After the announcement, Ming Yu was taken home in a limousine just like promised. Ming Yu, however was too happy reliving the memory of his one fan to care. Even though he only had one fan, a small act of kindness whilst a man is in despair can take you a long way. Although chances weren’t very likely, Ming Yu hoped that he meets Fo Shen in the future.
Johnson brought Ming Yu back home into his one room apartment. Once there, Ming Yu politely thanked Johnson for doing a good job today. Although Johnson didn’t really do anything, it never hurts to curry favor.
To Ming Yu’s surprise, Johnson didn’t leave, although it was the opportune time. Instead, he walked into Ming Yu’s room and plopped himself in the middle. A cold sweat ran down Ming Yu’s back as he tried to recall if he’s offended Johnson that day. “I’m sorry to inquire but when are you leaving Mr. Johnson?”
Johnson gave Ming Yu a confused look. “I can leave right now if you want but then I won’t have the chance to give you the account information. Also cut the formalities and call me Johnson.”
Hearing this, Ming Yu suddenly remembered why he went through today’s misery to begin with. It was all for that limited edition OP character! The flames of greed lit in Ming Yu’s eyes as he immediately said, “No, no of course not. Stay the whole day if you want, after all we can’t have you leaving before you honor your part of the deal.”
Ming Yu’s shamelessness made Johnson sigh. Although Ming Yu was cowardly beyond belief, once his ambitions were lit, he would do anything to achieve his goal, even drop his dignity and beg if it was needed. “No need. I will give you your account information now and then I’ll leave.”
Johnson dug into his fancy suit and pulled out a card from the inner pockets. “Here, your account information is on it. Well. since I’ve done my job I’ll take my leave now.” Having done his bit, Johnson made the initiative to leave first.
On Johnson’s way out, Ming Yu suddenly remembered another bit of information. “Uh Mist… I mean Johnson, what about the other part of the deal? I still need my money and a way to contact you in case I need you.”
Johnson simply replied in his usual monotone voice with no emotions. “Don’t worry about contacting me, Te Byong rented out the room next door and I’ll be living there from now on. Just ring the bell if you need me. As for the money, Te Byong will naturally give you your living expenses through me.”
Ming Yu was paralyzed by shock and stood still like a rock as he watched Johnson unlock and enter the room next to his. It was a while before Ming Yu finally recovered. Alright! It’s time for me to try this OP character out!
Running back into his room, Ming Yu ran to the corner of his room, where his gaming setup was located. Even though the place Ming Yu lived in was less than desireable in terms of quality and size, when it comes to his gaming setup, as a professional, he didn’t skimp at all. He had a plain brown desk that had 3 computer monitors on it that all faced towards the center. His PC, a custom brand, was below the desk where there was space for the legs. Since Ming Yu wasn’t that big of a person he didn’t need the extra leg room so he opted to placing the PC there.
He sat down on his luxury gaming chair that he was previously sponsored, somewhere along his 2 or 3rd tournament. Ming Yu cracked his fists and turned the PC on. Instantly, the 3 monitors roared to life as light shone off them like mini suns. The sound of the PC’s soft humming filled the room accompanied by the sound of clacking keyboard noises. By the way, Ming Yu’s keyboard and mouse collection were both won through a bet he had previously made with someone. They were fairly expensive pieces that Ming Yu had grown to love, and even though he’s been using them for the better part of 3 years, age still hasn’t deteriorated them even a bit.
After passing through several tedious passwords and verifications Ming Yu set just in case, Ming Yu was finally ready. Ming Yu had already downloaded MobRingler during the 2 weeks he was waiting for Te Byong, so all he had to do was load it up. After the usual logos and introduction that every always skips, Ming Yu was finally faced with a fancy loading screen full of vibrant characters with fancy looking gear. This was usually as far as Ming Yu got. He’s never played the game before because he wanted to start off with a fresh look when he finally got his account from Te Byong’s clammy hands.
Finally, today was the day he would pass this screen and see what awaited him. Ming Yu typed in the following information:
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Username: Read1000HitKO
Password: @ShamelessSelfPromotion
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After a brief loading screen, a terms of agreement contract popped onto the screen. Usually, Ming Yu would ignore this agreement and simply click “I Agree” and proceed onto his day, however, before he did he read a bit of text that caught his attention. It read in big red letter, “Warning: The class that is assigned to this account is currently still in development so we are neither responsible for any problems or complaints about this class.”
Although this warning had serious implications, Ming Yu simply took this as developers that worried too much. He didn’t take the warning to heart and click “I Agree” and continued onto the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~
(These swigles will show the change in perspective from Ming Yu to video game and vise versa from now on.)
Emptiness. There was nothing around, no sound either. Nem was starting to worry that his set up might have crashed. As unlikely as it is, it was still a possibility. Nem let out a relieved sigh when he saw a pop up that said, Choose your IGN:_____
This meant the game was still working as intended. Nem quickly inserted 3 simple characters as his IGN: “Nem”. Although Nem didn’t put into thought how lucky it was for his name not to be taken, skeptical readers will question it for him. The reason as to this name was empty is because Nem was never popular to begin with so people who don’t play LoL don’t know who he is and even if they did play LoL, no one wanted to play as the a**hat that ruins games, even though this person is notoriously skilled.
When Nem hit enter, his surroundings instantly changed to white and a lovely voice played through his mind. “Welcome to the world of MobRingler player Nem. I am archangel Seraphina.” Accompanying this voice, a graceful angel slowly fluttered down from nowhere and hovered slightly above Nem.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
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==Level 0-Seraphina, Angel of Guidance==
Hp-0
Att-0
Def-0
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Seeing this NPC’s character tag, Nem silently thought, “Your HP can’t drop below 0 so I guess that means this NPC’s unkillable eh. It says ‘Angel of Guidance’ but isn’t she just a glorified tutorial guide?” Although Nem tends to dislike tutorials, it was his first time playing MobRingler so it was necessary to play along. Luckily for Nem, while the tutorial continued he could spend time admiring Seraphina’s huge “personality” if he got bored.
“In normal games, job classes can be chosen by the player at will and the player can create several characters with different job classes. In MobRingler however, classes are assigned to players and players may only have 1 character. Use buttons WASD to walk. As a demonstration, please walk up to the crystal ball in front of you.”
Nem wanted to absorb all the information about this game so he obediently walked up to the crystal ball and silently waited for Seraphina to continue.
“Normal attacks can be accessed by any class. To normal attack, simply press the control button. Button assignment can be changed in the settings menu in case players would like to switch later on. A simple attack command will pop out of the crystal ball at a random time. When the attack command comes out, please press the attack command as soon as possible.” Nem silently thought to himself, “Why would this game need a reaction speed test?”
“Begin!”
Everything suddenly got completely quiet. Not even the sound of breathing was heard as Nem waited patiently. Just as Nem started to go crazy out of tension, the words “attack” popped out of the crystal ball and lit on fire. Due to surprise, Nem was a little slow to react, however, he quickly recovered and pressed Ctrl. This made his character suddenly move like a bolt from a crossbow as he let out a speedy punch. Although describing this moment makes it seem as if everything were to have happened slowly, everything from the word to the punch happened in a matter of 0.2 seconds.
A delighted voice once again arose in Nem’s mind. “Well done Nem! This was one of 3 tests that you have to accomplish! After we finish the tests I will explain the ranking system and tell you your results.
Congratulatory music rose in the background as Seraphina was talking. Nem, however, wasn’t delighted, instead he was thinking about how annoy it was that the NPC sprite doesn’t actually talk and only communicates telepathically.
After a few seconds, a trigger seemed to have been pulled as Seraphina, who was standing still for a while, suddenly became animated again. “The second test will be a APM test. A list of buttons will be shown to you now.” The crystal ball that Nem had punched earlier suddenly lit up as a holographic screen popped up. On it read a vast assortments of letters and numbers that the author is too lazy to type in.
“On the count of 3, you will press these buttons in the sequence shown as fast as you can… Ready? 3. 2. 1. Go!”
Nem had time to look at the screen and see what buttons he were to press and in what order. When Seraphina said “Go”, Nem’s hands moved like lightning as he effortlessly pressed all the buttons in his uppermost speed. Ming Yu’s hands, in the real world, were moving so fast that they seemed to blur a little. Nem, in the game, similarly was flapping around as every time Ming Yu pressed a button, Nem would smack the corresponding button in the game.
There were about 50 buttons that needed to be pressed and Nem managed to hit every single one in a matter of 5.95 seconds! Doing the math, that would mean that every second, Nem presses about 8.4 buttons. That would make Nem’s APM an astonishing 504! Too bad the author doesn’t have an APM like that else he would be able to make these chapters faster.
Once again, Seraphina’s voice rose in Nem’s mind as she said “Amazing! That makes most of the required tests. You only need to take one more and we’ll have your job assignment. In this last test, we plan to test your aim. After all, in a 3D MMORPG game, aim will definitely be a necessary skill.”
Suddenly, the area around Nem shook as the crystal ball began to levitate. The normally dormant ball suddenly shone with a bright light and started to fly around Nem at a speed that most can’t match with their mouses. Suddenly a weapon materialized in front of Nem.
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Tomahawk
Att-5
Item Description: Just left click to throw this item.
----------------------
“Aim this tomahawk at the flying ball. You have unlimited time and the closer you throw the tomahawk to the ball, the better your score. Now, if you may.”
Once again, Seraphina flew away as if she was trying to avoid getting hit by a stray tomahawk. Nem picked up the tomahawk and concentrated hard. Although the ball was hard to follow, it wasn’t impossible for Nem. After he got a good grasp of the ball’s movement patterns, Nem waited for the perfect moment. Since there was no time limit, there is no point in ruining his score by rushing.
After a while, Nem noticed the ball was headed towards an area that it frequently passed by multiple times. As the ball was flying towards that direction, Nem quickly chucked the tomahawk slightly in front of the ball. The ball that was moving at a frightening speed was suddenly forced to a stop when the tomahawk hit it! Unable to withstand its force, the crystal ball shattered into pieces that slowly unmaterialized into 1s and 0s in front of Nem. Not many people managed to hit this ball, however to Nem, who’s one of the best video gamers in the world, it wasn’t all that difficult. If he was serious, Nem would’ve been able to hit that crystal ball without even needing to blink.
The congratulatory music once again rang as Seraphina’s body floated back towards Nem. “You did phenomenal! All the tests have been completed. I will now tell you how the ranking system works. There are 5 ranks split into 3 subclasses. Each subclass is raised when the player reaches level 100. After reaching level 100, the player will be dropped back to level 1, still maintaining all his stats and items, and his subclass will be increased. Starting from the worst to the best, classes are split into Dou, Zhou, Zhang, Tian, and Mu! These classes are split into Ronin, Bishop, and Master. Every player starts off as a Dou Ronin.”
Seraphina let out a smile as she said the last few words in a very kind tone. If he didn’t know better, Nem would think that he was playing a different type of game as Seraphina’s character model and smiling face made him feel a burning sensation in his daitan region.
“Following these rankings, here are your ranks for each test.”
A thin black screen teleported in front of Nem out of nowhere. On this screen, the following was written in white flames:
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Reaction Speed: 0.2s
Rank: Mu
APM: 504
Rank: Tian
Aim Ranking: Zhang
Overall Scoring: Tian Bishop
----------------------
Nem was genuinely surprised by these rankings. Even though he wasn’t trying his hardest, his performance was better than 90% of the pro gamer’s in the world, yet he only received these ranks? If 504 APM is rank Tian, then what sort of monstrous APM was needed to get Mu? Nem wasn’t even sure that Mu rank was a possibility. As for reaction speed it was as he expected. As for the aim ranking, there was probably a time aspect they secretly added so when he took his time it probably messed up his score.
Even still, he only received rank Tian Bishop, which would only be the middle of Tian class. These types of scoring seemed a little unreal to Nem, however what he didn’t know was that developers designed the game to cut off arrogance. They made it so that Mu rank is basically impossible to reach and only professionals can achieve Tian rank. This just goes to show how much of a monster Nem really is. Although aiming was askew due to his lack of care, he managed to received Mu class for reaction speed. If he wasn’t initially surprised, his speed would be 0.1s instead making him surpass this class! What surprised Nem is that with an APM of 504 he only got Tian class. This is a crazy number that even pros can never hope to achieve. Nem, due to a combination of training and talent, was just barely able to brake the 500’s, however this crazy game says 504 is only Tian! Just what sort of monstrous number would be needed to get Mu?
After taking one last look, Nem stored the black screen into his bag. Every player, during tutorial, would awake to a character face that magically resembles the faces of the player’s real body and a storage bag. After looking through key bindings a second ago, Nem was able to find basic controls. As for skills and such, the game will probably tell him later, or so Nem assumed. Since this black screen had a item label with a description that says “I’m important so store me in your storage bag! Esc to pull up menu with settings and key bindings” Nem decided to hold onto this black screen. Apparently this was the right choice because storing the screen resumed the tutorial.
Once again Seraphina became animated and proceeded to talk on. “Now that you’ve seen your scores I will explain how job assignment works. Each class has a minimum and maximum skill cap. With Dragoon Warriors being the example, they have a skill cap of Dou Ronin through Master. Players will automatically be assigned to jobs depending on skill rank. For more information, go to our wiki page in MobRingler.com/wiki (not real site don’t go there). As for you… Nem, I declare thy a…”
(Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z Kai >:3)