The arrival of the first full-dive virtual reality swept the entire world in a massive storm, and of course, like any medium for entertainment, video games became a huge part of the scene. Many virtual reality MMORPG rose up to the top of the charts with their realistic, incredibly immersive world and gameplay, yet there is only one that really sat at the throne.
Aefell Online was revolutionary, and in many ways, ambitious. Even in the most top-rated game with the supposed best graphics of all, one would still be able to discern that they are walking around in a video game. Not in Aefell. This game utilizes their own patented graphical technology, which practically makes the visuals in the game indistinguishable from reality. No matter how hard one looks, or try to find inconsistencies in the textures, particles, and effects, there is none. This technology was so groundbreaking that many powerful nations tried to buy, or at the very least, partake in the usage of this technology, however no one knew the outcome of those negotiations.
The world itself is also very much alive. Disregarding the fact that the total area of the game’s world is almost triple to that of Earth’s, every single centimeter of that space is also seemingly hand-crafted meticulously, despite how impossible that may seem. If one were to pick a random location in the massive world, and dug a hole several meters into the ground, it is not impossible to see worms and other manners of creatures thriving in there, living their own miniature ecosystem. In fact, since the launch of this game 10 years ago, the total area explored by players had not exceeded 15%.
This game really does seem like an entirely different world, and for many… it is.
The cold breeze of the winter event sent chills throughout Argus’ entire body.
“Damn, it’s December already?” Argus opened up his inventory and equipped the white [Fur Coat]. “I haven’t logged out for half a year.”
“What, really!?” Exclaimed by a man to his back, wearing a set of shining plate armor. He slid the visor in his helmet up, revealing his darker complexion. “Bro, you should go out at least once a week unless you want your body to be frail like a vegetable.”
“Oh, come on! I’m already frail in the first place.” Argus let out a laugh. “Besides, I got my rig from the U.S. and it’s super amazing! Not only does it regularly exercise my muscles to prevent exactly that, but it can also provide me with sustenance the entire time! There’s some kind of fridge-like chamber beneath it so theoretically, I can just stock up food for an entire year and I’d be good to go without logging out.”
The armored man behind him squinted at this, revealing a face of disgust and confusion. “That’s disgusting bro. Your machine handles your excretions too?”
“Sure does! It’s connected to the pipes of our house.” He then turned around to face the man. “Looks like we’re here, Fort.”
The man named Fort was already in the process of barfing when he was interrupted. He held his head up high to get a better look at the canyon before them.
“That’s…” Fort gulped with a loud sound. He removed his helmet, letting his blonde hair flutter in the wind, and then attempted to adjust his chest plate’s tightness. “Holy shit. How did you find this!?”
“Right??” Argus looked back towards the canyon in utter joy and excitement, as if a child receiving their most wanted present in Christmas. “I was running away from gankers the other day when I stumbled upon this. I don’t know how long I ran to be honest, probably for an hour.”
He inched a step closer to the edge of the cliff, taking immense precautions not to accidentally slip off and fall to his death.
Beneath the canyon, hovering just centimeters above the canyon floor is a blue crystal the size of a regular car. The crystal itself is not emitting any light, however, its mere presence causes the air around it to glow a tinge of orange, while the dust below it swirls around ever so slightly, as if a tiny tornado is beginning to form perpetually.
“How much do you think this will fetch for?” Argus asked Fort in a serious tone. His previous nonchalant personality fading away and replaced with a grave voice.
“Billions…” Fort could only utter a single word with his mouth agape at the sight.
After a brief silence, Argus broke it by slowly stepping back towards Fort who appears to still be mesmerized about the crystal. “Let’s go get it. Someone might come any time.”
“R-right…” Fort snapped out of his trance, wiping away the small drool that’s about to drop from his mouth, before putting on his plate helmet once again and following Argus as he descends the canyon.
The canyon was very deep, not to mention steep, however, with Argus’ spells and Fort’s dexterity, they were able to successfully descend in around 20 minutes. The crystal itself is still around 100 meters away from them.
As they began walking towards it, filled with excitement and anxiety, Argus managed to pick up a peculiar whistling sound. He immediately grabbed onto Fort with a snap and focused his attention to this sound.
Fort, on the other hand, quickly drew his sword from his side and his tower shield from his back almost instantaneously. A testament to their years of battling together side by side. He looked around them in a circle, scanning the premises for anything out of the ordinary while keeping close to Argus, his shield raised.
With a quick jerk, Argus all of a sudden raised his right hand to form a circular red ward, adorned with various runes and symbols, up into the air. This ward is about 5 meters in diameter and perfectly covers both of them.
Not even a second has passed and a large booming explosion struck Argus’ ward, sending shockwaves everywhere parallel to them, and shaking the very ground they’re standing on.
“GANKERS!” Argus shouted angrily.
As soon as he said that, three people began to appear one by one around them, circling them about 10 meters away.
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“Shit!” Fort bashed the bottom of his tower shield into the ground, sending another shockwave. This one, however, is different as it formed cracks unto the earth, followed by a blinding yellow light emanating from within the cracks. The three who were previously invisible toppled over as the shockwave from beneath the ground shook their very core.
Not long after, a yellow magic circle formed centered around Fort and Argus, continuously emitting a bright gold light, as if the sun itself was underneath them.
“This should buy us some time.” Fort whispered to Argus. “Go get it. After that I’ll use
“N-no…” Argus replied with a grim expression. “We’re spatially rooted.”
Upon hearing this, Fort looked at the top left side of his screen to confirm. All hope within his heart immediately flushed out the moment he saw the debuff. “I fucking hate Astromancers…”
“Damn it. How did they find us so easily?” Argus began tracing another spell with his left hand while keeping his right steadily pointed upwards to maintain the ward, as explosion after explosion continue to bombard it.
“They probably scryed us.” Replied Fort as he keeps a close eye at the three people that was just previously toppled over, now on the process of standing up with great difficulty due to the golden light emanating from the ground seemingly weighing their body down.
“I have items that protects me against divinations!” Argus grunted. “That’s out of the question.”
“And I have a passive that protects me from divinations.” Fort replied calmly, emphasizing on the word passive. “What’s that script you’re writing anyway?”
“I’m trying to bypass the spatial root. I know it’s possible and I’ve heard stories about others from another kingdom accidentally scripting it.” Argus sighed.
“And they didn’t bother to write it down or save the script?”
“They accidentally scripted it.” Argus rolled his eyes at Fort, emphasizing on the word accidentally. “I just need a second…”
The golden light emitting from the ground finally faded, and with that the three people who were previously toppled over has now took the chance to get themselves back on their feet. Two of them began walking slowly towards them, while one, with an explosive burst of speed, rushed ahead.
He is wielding dual claws, with the blades roughly the length of his own forearms.
Fort faced him the moment he noticed him, and then opened up his arms in an embracing fashion while smugly smirking at him. This enraged the rushing player, prompting him to enable invisibility mid dash.
“Futile…” Fort whispered. With a snap, his eyes began to glow a bright gold light. “I see you…”
The invisible player is now two meters away from them, still unaware that Fort is able to see him already. He extended his right claw, aiming for Argus’ throat who’s just writing a script without a care in the world. However, disappointment overflowed him when the blades clanged against Fort’s metallic tower shield, instead of Argus’ fleshy neck.
With a quick swipe, Fort brought his longsword upward, attempting to slice the player, but the player was just too fast and has already dodged out of the way of his blade.
“Tch!” The player said as the invisibility expired two meters away from them. His eyes burning with bloodlust locked onto Argus.
Fort pointed the tip of his longsword, which he’s wielding with one hand due to his sufficient strength, towards the player. “Try that again.” His eyes filled with contempt.
“I’m done!” Argus exclaimed all of a sudden. “This should get us out aft—”
An electrifying pang of pain emanating from his back interrupted Argus’ exposition. He looked at the top left corner of his screen and saw that there’s only a sliver of health left on him. He summoned all his remaining strength to try and cast the script he’s just written, however, before he could even do so much as to flick a finger, a silver flash of light slit his throat from behind him, blurring his vision until it fades to black.
“Shit.”
YOU HAVE DIED
Witnessing Argus’ body quickly fade into particles of blue light leaving all his equipment and items on the ground, Fort swiped his longsword will all his strength to the supposed attacker from the back, yet like before, all that he hit was air. The culprit was already several meters away, juggling his daggers nonchalantly.
“FUCK!” Fort screamed in desperate anger. He tried to look around the premises for any chance of escape, but it was already too late. The rest of the gankers have descended down the canyon. They were just too many.
He looked past the gankers and saw the path that the canyon curves on to. Suddenly, an idea bursts into his mind.
Summoning all his will, Fort casted
His aim wasn’t them though, but rather, what was behind them. He’d already given up on the [Temporal Crystal] and instead focused solely on escaping.
Everything happened so fast that Fort, and even the gankers, thought he was really going to escape. A smile had already begun to form on his cheeks as if celebrating another day where he gets to live yet again, but all this hope instantly crumbled down when a jet-black sphere the size of a tennis ball appeared around 5 meters in front of him.
The ball seems so harmless, but if one were to focus intently, they would be able to see that the space surrounding the ball does not fit the reality that it should. It’s off-putting and anyone, even a child, would be able to recognize that something is wrong with the space around the ball.
Fort instantly realized what it is and prompted to halt his charge right then and there. Unfortunately, he was too late.
The first spell is
The second spell is
These two spells together are already compound, creating the spell known as
Fort tried to turn back and run away towards the gankers, but it was already too late. He was already caught in the gravity well and can feel the force tugging onto him. He tried fighting it, moving his muscular legs with all his might, but the time dilation caused by his proximity to the
He looked at the gankers, spying them as much as his eyeballs are able to move, trying to discern and engrave onto his mind just who the hell did this, but he wasn’t able to find them. In fact, the gankers themselves were similarly shocked at this turn of events, and many are desperately looking around them and above the canyon, their weapons drawn.
Fort resigned himself to his fate. Releasing the tension in his muscles and let himself be swallowed up by the
YOU HAVE DIED