Thats So Draven
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Popular Protagonist
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- Posted: Wed, 01 Jan 2014 21:05:41 +0000
I tapped the power button and listened to the familiar startup hum of my handmade computer. The dark glow of my monitor lit up my room. I had pulled my heavy blinds past my bay windows to block out the sunlight from messing with my vision. I rolled my neck and blinked a few times as my eyes adjusted to the bright startup screen. I picked up the instruction booklet and flipped to the hardware installation section.
I glanced at the trademarked "Saryn" gaming glasses. They looked like normal glasses but without a bottom frame. They also had a wireless receiver built into the right hinge. At the end of the hinges there are laser receivers that read brain activity. I plugged in the wireless router for the glasses into my computer and touched the sync button as instructed. I put on the glasses and a menu appeared in my vision.
The glasses read my thoughts and selected the sync button on the menu. A spinning circle icon appeared signifying the sync process was ongoing. The icon disappeared and I took off the glasses. I pulled up the game launcher on my computer and sighed as it updated from closed beta into official release number one.
"Finally," I said, "they implemented the gaming glasses."
As I waited for the file to be downloaded, I leaned back in my chair and read through the things that were going to be enabled now that the glasses were required. Full dive technology meant that the gamer would be under an effect like sleep paralysis while playing. My computer made a clicking sound telling me it was done updating.
I put on the Saryn glasses and laid down in my bed. A launcher menu appeared on the glasses. I selected the launch option and a rainbow of colors flashed before my eyes. My body loosened up as the paralysis set in. I tried moving my arm but nothing happened.
"So it is legitimate," I thought.
Numbers and letters and symbols cascaded past my eyes and flashed into light. A login screen appeared. I typed in my normal username "Akoumi" using the on screen keyboard. I did the same for my password. "Login successful!" The screen said and my vision flashed to white again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The light faded and I found myself at the middle of the main town's square. I looked at my own hands that had been digitally copied and virtually replicated. I gripped tightly and looked up to find the town was exactly the same as the beta. I really was in the realm of Deem.
I walked around in order to get used to the feeling. I was wearing horribly low level armor. I moved my hand in a circle in order to pull up the character menu. I checked my inventory for the item the top fifty highest leveled beta testers were supposed to receive.
It was supposed to be an item that allowed the holder to create their own weapon, no materials limiter. I found the item in the misc. compartment. I had worked on the design of the sword I was going to create for the past month; drawing it, coloring it, imagining its perks, how I would use it, perfecting it. I opened the weapon builder menu from the item and reimagined it. The sword appeared on the menu.
It had a three foot long blade that was double edged. It was a deep, dark blue that was nearly black. The lower edges were serrated for extra damage and air resistance. The cross guard was curved towards the blade with a symbol of three interlocking triangles on it. The grip was the same color as the blade and the cross guard with an upside down pyramid for the pommel at the end. The grip was short for the purpose of one handing. The metal that the blade was made out of was the heaviest and therefore the one with the most power and endurance. "Aetherore" it was called.
Aetherore also added a special effect to the weapon that was made of it; The weapon could become enchanted with one of the five elements in the game: fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. I picked lightning and watched as the sword lit up with electricity. There was one more slot for an add-on which I filled with a speed V crystal.
I glanced over every aspect of the newly made sword. The weapon was only missing a name. "Astral Fox" I named it and selected the finished button. The Astral Fox appeared in my weapons inventory. The thing about the weapon beta testers make is that it levels up with the player so it's never just decision when the player gets to a higher level. I equipped the Astral Fox and swong it a few times.
"Abel!" I heard someone shouted towards me, using my name in real life.
I turned around to find my friend, Adrian, standing behind me.
"Hey man don't use my IRL name when we're playing on Aether Realm Online," I replied.
"Oh," he laughed. "I'm Misaka in this world then."
"Akoumi," I said.
"Wait," Misaka said. He looked at my sword. "Is that a custom weapon?"
I nodded."Just finished making it when you saw me," I replied.
"You never told me you're a beta tester," Misaka said.
I nodded. I sheathed Astral Fox on my back. "Want to join me for some experience farming down in the valley?" I asked him.
"Why not?" Misaka said. "I'm only level one anyways. Did you get to keep your beta tester level?"
"Yup," I replied. "Level twelve."
I lied. I was actually level twenty-one. I was the highest level player during the beta test. I lied because the difference in level one to ten wasn't much, but from level ten to twenty was impossibly harder.
"Then why are we wearing the same type of clothes?" He asked.
"When the server updated to official release, they cleared everyone's inventory," I replied.
I spun my hand in a circle and selected the party option. I touched the invite button and a request appeared in front of Misaka. He touched the green thumbs up and he joined my party. A crown appeared next to my name on my life bar signifying that I was party leader. Misaka's life bar appeared below mine.
"Follow me," I told him.
I sprinted out of the now crowded town square and down a few side alleys. We got to the city gates and walked out. Right as we took a step out a message displayed in front of us that read "You are leaving a safe zone. You will new feel harm and can be killed."
"That doesn't sound good," Misaka said to me.
"Yeah," I replied. "That wasn't in the beta."
"This is all digital, right?"
"Yeah."
"So did it hurt when you got hit in the beta?"
"No."
"So would it hurt if I did this?" Misaka punched me hard in the shoulder.
Pain exploded in my shoulder. "Why did that hurt?" I shouted. "How should it? This is just a video game. I could log out at anytime and not be harmed a bit."
I swiped my hand in a circle and touched the options menu. I looked for the log out button. I scrolled up and down, finding nothing. I checked all the other menus for the button but to no avail: there was no logout button.
"There isn't a logout option," I said grimly. I rubbed my head. "Jeez, I thought that there wouldn't be such a major buff like this in the official release."
"Hopefully there will be an explanation soon," Misaka said. "In the meantime, we can hit up those mobs you were talking about."
"Sure," I said.
I ran down the dirt path and turned off it suddenly. I ran through some tall gas until the ground dropped off. I slid down the steep hill and pulled out my sword. Ten level six skeletons spawned in a flash of red light.
I landed ready for battle at the end off the hill. I heard Misaka shout as he found the ground drop off. He tumbled down the hill, smashing into a tree at the end.
"Dude, you suck," I laughed.
He got up and walked over to next me. "Shut up," he said and pulled out his starter sword. "How does the melee system work in this game?"
"Dodge and block their attacks as much as possible and attack them when you see an opening. Or you can just head on attack them."
"No, like, the attacking style."
"Hold your weapon in a ready stand. Concentrate on your weapon. All your attacks have a warm-up, but most are very slight: milliseconds at most for most. All your actions are inputted and a skill will be activated while you are attacking. When you feel the skill activates, snag onto it and ride it all the way through." I explained. It was a rather difficult melee system when you start out.
I stood in my stance with Astral Fox outstretched to my side. I ran at a skeleton and swung. The skeleton's life bar rocketed down to nothing and shattered along with its body.
"You see?" I asked him. Astral Fox glowed as it skipped the many levels from base level to my level.
Misaka stood in a samurai style stance and aimed at a skeleton. He ran at it and stabbed forward. The skeleton clashed blades with him. He broke away and swung again. This time, he hit the skeleton, dealing a small amount of damage. He continued the attack string, dealing out more and more damage to the skeleton. The skeleton hit his blade just as Misaka was activating an attack skill. It flew out of his hand and impaled itself into the ground ten feet away.
The skeleton cut Misaka in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. I pulled Misaka's blade out of the ground and the it to him. He caught it and blocked the skeletons attack. He stabbed forward and caught the skeleton in the mouth with the point of his blade. The skeleton shattered as it died.
A battle completion menu appeared in front of Misaka. "Woo!" He exclaimed. "I leveled up!"
"Nice job," I said and put out my fist. We punched each other's fist and laughed. "How bad did the skeleton's attack hurt?"
"A damn lot!" He laughed.
"I hope the bug gets fixed soon," I said. "We have school tomorrow."
A skeleton came up behind me. I spun and felt the spin skill activate. I ripped Astral Fox around and slashed through the skeleton's spear, breaking the weapon and shattering the skeleton.
"Let's finish these guys," I said and leapt at another skeleton.
We were fighting the remaining seven skeletons for about ten minutes when suddenly a siren went off. I looked towards the direction of the siren just as an alert appeared in front of me. "Teleporting all to Pristine."
"Pristine is the spawn town," I said. "Is this when they're announcing the bug?"
"Probably," Misaka replied.
There was a flash of red light as we were teleported. I find myself in a huge crowd. It looked like everyone of the five thousand that bought the official game was here. It was a mass of confusion and panic. A figure appeared at the top of the tower in the middle of Pristine.
"Who's that?" Someone asked.
"Maybe it's the admin!" Another shouted in reply.
"Why can't we see this face?"
"Why is he up there?"
"Silence!" A deep voice echoed throughout the town square.
A hush feel over the crowd.
"I bet you are all wondering why I have gathered you here," the voice said. "Some may have a few suspicions about the option missing in your menus. The log out button."
There was an audible gasp as everyone checked their menus.
"Don't worry though," the admin said. "This isn't a glitch. This is how it's meant to be."
A chill ran down my spine. "Why!" I shouted.
"Simple: I want to feel what its like to be God," he shouted.
Everyone silenced.
He continued. "Get accustomed to this world, for you will be staying here for a while. The only way that you can escape this world is by traveling down to the dungeon's lowest floor, floor 99, and defeating the final boss. Every floor has a boss awaiting you, and each one is exponentially stronger than the last."
"He's not lying," I whispered to Misaka. "During the beta test I barely made it past the twelfth boss after dying nearly eight times."
"Also!" the admin called. "Deaths in this game are permanent. However, you have a chance at revival only once. If you do end up dying, both your lives, living and virtual, will cease to exist."
"What the hell!" Someone shouted out.
"You're a freak!" Another called.
Panic and madness spread throughout the crowd as the admin disappeared in a flash of golden light.
"Let's get out of here," I said and grabbed Misaka by his collar. He followed close behind me as we made our way through the crowd. Everyone was shocked and grief stricken by the sudden turn off events. We made it back out of the city.
"Alright," he said, "explain everything you know about the world from the beta."
I pulled up the map on my menu. "I'll explain the game along the way," I said.
"Along the way to where?" Asked Misaka.
"To the main village where the entrance to the dungeon is," I replied.
"How far out is it?" He asked.
"Maybe three days?" I replied.
"What!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah," I showed him the world map. "The surface is about twenty thousand square miles."
"That's crazy," he replied. "What about dungeon levels?"
"They're like an upside down pyramid," I replied. "They get smaller the deeper you go down. I think level 99 is rumored to be around one hundred square miles."
"Let's not waste any time then," Misaka said. We took off running in the direction of the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I told Misaka all about the rules and guidelines of A.R.O. From enemy and NPC AI to the looting system to the weapon classes.
"NPCs are not allowed to leave the zone they are assigned and cannot attack you. Most surface enemies are weak compared to dungeon monsters, which have random and unpredictable attack patterns and abilities. Loot is also a set system that assigns certain monsters certain drop rates for specific items. For example, a low level skeleton has a nearly zero percent chance to drop a rare item while a high level dungeon boss had a nearly one hundred percent chance to drop a unique and rare item.
"Weapons all had different stats. No two weapons had the same statistics. There is also a huge difference in one handed to two handed weapons. Two handed weapons may have more weight than a dagger but have a huge damage difference. There are six base weapon types: projectile, launcher, blade, staff, blunt, and breath. (Breath weapons are monster-specific.)
"There are two types of armor: light and heavy. Light allows for quick movement and full range of motion. Heavy allows for taking heavy hits and are better suited for tank-type players. Light armor has a low protection rating and a high speed rating, while heavy had the opposite." I told him while we were sitting around a campfire one day.
Over the course of the journey, Misaka and I leveled up quite a few times. I ended up becoming level 33 and Misaka became level 10. He also looted a new sword from a surface boss. It was a gold colored blade with a black hilt. The blade was shaped like a Greek kopis.
Misaka had trouble swinging it at first because it's weight level was much higher than his limit. It was a rather powerful weapon although it was one handed like my Astral Fox.
During his first battle using it, he activated a combo skill but lost his balance from the weight and accidentally slipped. The low level cobra type monster poisoned him and I had to swap out with him and kill it.
We eventually made it to the huge city. It was called "Terra". In the middle of the town is the entrance to the dungeon. The entrance is a giant, Roman-style temple with one enormous metal door. I approached the door once and it gave me an alert saying "Are you sure you want to enter dungeon level __?" At the blank was a scroll bar with only one option available: 01. Terra was mostly empty except for the NPCs, who kept quiet until you looked at them.
We did simple quests around the city which boosted us up three levels each. We had a combined total of around forty thousand gold after all the quests had been finished.
One of the NPCs was selling rare enchanted armor for high prices. I bought a lightweight midnight blue cloak that boosted my speed and strength by ten points. The NPC called it the "Cloak of Galaxies".
I equipped it and sheathed the Astral Fox on my side for easier access. The cloak also hid my custom weapon from the unwanted glare of the few players that hated the beta testers.
"Misaka," I told him on the eighth day since the game release, "we might want to start heading out from this city. It's getting really crowded now that people found out about the dungeon's entrance is here."
"Alright," he scratched guys head. "But what if we need to come back here?"
"Check your map," I said and pulled up mine. "There should be an option called 'safe zone warp'. Pristine and Terra should be on there."
"Yup," Misaka replied, "they are."
"Whenever you're in a safe zone, you are allowed to teleport to any surface city or town." I explained. "To exit from the dungeon, you need a teleport spell or teleport scroll."
"I see I see."
There was a silence as we both checked our inventories.
"How many have died?" Misaka asked out of no where.
The question took me by surprise. "Twenty-four" I replied. "Eighteen were suicides too."
"We need to put a stop to this madness," he told me.
I nodded. "The only way we'll be able to do that is if we get ourselves to a high enough level to take on bosses and progress down the dungeon." I said.
"Let's hit up that next city then," he replied.
We traveled to all the surrounding cities, completing quests and leveling up along the way. Finally, after two months of traveling around and setting up teleports in far away cities and completing random quests, I had reached level fifty-nine and Misaka reached level thirty-five.
"Akoumi," he looked at me while we were eating at a random city some hundred miles away from Terra. "Do you think we can try the dungeon now? I've heard there's a team of high level players that is planning on starting the descension into the dungeon. Their highest level player is thirty-six."
"Do you really want to?" I asked. "There's a huge chance that you'll die."
"It doesn't matter," he said. "I just want to stop the deaths already."
"That's very noble off you except that if you die, you'll just become one of the many lost in the graveyard," I responded truthfully. "Although, I did defeat the first boss when I was only level nine."
"So I should be fine! I'm level thirty six!" He exclaimed. "I'm more than a match for a measly level one boss!"
"Fine," I replied. "We'll leave for Terra tomorrow morning. I still have a few quests I need to turn in."
He smiled excitedly at me. "Woo! Yeah!" He shouted. The few players in the inn stared at him until he sat back down.
Misaka was wearing his new gold colored medium weight half plate armor. His stats were nicely balanced and his setup was powerful.
He brushed his overgrown brunette hair to the side and stared at me with pure vigor with his green eyes. Wait. Green eyes?
"I thought your eyes were brown," I said.
"They were," he replied. "I didn't like them so I got them changed in one of the side quests at this town."
"That's pretty ill," I said. "I like my eyes though, all silver and that kinda stuff." I laughed as I ran out of words to say.
"Are you still taller than me?" Misaka asked.
I stood up. "I don't doubt it," I replied. "I'm six foot, two."
He stood up. I stared straight ahead and find myself looking at his eyebrows.
"I'm closing in," he laughed as we both sat down.
The NPC waitress set down our food on the table. I had ordered roast venison and Misaka had a stuffed pineapple stew.
"How do you like those?" I asked him. Stuffed pineapples are hollowed out pineapples with beef stew poured inside and chunks of pineapple thrown in.
"I dunno," he replied. "It tastes good and fills your hunger bar for quite a while too."
"You're weird," I laughed.
"It works," he replied and we started eating. "I wonder how the Saryn glasses got the taste preferences."
"I mean it has lasers that read your brain's signals and can interpret them into code which then translates into virtual brain waves," I told him.
"That's crazy," he leaned back in his chair. "Especially how they even can create a feeling of pain even though we're in a virtual world."
I nodded. "People in the real world must be going crazy," I said after a while.
"Yeah," Misaka looked up, "my parents will probably never let me play video games again. That is, if we even get out of here."
"I don't know about everyone else but I like it here," I said. "Living here is nice and easy. Kill monsters, get money, buy food, buy a house. It's a lot simpler than real life." I set down my utensils and leaned back in my chair.
"Yeah it's nice but people are dying. Nobody is being born, only dying." Misaka said slowly.
I was silent. "I'm gonna go turn in some quests," I said, "I'll meet you at the inn later tonight. I'll probably be back late so don't wait on me."
"Sure," Misaka said and continued eating his stuffed pineapple. I walked out of the inn and into the cold night. I pulled up my map and walked towards one of the quest giver NPCs.
For around two hours I walked around the city turning in high level quests. After I was done, I walked out of the city and unsheathed Astral Fox. After turning in the quests, I was now level sixty one,a high enough level to accept a surface boss fight quest. I set the boss fight as active and walked towards it.
Soon enough, I made it to the quest location. It was a temple ruin site and the quest boss was supposed to appear at the middle of the ruins. I reached the middle after climbing up a long flight of stairs. A red flag of light lit up the surrounding area.
I spun Astral Fox and equipped my Cloak of Galaxies. The minotaur appeared with its executioner axe in hand. The minotaur's fur was golden and it was around fifteen feet tall. It's axe was ten feet long. I motioned my hand the way the spell book had instructed and red tunes appeared around my arm. I pushed my arm forward and a fireball flung out of the runes.
The fireball struck the minotaur in the chest, knocking it off guard. I readied my sword and ran at it. I swing Astral Fox upwards and a combo skill activated. I jumped up and spun three times, cutting into the minotaur deeply. It roared and setting its fist at me, catching me in the side. The blow sent me flying into a marble pillar.
It cracked and the top half fell to the side of me, barely missing. The one hit brought my life bar down eleven percent. It was slowly but constantly at two hundred points every thirty seconds. I picked Astral Fox back up and sped at the minotaur. It swung its axe down at me.
I pulled Astral Fox up just in time to deflect it to the side at the cost of three percent. I jumped forward and brought my blade down on the minotaur's head. It dug in deep, leaving me hanging in front of the minotaur's eyes. It roared and I saw golden light being drawn into its mouth.
"Breath attack!" I thought and pulled Astral Fox out and fell to the ground.
The minotaur roared once more and sent out a fire type breath attack. I turned my midnight blue blade sideways and watched as it cut the breath attack in two. The minotaur's four life bars were down to two, meaning it was supposed to change colors and become stronger.
Red aura surrounded the minotaur and the fur changed red and the axe glowed. I charged the minotaur and rolled to the side right as it's axe was inches from me. I found myself behind the confused minotaur.
"Here's my chance!" I said to myself and started to charge up my powerhouse move: the midnight pentagram. Astral Fox glowed black as the minotaur turned to face me. The skill activated and I boosted forward, through the minotaur. I turned and did it again and again and again and again. Upon the fifth and final dash, a pentagram appeared around the minotaur. It closed in and exploded in a fury of color. The minotaur's life bars depleted to zero and disappeared along with its body.
I sighed and fell over. I glanced at my life bar. "Barely made it," I said. It was on five percent. While I was on the ground, I checked the loot.
"Nevergreen Boots," I read. "Boosts your power and speed by fifteen points. High level loot."
I equipped them and used a healing spell to bring my life back to fifty percent. I stood up and started back towards the city. Along the way, I saw a party of four players farming some experience on some higher level monsters. I waved to them and continued on my way.
I made it back to the city at midnight. I found the quest giver NPC and turned in the quest. Although the experience reward was high, it wasn't high enough to boost me another level. I ran my fingers through my hair and looked around for the inn we were staying at.
After wandering around the streets for a while, I was back at the inn. I walked in slowly to conserve as much energy as possible. My health bar was just approaching ninety percent. I walked into the room and unlocked the door. I locked the door and found Misaka asleep on his bed. I swapped out of my street clothes and into some simple non combat clothes.
The clothes I changed into was a blue long sleeve shirt and sweat pant style bottoms. I laid down on my bed and passed out. The dreaming engine in ARO expanded on whatever you were thinking about right before sleep, but since I want thinking about much of anything, I had a blank dream.
I glanced at the trademarked "Saryn" gaming glasses. They looked like normal glasses but without a bottom frame. They also had a wireless receiver built into the right hinge. At the end of the hinges there are laser receivers that read brain activity. I plugged in the wireless router for the glasses into my computer and touched the sync button as instructed. I put on the glasses and a menu appeared in my vision.
The glasses read my thoughts and selected the sync button on the menu. A spinning circle icon appeared signifying the sync process was ongoing. The icon disappeared and I took off the glasses. I pulled up the game launcher on my computer and sighed as it updated from closed beta into official release number one.
"Finally," I said, "they implemented the gaming glasses."
As I waited for the file to be downloaded, I leaned back in my chair and read through the things that were going to be enabled now that the glasses were required. Full dive technology meant that the gamer would be under an effect like sleep paralysis while playing. My computer made a clicking sound telling me it was done updating.
I put on the Saryn glasses and laid down in my bed. A launcher menu appeared on the glasses. I selected the launch option and a rainbow of colors flashed before my eyes. My body loosened up as the paralysis set in. I tried moving my arm but nothing happened.
"So it is legitimate," I thought.
Numbers and letters and symbols cascaded past my eyes and flashed into light. A login screen appeared. I typed in my normal username "Akoumi" using the on screen keyboard. I did the same for my password. "Login successful!" The screen said and my vision flashed to white again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The light faded and I found myself at the middle of the main town's square. I looked at my own hands that had been digitally copied and virtually replicated. I gripped tightly and looked up to find the town was exactly the same as the beta. I really was in the realm of Deem.
I walked around in order to get used to the feeling. I was wearing horribly low level armor. I moved my hand in a circle in order to pull up the character menu. I checked my inventory for the item the top fifty highest leveled beta testers were supposed to receive.
It was supposed to be an item that allowed the holder to create their own weapon, no materials limiter. I found the item in the misc. compartment. I had worked on the design of the sword I was going to create for the past month; drawing it, coloring it, imagining its perks, how I would use it, perfecting it. I opened the weapon builder menu from the item and reimagined it. The sword appeared on the menu.
It had a three foot long blade that was double edged. It was a deep, dark blue that was nearly black. The lower edges were serrated for extra damage and air resistance. The cross guard was curved towards the blade with a symbol of three interlocking triangles on it. The grip was the same color as the blade and the cross guard with an upside down pyramid for the pommel at the end. The grip was short for the purpose of one handing. The metal that the blade was made out of was the heaviest and therefore the one with the most power and endurance. "Aetherore" it was called.
Aetherore also added a special effect to the weapon that was made of it; The weapon could become enchanted with one of the five elements in the game: fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. I picked lightning and watched as the sword lit up with electricity. There was one more slot for an add-on which I filled with a speed V crystal.
I glanced over every aspect of the newly made sword. The weapon was only missing a name. "Astral Fox" I named it and selected the finished button. The Astral Fox appeared in my weapons inventory. The thing about the weapon beta testers make is that it levels up with the player so it's never just decision when the player gets to a higher level. I equipped the Astral Fox and swong it a few times.
"Abel!" I heard someone shouted towards me, using my name in real life.
I turned around to find my friend, Adrian, standing behind me.
"Hey man don't use my IRL name when we're playing on Aether Realm Online," I replied.
"Oh," he laughed. "I'm Misaka in this world then."
"Akoumi," I said.
"Wait," Misaka said. He looked at my sword. "Is that a custom weapon?"
I nodded."Just finished making it when you saw me," I replied.
"You never told me you're a beta tester," Misaka said.
I nodded. I sheathed Astral Fox on my back. "Want to join me for some experience farming down in the valley?" I asked him.
"Why not?" Misaka said. "I'm only level one anyways. Did you get to keep your beta tester level?"
"Yup," I replied. "Level twelve."
I lied. I was actually level twenty-one. I was the highest level player during the beta test. I lied because the difference in level one to ten wasn't much, but from level ten to twenty was impossibly harder.
"Then why are we wearing the same type of clothes?" He asked.
"When the server updated to official release, they cleared everyone's inventory," I replied.
I spun my hand in a circle and selected the party option. I touched the invite button and a request appeared in front of Misaka. He touched the green thumbs up and he joined my party. A crown appeared next to my name on my life bar signifying that I was party leader. Misaka's life bar appeared below mine.
"Follow me," I told him.
I sprinted out of the now crowded town square and down a few side alleys. We got to the city gates and walked out. Right as we took a step out a message displayed in front of us that read "You are leaving a safe zone. You will new feel harm and can be killed."
"That doesn't sound good," Misaka said to me.
"Yeah," I replied. "That wasn't in the beta."
"This is all digital, right?"
"Yeah."
"So did it hurt when you got hit in the beta?"
"No."
"So would it hurt if I did this?" Misaka punched me hard in the shoulder.
Pain exploded in my shoulder. "Why did that hurt?" I shouted. "How should it? This is just a video game. I could log out at anytime and not be harmed a bit."
I swiped my hand in a circle and touched the options menu. I looked for the log out button. I scrolled up and down, finding nothing. I checked all the other menus for the button but to no avail: there was no logout button.
"There isn't a logout option," I said grimly. I rubbed my head. "Jeez, I thought that there wouldn't be such a major buff like this in the official release."
"Hopefully there will be an explanation soon," Misaka said. "In the meantime, we can hit up those mobs you were talking about."
"Sure," I said.
I ran down the dirt path and turned off it suddenly. I ran through some tall gas until the ground dropped off. I slid down the steep hill and pulled out my sword. Ten level six skeletons spawned in a flash of red light.
I landed ready for battle at the end off the hill. I heard Misaka shout as he found the ground drop off. He tumbled down the hill, smashing into a tree at the end.
"Dude, you suck," I laughed.
He got up and walked over to next me. "Shut up," he said and pulled out his starter sword. "How does the melee system work in this game?"
"Dodge and block their attacks as much as possible and attack them when you see an opening. Or you can just head on attack them."
"No, like, the attacking style."
"Hold your weapon in a ready stand. Concentrate on your weapon. All your attacks have a warm-up, but most are very slight: milliseconds at most for most. All your actions are inputted and a skill will be activated while you are attacking. When you feel the skill activates, snag onto it and ride it all the way through." I explained. It was a rather difficult melee system when you start out.
I stood in my stance with Astral Fox outstretched to my side. I ran at a skeleton and swung. The skeleton's life bar rocketed down to nothing and shattered along with its body.
"You see?" I asked him. Astral Fox glowed as it skipped the many levels from base level to my level.
Misaka stood in a samurai style stance and aimed at a skeleton. He ran at it and stabbed forward. The skeleton clashed blades with him. He broke away and swung again. This time, he hit the skeleton, dealing a small amount of damage. He continued the attack string, dealing out more and more damage to the skeleton. The skeleton hit his blade just as Misaka was activating an attack skill. It flew out of his hand and impaled itself into the ground ten feet away.
The skeleton cut Misaka in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. I pulled Misaka's blade out of the ground and the it to him. He caught it and blocked the skeletons attack. He stabbed forward and caught the skeleton in the mouth with the point of his blade. The skeleton shattered as it died.
A battle completion menu appeared in front of Misaka. "Woo!" He exclaimed. "I leveled up!"
"Nice job," I said and put out my fist. We punched each other's fist and laughed. "How bad did the skeleton's attack hurt?"
"A damn lot!" He laughed.
"I hope the bug gets fixed soon," I said. "We have school tomorrow."
A skeleton came up behind me. I spun and felt the spin skill activate. I ripped Astral Fox around and slashed through the skeleton's spear, breaking the weapon and shattering the skeleton.
"Let's finish these guys," I said and leapt at another skeleton.
We were fighting the remaining seven skeletons for about ten minutes when suddenly a siren went off. I looked towards the direction of the siren just as an alert appeared in front of me. "Teleporting all to Pristine."
"Pristine is the spawn town," I said. "Is this when they're announcing the bug?"
"Probably," Misaka replied.
There was a flash of red light as we were teleported. I find myself in a huge crowd. It looked like everyone of the five thousand that bought the official game was here. It was a mass of confusion and panic. A figure appeared at the top of the tower in the middle of Pristine.
"Who's that?" Someone asked.
"Maybe it's the admin!" Another shouted in reply.
"Why can't we see this face?"
"Why is he up there?"
"Silence!" A deep voice echoed throughout the town square.
A hush feel over the crowd.
"I bet you are all wondering why I have gathered you here," the voice said. "Some may have a few suspicions about the option missing in your menus. The log out button."
There was an audible gasp as everyone checked their menus.
"Don't worry though," the admin said. "This isn't a glitch. This is how it's meant to be."
A chill ran down my spine. "Why!" I shouted.
"Simple: I want to feel what its like to be God," he shouted.
Everyone silenced.
He continued. "Get accustomed to this world, for you will be staying here for a while. The only way that you can escape this world is by traveling down to the dungeon's lowest floor, floor 99, and defeating the final boss. Every floor has a boss awaiting you, and each one is exponentially stronger than the last."
"He's not lying," I whispered to Misaka. "During the beta test I barely made it past the twelfth boss after dying nearly eight times."
"Also!" the admin called. "Deaths in this game are permanent. However, you have a chance at revival only once. If you do end up dying, both your lives, living and virtual, will cease to exist."
"What the hell!" Someone shouted out.
"You're a freak!" Another called.
Panic and madness spread throughout the crowd as the admin disappeared in a flash of golden light.
"Let's get out of here," I said and grabbed Misaka by his collar. He followed close behind me as we made our way through the crowd. Everyone was shocked and grief stricken by the sudden turn off events. We made it back out of the city.
"Alright," he said, "explain everything you know about the world from the beta."
I pulled up the map on my menu. "I'll explain the game along the way," I said.
"Along the way to where?" Asked Misaka.
"To the main village where the entrance to the dungeon is," I replied.
"How far out is it?" He asked.
"Maybe three days?" I replied.
"What!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah," I showed him the world map. "The surface is about twenty thousand square miles."
"That's crazy," he replied. "What about dungeon levels?"
"They're like an upside down pyramid," I replied. "They get smaller the deeper you go down. I think level 99 is rumored to be around one hundred square miles."
"Let's not waste any time then," Misaka said. We took off running in the direction of the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I told Misaka all about the rules and guidelines of A.R.O. From enemy and NPC AI to the looting system to the weapon classes.
"NPCs are not allowed to leave the zone they are assigned and cannot attack you. Most surface enemies are weak compared to dungeon monsters, which have random and unpredictable attack patterns and abilities. Loot is also a set system that assigns certain monsters certain drop rates for specific items. For example, a low level skeleton has a nearly zero percent chance to drop a rare item while a high level dungeon boss had a nearly one hundred percent chance to drop a unique and rare item.
"Weapons all had different stats. No two weapons had the same statistics. There is also a huge difference in one handed to two handed weapons. Two handed weapons may have more weight than a dagger but have a huge damage difference. There are six base weapon types: projectile, launcher, blade, staff, blunt, and breath. (Breath weapons are monster-specific.)
"There are two types of armor: light and heavy. Light allows for quick movement and full range of motion. Heavy allows for taking heavy hits and are better suited for tank-type players. Light armor has a low protection rating and a high speed rating, while heavy had the opposite." I told him while we were sitting around a campfire one day.
Over the course of the journey, Misaka and I leveled up quite a few times. I ended up becoming level 33 and Misaka became level 10. He also looted a new sword from a surface boss. It was a gold colored blade with a black hilt. The blade was shaped like a Greek kopis.
Misaka had trouble swinging it at first because it's weight level was much higher than his limit. It was a rather powerful weapon although it was one handed like my Astral Fox.
During his first battle using it, he activated a combo skill but lost his balance from the weight and accidentally slipped. The low level cobra type monster poisoned him and I had to swap out with him and kill it.
We eventually made it to the huge city. It was called "Terra". In the middle of the town is the entrance to the dungeon. The entrance is a giant, Roman-style temple with one enormous metal door. I approached the door once and it gave me an alert saying "Are you sure you want to enter dungeon level __?" At the blank was a scroll bar with only one option available: 01. Terra was mostly empty except for the NPCs, who kept quiet until you looked at them.
We did simple quests around the city which boosted us up three levels each. We had a combined total of around forty thousand gold after all the quests had been finished.
One of the NPCs was selling rare enchanted armor for high prices. I bought a lightweight midnight blue cloak that boosted my speed and strength by ten points. The NPC called it the "Cloak of Galaxies".
I equipped it and sheathed the Astral Fox on my side for easier access. The cloak also hid my custom weapon from the unwanted glare of the few players that hated the beta testers.
"Misaka," I told him on the eighth day since the game release, "we might want to start heading out from this city. It's getting really crowded now that people found out about the dungeon's entrance is here."
"Alright," he scratched guys head. "But what if we need to come back here?"
"Check your map," I said and pulled up mine. "There should be an option called 'safe zone warp'. Pristine and Terra should be on there."
"Yup," Misaka replied, "they are."
"Whenever you're in a safe zone, you are allowed to teleport to any surface city or town." I explained. "To exit from the dungeon, you need a teleport spell or teleport scroll."
"I see I see."
There was a silence as we both checked our inventories.
"How many have died?" Misaka asked out of no where.
The question took me by surprise. "Twenty-four" I replied. "Eighteen were suicides too."
"We need to put a stop to this madness," he told me.
I nodded. "The only way we'll be able to do that is if we get ourselves to a high enough level to take on bosses and progress down the dungeon." I said.
"Let's hit up that next city then," he replied.
We traveled to all the surrounding cities, completing quests and leveling up along the way. Finally, after two months of traveling around and setting up teleports in far away cities and completing random quests, I had reached level fifty-nine and Misaka reached level thirty-five.
"Akoumi," he looked at me while we were eating at a random city some hundred miles away from Terra. "Do you think we can try the dungeon now? I've heard there's a team of high level players that is planning on starting the descension into the dungeon. Their highest level player is thirty-six."
"Do you really want to?" I asked. "There's a huge chance that you'll die."
"It doesn't matter," he said. "I just want to stop the deaths already."
"That's very noble off you except that if you die, you'll just become one of the many lost in the graveyard," I responded truthfully. "Although, I did defeat the first boss when I was only level nine."
"So I should be fine! I'm level thirty six!" He exclaimed. "I'm more than a match for a measly level one boss!"
"Fine," I replied. "We'll leave for Terra tomorrow morning. I still have a few quests I need to turn in."
He smiled excitedly at me. "Woo! Yeah!" He shouted. The few players in the inn stared at him until he sat back down.
Misaka was wearing his new gold colored medium weight half plate armor. His stats were nicely balanced and his setup was powerful.
He brushed his overgrown brunette hair to the side and stared at me with pure vigor with his green eyes. Wait. Green eyes?
"I thought your eyes were brown," I said.
"They were," he replied. "I didn't like them so I got them changed in one of the side quests at this town."
"That's pretty ill," I said. "I like my eyes though, all silver and that kinda stuff." I laughed as I ran out of words to say.
"Are you still taller than me?" Misaka asked.
I stood up. "I don't doubt it," I replied. "I'm six foot, two."
He stood up. I stared straight ahead and find myself looking at his eyebrows.
"I'm closing in," he laughed as we both sat down.
The NPC waitress set down our food on the table. I had ordered roast venison and Misaka had a stuffed pineapple stew.
"How do you like those?" I asked him. Stuffed pineapples are hollowed out pineapples with beef stew poured inside and chunks of pineapple thrown in.
"I dunno," he replied. "It tastes good and fills your hunger bar for quite a while too."
"You're weird," I laughed.
"It works," he replied and we started eating. "I wonder how the Saryn glasses got the taste preferences."
"I mean it has lasers that read your brain's signals and can interpret them into code which then translates into virtual brain waves," I told him.
"That's crazy," he leaned back in his chair. "Especially how they even can create a feeling of pain even though we're in a virtual world."
I nodded. "People in the real world must be going crazy," I said after a while.
"Yeah," Misaka looked up, "my parents will probably never let me play video games again. That is, if we even get out of here."
"I don't know about everyone else but I like it here," I said. "Living here is nice and easy. Kill monsters, get money, buy food, buy a house. It's a lot simpler than real life." I set down my utensils and leaned back in my chair.
"Yeah it's nice but people are dying. Nobody is being born, only dying." Misaka said slowly.
I was silent. "I'm gonna go turn in some quests," I said, "I'll meet you at the inn later tonight. I'll probably be back late so don't wait on me."
"Sure," Misaka said and continued eating his stuffed pineapple. I walked out of the inn and into the cold night. I pulled up my map and walked towards one of the quest giver NPCs.
For around two hours I walked around the city turning in high level quests. After I was done, I walked out of the city and unsheathed Astral Fox. After turning in the quests, I was now level sixty one,a high enough level to accept a surface boss fight quest. I set the boss fight as active and walked towards it.
Soon enough, I made it to the quest location. It was a temple ruin site and the quest boss was supposed to appear at the middle of the ruins. I reached the middle after climbing up a long flight of stairs. A red flag of light lit up the surrounding area.
I spun Astral Fox and equipped my Cloak of Galaxies. The minotaur appeared with its executioner axe in hand. The minotaur's fur was golden and it was around fifteen feet tall. It's axe was ten feet long. I motioned my hand the way the spell book had instructed and red tunes appeared around my arm. I pushed my arm forward and a fireball flung out of the runes.
The fireball struck the minotaur in the chest, knocking it off guard. I readied my sword and ran at it. I swing Astral Fox upwards and a combo skill activated. I jumped up and spun three times, cutting into the minotaur deeply. It roared and setting its fist at me, catching me in the side. The blow sent me flying into a marble pillar.
It cracked and the top half fell to the side of me, barely missing. The one hit brought my life bar down eleven percent. It was slowly but constantly at two hundred points every thirty seconds. I picked Astral Fox back up and sped at the minotaur. It swung its axe down at me.
I pulled Astral Fox up just in time to deflect it to the side at the cost of three percent. I jumped forward and brought my blade down on the minotaur's head. It dug in deep, leaving me hanging in front of the minotaur's eyes. It roared and I saw golden light being drawn into its mouth.
"Breath attack!" I thought and pulled Astral Fox out and fell to the ground.
The minotaur roared once more and sent out a fire type breath attack. I turned my midnight blue blade sideways and watched as it cut the breath attack in two. The minotaur's four life bars were down to two, meaning it was supposed to change colors and become stronger.
Red aura surrounded the minotaur and the fur changed red and the axe glowed. I charged the minotaur and rolled to the side right as it's axe was inches from me. I found myself behind the confused minotaur.
"Here's my chance!" I said to myself and started to charge up my powerhouse move: the midnight pentagram. Astral Fox glowed black as the minotaur turned to face me. The skill activated and I boosted forward, through the minotaur. I turned and did it again and again and again and again. Upon the fifth and final dash, a pentagram appeared around the minotaur. It closed in and exploded in a fury of color. The minotaur's life bars depleted to zero and disappeared along with its body.
I sighed and fell over. I glanced at my life bar. "Barely made it," I said. It was on five percent. While I was on the ground, I checked the loot.
"Nevergreen Boots," I read. "Boosts your power and speed by fifteen points. High level loot."
I equipped them and used a healing spell to bring my life back to fifty percent. I stood up and started back towards the city. Along the way, I saw a party of four players farming some experience on some higher level monsters. I waved to them and continued on my way.
I made it back to the city at midnight. I found the quest giver NPC and turned in the quest. Although the experience reward was high, it wasn't high enough to boost me another level. I ran my fingers through my hair and looked around for the inn we were staying at.
After wandering around the streets for a while, I was back at the inn. I walked in slowly to conserve as much energy as possible. My health bar was just approaching ninety percent. I walked into the room and unlocked the door. I locked the door and found Misaka asleep on his bed. I swapped out of my street clothes and into some simple non combat clothes.
The clothes I changed into was a blue long sleeve shirt and sweat pant style bottoms. I laid down on my bed and passed out. The dreaming engine in ARO expanded on whatever you were thinking about right before sleep, but since I want thinking about much of anything, I had a blank dream.
