to halve a mage¡¯s mana recovery time. It has since lost much of its luster, but a small portion of its original power remains. Effect does not stack with additional copies of the same item.
The brooch was set in silver and fastened with a simple leather strap. The stone itself had all the qualities of amber, save for its deep, black color. Yet despite its current beauty, this was apparently how it looked after ¡°losing much of its luster.¡± I could only imagine how it had appeared when it was still newly made. I reached up and wrapped my fingers around it. The stone was slightly warm to the touch. ¡°The knights are falling back! They¡¯ve been defeated!¡± A horn blared, its low, baleful tone carrying over the entirety of the eastern wall. ¡°Man the battlements! Ready spears!¡± ¡°Ballistae, loaded!¡± Isabella and I were still a ways out from the gatehouse, but the enhanced hearing granted to us by our elongated ears allowed us to make out the shouted words. To say the least, the scene around the gates was a hectic one. Throngs of people had been lined up on either side of the central promenade, a long, straight road that led through the gates towards the center of the city. But now, with Roumen¡¯s knights out of action and impending doom growing ever closer, everyone had begun to disperse. At the same time, a number of stragglers were still making their way into the city, adding to the crowd. I could see no sign of D.K. as we got closer, but I didn¡¯t think it necessary to try and contact him just yet; it was safe to assume that he had already gone deeper into the city. ¡°Yo. Are those¡­ Snow Elves?¡± We had neared the gate, and inquiring heads were turning to watch us as we passed. ¡°Snow Elves? Don¡¯t they start at level 25?¡± ¡°Maybe they¡¯re here to kill the slime?¡± Neither Isabella or I stopped to answer these questions; we simply pressed on, weaving our way into and through the crowd. ¡°Akagi. Akagi, can you hear me?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit hard with all this commotion around us, but yes, I can hear you.¡± ¡°Okay, good! Do you think it¡¯d be easier if we tried to go from the wall?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°We¡¯re Elves. We should be able to take a fall like that without issue.¡± ¡°Are you sure? It¡¯s a pretty high jump¡­¡± Nothing we¡¯d seen or done so far indicated that Elves were any hardier than Humans were. ¡°Well¡­¡± The horn sounded again. ¡°Close the gates!¡± Isabella chuckled. ¡°We don¡¯t exactly have a choice anymore, do we?¡± ¡°I guess not.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. My eyes were still on the gate, and it appeared that everyone had made it inside the city. I could see no further stragglers, and watched as the iron portcullis began to lower. And yet, someone was now running towards the gate. It was an elderly man, dressed in red merchant¡¯s clothes, his feathered, black cap covering what was almost certainly a balding head. ¡°Wait, please! Open the gate!¡± He had reached the mouth of the tunnel in the gatehouse, and the guards on either side moved in to stop him. Their attention drawn to the scene, many of the people who had just passed through the gates stood still to listen. ¡°What are you doing, old man?¡± ¡°Get back, it¡¯s dangerous!¡± ¡°Please! My granddaughter is still out there with my son! My son¡­ he has a bad leg, and he can¡¯t run. Please! Please, I need to get out there! I haven¡¯t seen them come into the city. Please let me through!¡± ¡°I said, get back! There¡¯s a monster on its way, and we¡¯re not letting anyone else outside.¡± ¡°Please!¡± The man looked fervently around him, at the faces of bystanders turned nervously in his direction. ¡°My granddaughter, my son! Please! Please, someone help me find them! They both have red hair¡­ and green eyes¡­ Someone...¡± ¡°What makes you so sure they¡¯re at risk at all? The lands around the city are wide enough that the slime might not even cross paths with them.¡± ¡°They were going to the ranch!¡± At this, the guard bit his lip, and a pained expression spread onto his face. When he spoke again, it was in a far gentler tone. ¡°I see. I¡¯m sorry, but they probably didn¡¯t make it. There¡¯s nothing you can do, and we aren¡¯t going to let you run out and throw your life away.¡± The man fell to the ground, his fingers clawing at the sides of his head. ¡°No. No!¡± Isabella punched me in the arm. ¡°Oy! Akagi, let¡¯s go! The faster we move, the better our chances of finding them alive.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Isabella grabbed my hand as she had done when we¡¯d first met, and dragged me off towards the grey brick stairs leading up to the wall. There were two such staircases, one on either side of the gatehouse, and they were arranged so that they formed a trapezoid with the wall and ground. It was a small detail, but I realized that this was a defensive measure. If an enemy made it through the gate, they would have to walk an extra distance ¨C however small ¨C before they could get to the defenders on the wall. We were headed to the staircase on the left; when we reached it, we found that its base was completely devoid of people. Everyone had either retreated further into the city, or was watching the scene that was still playing out at the foot of the gate. I gritted my teeth, just as Isabella clicked her tongue. ¡°No guards? Sweet.¡± Without slowing down, she hopped onto the steps, and we started to swiftly ascend. When we made our way to the top, we were met by the sight of heavily defended battlements. The wall was lined with soldiers, some with crossbows and others with spears and shields. But where the Elven NPCs in the Garden and Catacombs all looked like elites, dressed in silvery plate armor and thick, red cloaks, these guards were clearly common soldiers, with only chainmail and kettle hats to protect them. Still, they looked competent enough, as the group standing closest to us were all thickly muscled, their sun-tanned skin a testament to the long, grueling hours they spent guarding the city. Of course, Roumen¡¯s defenses would not depend on soldiers alone. Spaced along the wall, with only a few dozen meters between each one, were giant ballistae, oversized crossbows that stood as tall as three grown men and were perhaps twice that as long. As far as I could see, every single one on this side of the wall was loaded and ready to fire. All of this against a single slime. Did we really have any reason to worry? ¡°Isabella¡­¡± ¡°Hey! What are you doing up here? Are you¡­ You¡¯re¡­ You¡¯re Snow Elves.¡± A guard had noticed us and had made his way over, his spear lowered in warning. But when he realized what we were, he stopped dead in his tracks. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The second voice came from a short distance away; the source was a portly man dressed in an obnoxiously shiny suit of armor. He carried his helmet under one arm ¨C the blue and white plumes coming off the top of it suggested that he held an important position. In his free hand, he held a spyglass, and he tapped at it with his finger. He walked with a clear air of superiority about him, and his steel boots clattered loudly as they hit the stones beneath them. ¡°The enemy is only a kilometer away now, get back to your post!¡± ¡°C ¨C captain! These two. Just now, they came up onto the wall.¡± ¡°Women?¡± He scoffed. ¡°What does it matter? Just send them¡­ back¡­ down¡­¡± His face contorted in disgust. I traced his gaze to my ears. ¡°Snow Elves. What the fuck do you want?¡± ¡°We¡¯re here to help¡­ sir.¡± Isabella took extra care to stress the last word. ¡°We don¡¯t need your help, Elf.¡± ¡°Yeah? Then why such a mighty display?¡± Isabella stretched out her arm and gestured at the closest Ballista. ¡°You¡¯ve manned at least a dozen of these. A bit overdone if you can easily deal with the problem.¡± ¡°Pff.¡± The guard captain spat at Isabella¡¯s feet. ¡°How typical of your kind. Always lording about, thinking yourselves superior to everyone else. We are not children, and do not constantly require your help. Leave.¡± ¡°Captain. Forgive my impudence, but not even our knights were able to stop it. They even had enchanters with them, mobile artillery! But they lost! Snow Elves¡­ they¡¯re powerful, right? Perhaps we do need their help.¡± The guard captain ignored the soldier, or at least pretended to do so. He glared at us. ¡°Just fuck off.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Isabella put her hands on her hips, and her voice was indignant. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Why aren¡¯t you willing to accept our help?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re Snow Elf scum, that¡¯s why. The only reason you¡¯re allowed in this city at all is because so many of our idiot commoners ¨C such as this fool here ¨C worship you and your ilk. If I had my way, you¡¯d be run out of here like the pale sewer rats you are.¡± ¡°This is uncalled for, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Yeah? And this is your final warning. Fuck off.¡± From my angle, I saw the corner of Isabella¡¯s lip twitching violently. ¡°Mmmmm. Mmm! So that¡¯s how it¡¯s going to be. Well! Tough luck. We¡¯re still going out there, thank you very much. And thank you in advance for the spyglass.¡± The guard captain narrowed his eyes. ¡°Huh? What are you ¨C¡° Isabella lept forward and brought her knee to the guard captain¡¯s chest, knocking the wind out of him with a sickening crunch. The moment she landed, and before any of the soldiers could react, she reached for the captain¡¯s spyglass and wrenched it from his grasp. ¡°Akagi, come on!¡± A little taken aback by the suddenness of it all ¨C but nonetheless alert ¨C I went after her, following suit as she jumped over the edge of the wall, falling to the ground below. Chapter 8 I landed with a soft thud, the soles of my boots muffled by the grass. I blinked. I had had my doubts, but the fall was completely painless. ¡°And that¡¯s that. What an annoying NPC.¡± ¡°You were right, Isabella. The fall didn¡¯t hurt at all.¡± I looked back to where we¡¯d jumped. It was about ten meters up, give or take. ¡°So I was!¡± Ignoring the yelling on the wall behind us, Isabella brought the spyglass to her eye and scanned the horizon. Meanwhile, I examined the lay of the land. The area outside Roumen was a large, open plain with only a few trees dotted around it. Further out, in the distance beyond, was the dark blue outline of a mountain range. ¡°Akagi. I see it.¡± She handed me the spyglass. ¡°But there¡¯s more. Take a look, though make it quick.¡± I looked. ¡°Woah. This magnification is really high.¡± ¡°Yes. But here.¡± I felt Isabella pushing at the spyglass, adjusting it so that it was pointing in the right direction. ¡°I think it¡¯s¡­ about¡­ here.¡± And there it was. In the distance, oozing along at an alarming pace, was a giant green slime. While I couldn¡¯t tell for sure, I estimated from the tree it passed by that it stood ¨C or perhaps slimed¡­ blobbed? ¨C about as tall as the walls behind us. It was heading in our direction, a faceless, emotionless monster on an unstoppable rampage. But that was not all. As I focused, I noticed something running ahead of the slime. My heart dropped. It was an armored man, and he was carrying what looked like a child on his back. The man ¨C one of the knights, I presumed ¨C had discarded his weapon in an attempt to lighten his load. Burdened by his charge, however, he was only barely able to outpace the slime. With the amount of distance the knight still had to cover before he could reach the wall, there was little to no chance that the pair would make it. Not unless... ¡°Isabella! Let¡¯s go.¡± She nodded her affirmation, a determined look on her face. With no further prompting, the two of us darted off towards the slime. But it was hardly fast enough. At this rate, it would be two or three minutes before we got there. And by then, it could be too late. Isabella had been thinking the same thing. ¡°Akagi, you know how Elves are supposed to be able to run really fast?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well we just proved my theory that we can safely fall from height, right? Our legs must be pretty sturdy. Wanna try running faster?¡± ¡°How?¡± As far as I could tell, we were already running as fast as we were able to. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe¡­ maybe just try?¡± What was I supposed to do with advice like that? Try to run faster? How would that work? Could I just will my legs to move faster? There was no way that that could¨C I was speeding up. And speeding up. Before I knew it, I was running far faster than the average Human could. Just how fast were we going? 40 kilometers an hour? That was around the record Human speed! This was ridiculous; how was it happening? Beside me, Isabella was sprinting at the exact same pace, a look of pure exhilaration on her face. ¡°This is awesome!¡± ¡°How are we doing this?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s all in the head.¡± ¡°What, like we hadn''t adjusted to these bodies or something?¡± ¡°Yeah. Maybe our brains don''t know what Elves are capable of, so we defaulted to what we thought would be our quickest pace. From our real lives.¡± "...Huh." It was certainly food for thought. Did Elves have other abilities that we hadn¡¯t discovered yet? Things that Humans couldn¡¯t do, that our Human minds would never think to try?Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. But no, now was not the time to mull on this. We had a task at hand. ¡°Isabella, are we close enough to get a tooltip yet?¡± ¡°No, just tried and it says we need to be within 500 meters¡­ but we should be able to soon!¡± The wind rushed past us as we sprinted ahead, drowning out the sounds from the wall, of the guards¡¯ angered disbelief at what we had done and what we were doing. I was actually a bit surprised that they hadn¡¯t fired their bows at us... ¡°Akagi, we¡¯re in range!¡± Show tooltip!
Green Slime Level: 23 Kept in large numbers near almost every major Human city, slimes are farmed for the sweet gel they leave behind them when they move. This gel, which is easily broken down into its component sugars, has nearly eliminated the need for the farming or importation of sugarcane. While they are usually very passive creatures, slimes are known to retaliate when attacked, swallowing their aggressors whole. This monster is currently carrying additional loot and PVP EXP from killing the following players: LuBuLovesYou ¨C Level 7 Human Warrior Tauschen ¨C Level 7 Human Rogue Lettuce ¨C Level 7 Human Mage Swordsman_Kirito ¨C Level 6 Human Mage Gorgon ¨C Level 6 Human Warrior (¡­ and 43 not listed. Show more?)
Isabella laughed and drew her sword. ¡°48 players! That¡¯s almost two-and-a-half grand¡¯s worth of characters right there. From a slime!¡± Grimacing, I reached behind my back and removed my staff from its sling, I feel for you, friends¡­ We could now barely make out the knight¡¯s face; he had seen us, and he looked on the verge of tears from relief. ¡°I think we¡¯re just over 100 meters out now, so let¡¯s stop here! I¡¯m going to try using Hellfyre on the slime.¡± ¡°Alright!¡± As I readied my staff, Isabella waved her sword over her head, motioning for the knight to run towards us. It wasn¡¯t entirely necessary, as he was already doing so, but... ¡°Hey, over here! Over he¨C¡± Isabella stopped as a shrill whistling sound met our ears. It came from behind us and, though it was no louder than a whisper at first, it was quickly growing in volume. Isabella turned around to find its source. I would have done so as well, were it not for the approaching slime¡­ The sound reached its peakas it passed overhead. I looked up, and my eyes found the cause. ¡°No way.¡± The spear fell short of the slime and struck only meters away from the knight, raising a shower of dirt where it tore into the ground. The knight lost his balance from the shock... and fell. No! The whistling started again. ¡°Are you fucking serious?! A ballista? They could hit us!¡± My mind was racing. It seemed that as far as the guards were concerned, there were three enemies out here, along with only one ally. With odds like that... The slime was gaining on the knight. Meanwhile, hewas struggling to pick himself up, and there were only a few precious seconds left. ¡°Isabella, get to him! I¡¯ll stop this thing!¡± I whipped myself around. Hellfyre! Though I hadn¡¯t had time to aim, the giant cloud of flame was able to catch the incoming spear in its wake. The whistling stopped immediately. I breathed a sigh of relief. However, I stayed on guard, and tightly gripped my staff. And just as well ¨C only seconds later, the whistling began anew. ¡°Akagi, I¡¯ve got them!¡± Good. I readied myself, listening to the sound of the approaching spear, judging the distance based on the volume¡­ Hellfyre! Again, the spear was turned to ash. I glanced at my mana bar. Unfortunately, I would not be able to keep this up. At this rate, I would only be able to stop ten or more shots. And there was still the monster behind us! The whistling started again, and another spear was on its way. Wards, wards. Was there a way to lay a static ward? ¡°Akagi, we¡¯re reaaaally close to you now! The slime is¡­ not far behind me! Either you kill it or you have to start running!¡± If it came to it, I would have to focus on the slime first. While the spears were terrifying, they posed a lower risk than the slime. But wait. The sound. Was it¡­ layered?! Shit! They¡¯d fired more than one ballista this time. But perhaps the slime still posed the greater risk? No, I couldn¡¯t count on that! I was at wit¡¯s end; I was not a gambling man, but there was no way I could avoid this bet. A bet that would likely doom us either way I chose. But then again. Why was I getting so panicked about this? As real as it seemed, this was all just a game. The knight and the child were nothing more than lifeless NPCs. The only things really at risk were Isabella and my''scharacters. ¡°Akagi!¡± Isabella reached me, the child on her back and the soldier at her side. I glanced at them. The child. It was a girl, with dark red hair and emerald green eyes. Somehow, I remembered the elderly man crying out near the gates. ¡°My granddaughter, my son! Please! Please, someone help me find them! They both have red hair¡­ and green eyes¡­ Someone¡­¡± My vision blurred. A gamble? Betting? If Emi¡¯s life were placed in someone else¡¯s hands, I would kill them if they left it up to chance. In that moment, all reason disappeared. In that moment, I forgot I was in a game. Fuck. Everything. I raised my staff and brought it down with all my might, plunging its base into the earth. Ward! Ward! Ward! Light engulfed us. And now¡­ I was gripping my staff so tightly that my fingers were beginning to ache, but I continued pushing down, driving the staff as deep into the ground as I could. Lowering my head out of instinct, I prepared myself for what was going to happen next. Time itself seemed to stop. The sounds around me¡­ of the spears whistling through the air; of the ground rumbling beneath us as the monster approached; of Isabella, the knight, and the girl, crying out in terror¡­ All of it faded away. I could hear nothing, nothing but my own beating heart. I closed my eyes. ... Hellfyre.