Chapter 1
"This place is huge!"
It was the 1st of November, I entered a huge building that was the main headquarters of the game company [Reality Tech]. I was so excited that my heart pounded really hard to the point that I thought it might explode.
When I entered the building I was checked by multiple security guards.
I thought they might want me to strip naked.
"Phew…"
I let out a sigh of relief after that extensive check as I continued further inside the building. The security here was really tight, a lot of security personals all over the place, multiple x-ray machines and all kind of high tech scanners.
"That is one hell of a security check… what are they guarding? An atom bomb?"
"Haha, Close but not exactly."
A voice of a woman. I turned around and I saw a pretty lady around her early 20's. She was slender, tall (somewhere around 175cm) with long black hair down to her waist. She had huge boobs…
"You must be Rei-san. Nice to meet you I'm Anita Black. Please call me Anita."
She bowed as she was saying that.
"Oh, Ah… Hello! Nice to meet you Anita."
I bowed as well while replying to her.
"Well Rei-san, I'll be your guide for today. Please take good care of me"
"Is Anita-san Japanese?"
"Only half Japanese. I'm half American half Japanese though I was born and raised in Japan, I moved here to Europe to study… Though you seem to know a bit of Japanese yourself."
She was referring to me saying 'Nice to meet you' in Japanese (Hajimemashita) as an automatic response to her greeting.
"Ah! Yes well I was on a long vacation in Japan last year."
"Oh that's nice. Though I'd love to discuss the topic with you, we have a tight schedule. So if you please follow me."
She smiled and pointed her hand to the elevators.
"Is that so..?"
We proceeded to the elevators. I must say she was quite the eye catcher. We didn't speak until we got inside the elevator.
After entering the elevator, she pressed the 50th floor button. She explained to me that the building had 80 floors where the first 49 were offices and the 50th to the 78th were for R&D and the 79th floor was for conferences and meeting rooms and the 80th floor for the main executives of the company.
Afterwards she started to explained to me about the floors of the building, she started to explain to me what I'm going to be doing during the pre-alpha.
"Rei, as you know you are the only pre-alpha tester"
"Ah, yes, it is a great honor!"
"That's good. I like that enthusiasm, well as you know, we are going to start with the alpha testing in a week, but…"
She stopped, and for a second she looked troubled.
"But?"
"We actually doing the pre-alpha testing because we need to adjust the device to be fully functional on all of the five senses".
"What do you mean?"
"You see… The technology we are using is quite new and uses a special generated energy that Prof. Akimura invented. And it requires quite a lot of adjustments to accommodate to the human nerve system."
"Ooh! So that's why the security is so tight?"
"Yes, that's right."
The new technology that she refers to was an invention that Prof. Shiro Akimura invented six months ago and it allows to the machine to draw energy from the air itself or something like that, I really couldn't understand the basics of it but it was quite the finding.
It even got a nickname: 'Breathing Energy'. It was a really great discovery as it didn't really replace electricity, it made some kind of new type of energy. I really couldn't understand what that meant, all I knew was that it wasn't really publicly been applied yet and only a few countries got access to this new technology.
Anita continued to explain to me the situation briefly, to sum it up:
I will be the first one to play the game but currently until the 7th of November I will be mostly helping them 'mapping' the nerve system of the human brain for the game. It seems that the 'Breathing Energy', can be used by the new [Reality Dive] technology to read nerve system of the brain.
They could have used their own personal but decided to let someone from the alpha testers to be the one to help them, I was that one lucky bastard.
We arrived at the 50th floor and Anita directed me to a small room with a couch and a TV attached to the wall.
I was told to sit on that couch and watch a video explaining of the basics of the game.
She left the room and the video began. It started simple - explaining to me a bit of the game story which I barely remember, something about five main nations that were at war with each other and that each summoned heroes to help them.
Typical story upfront like most MMORPG's. What was really scary, was the extremely extensive and crazy game mechanics and features that they implemented in the game.
Basically it went like this:
The game allowed you to choose up from five different nations:
• Human Nation (Human races)
• Lords Nation (Giant races)
• Dimunus Nation (Demon races)
• Surasa Nation (Nature races like Elves, Beast-man and it included dwarves as well)
• Obleven Nation (Underground races mostly undead kind of races)
Each race has the ability to "Evolve" up to 2 times according to his evolution tree.
For example: Humans -> High Human -> Ascended.
Though there are quite a few evolution options for each race, there were quite a few restrictions as well, for example the extremely high level requirement.
The level up system contained levels and ranks. Ranks had a cap of 100 and each rank had 1000 levels. Rank will also reset in each evolution.
"That is some crazy level up system… it's for those super grinders without a life. Though if I cheated…"
And if it wasn't enough, Spells and Skills were quite the same:
Each Spell and Skill had 5 ranks: bronze, silver, gold, platinum and then divine. And to rank it up you need to level the skill/spell up 100 levels. You could also evolve the skill/spell to the next tier when maxing the divine rank. And to top it all there are skills/spells that have a special rank after divine.
The skills and spells were categorized by tiers from 1 to 11 (10 and 11 were some kind of special tiers).
I wasn't able to remember it all since there was too much information. They kept going on stuff like jobs and classes, item rarity system, titles and perks system and the inventory system, creation system and many more systems…
"Too many systems... Aren't they exaggerating a little bit?"
I decided to not try to memorize everything as I will learn them while playing or be explained by the staff.
When the video finished, Anita and another person entered the room. They both greeted me with a bow. The person was a ginger with a full beard. He was about the height as Anita and was a bit plump.
"Rei-san, this is Jim-san. He will be your RdG ([Reality Dive Gear]) handler until the end of the pre-alpha test."
"Hello Rei, It's nice to finally meet you!"
"Nice to meet you Jim"
We shook hands.
While I was escorted to the a different room Anita and Jim started to explain to me what we were about to do next. Anita serious change of tone scared me a bit.
"When we will reach the next room I want to start some basic testing. We will talk using the visual interface of the console until testing is done." - Jim
"As you remember, you signed a disclaimer. You are not allowed to bring your phone with you to the next room. Also remember to adhere to everything Jim tells you to do. The company is not responsible to any damage that is made to you if you do not." - Anita
"Y… Yes" - Rei
In the reception just before meeting Anita I was signed on a disclaimer. More like a book then a disclaimer, I didn't even read past the 10 page as it contained 5733 pages.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
We continued to talk and I was explained about safety measures, as well as the secrecy that needed to be kept.
I really didn't care as I was excited to try out the game. I had many though of how could I cheat such a game if it were only single player game. The stuff I could do in such free over extensive environment.
I drooled a bit.
As we entered the second room which was quite large compare to the TV room, it was pure white room. I was pointed to the far end of the room. There was the RdG console and next to it a small separate room with a big glass in front of the console. Probably for monitoring.
As we entered the room Anita bid us farewell. Then Jim gave me a pill and we started to talk while advancing to the console.
"I will now strap you to the table over there and plug you into the console. Afterwards I will be in that room over there to monitor you while you use the console. Make sure to take the pill before we start the test."
"Is it really safe?"
"Don't worry! The console was tested multiple times."
"Is that so?"
"Ah! Don't worry, you will be the first one who will test the game. I'm really jealous of you, you lucky bastard."
Jim was smiling and laughing to cheer me up while had an uneasy face expression. He was a good guy.
Jim helped me strap myself to the table and then gave me the headgear of the console. He then explained to me some safety procedures prior to the testing. Then walked to the separate room where I could hear him through a PA system.
"Rei, we will start as soon as you are ready. There is a green button on the head gear you are wearing on the top right corner. Press it when you are ready."
I lifted my hand with a thumb pose to tell him 'okay!'
I wore the headgear and adjusted it till it fitted my head, then pressed the green button. I think I forgot something at that point but I let it slide as I was excited to begin the testing.
The white room went dark in a moment and colors started to flying all over my vision. Then it stopped. In my focus of vision was a really large message box which filled really quickly. It was Jim writing to me.
"Hi Rei! Hope you are comfortable enough. As currently I'm mapping your brain to the game you will see that slowly you be able to use your other senses."
As he wrote that the vision changed, I was facing the logo of the game [Second Reality]. It was looked extremely realistic I could almost touch it.
Then the message box appeared again.
"Rei, I will now start the game registration phase. Make sure while that after you customize your character to your liking, mark the checkbox on the top right corner. After that proceed to finish the registration."
My vision changed again and I was presented with extensive customization display of my character.
On the top center was the name entry field, the left side contained my character attributes and the available bonus points to distribute, it also contained my choice of race, initial class and an option to customize the spells and skills if I wish to.
On the right side was a box full of customization options that I could make on my character. And of course in the center was my avatar displayed. By simply thinking I found out I can interact with the display.
I chose human as it was the easiest choice. Because I couldn't wait any longer and really wanted to play, I decided on how I would customize my character beforehand.
I set the avatar body to be a bit like my real self just a bit taller and a bit more muscular. I changed my hair color to white and changed the hair style that looked almost like Noctis from FF XIII.
After finishing the tweaks my character looked more like Noctis then me only he had a white hair. My attributes were quite balanced though.
Name: Azura
Title: One of the White
Class: Spell Warrior
Vitality – 15 (+5)
Strength – 15
Agility – 15
Intelligence – 20 (+10)
Wisdom – 10
Defense – 10
Willpower – 10
Charisma – 10
Perception – 15 (+5)
Luck – 10
Bonus points: 0/20.
I checked the checkbox that Jim mentioned before and then pressed the proceed button with my thought.
The vision went black and the message box appeared again.
"Rei, I will now start the game phase. Do you have any questions before I start?"
I couldn't speak yet so I wrote with my thoughts into the message box.
"Yeah, what exactly is the box I checked in the registration phase?"
"That is something I added to let you have a bit more fun and progress a bit faster in the game as we want you to help us test as much as possible out of the game."
"What do you mean? Like a bonus title?"
"Yeah, Exactly that. I gave you [The Alphtear] title coming from the words Alpha and Cheater."
"Che… CHEATER?!"
"Yes, you will see once we begin. Now try not to do anything as the game load, try to clear your mind."
In my vision the world started to manifest but I was too absorbed in what Jim just told me. I will be able to cheat! I was so excited I think I started to sweat and my heart pounded really hard.
Jim sent a new message but my mind was in chaos I was too excited.
I started to hear beeps but ignored them as well, I was too much absorbed in the thought of cheating in the game.
Then I started to hear a voice. It was Jim yelling to me, I couldn't understand his words at first but it came clear after a little while.
"Rei!!! Relax! Your readings are all over the place!"
"Ah?"
Then there was silence. Too quiet. My thoughts was still all over the place but I managed to relax. But it was weird, I couldn't feel anything. When I was plugged I could still felt my body but now I can't feel anything.
The vision I just had of the world materializing before my eyes was replaced with blackness. Then I realized…
"Did I just die from over excitement?"
I died from a heart attack. I still can't believe it, I had no previous record of any heart condition nor in my family. Then I remembered something, the new air energy that was found was said to elevate emotions if not taken some medication first.
"I forgot to take the pill I was given by Jim before pressing the green button……. SHIT!"
I can't believe I died before I had the chance to fulfill my RPG game fantasy. I also died a virgin.
"So this is hell or heaven? Is there anything at all in here?"
While thinking that I started to feel something, but then my thought just went blank. I passed out.
It felt like years but my conscious started to return to me and I could feel my body again although it was strange, it felt a bit different from what I remember.
I opened my eyes slowly. My vision was blurry at first but steadily was focused again. I was laying down on a grass land beneath a large tree.
It was quite the beautiful sight, very realistic at that.
I was gazing the view in amazement for quite some time, it felt really real.
"Shouldn't I be dead?"
While saying that I focused my mind in trying to contact Jim by using the message box but nothing happened. I did manage to open a menu that allowed me to navigate through my items, character attributes and other menus.
What took most of my attention was the titles I had:
[One of the White]
[The Alphtear]
[Reincarnated One]
"So I really died? Why is this so much like a virtual reality game?"
After I focused my thought on pressing the title "Reincarnated One" it displayed the following details:
"You are the one who died and was reincarnated by the sheer force of one will."
I was dumbfounded.
*******
I hope you guys will like the story so far, there will much more ahead.
I'm open to criticism and suggestions although I already have a mind set of where
to take the story and how.