"Why? Why is this happening to me?" Izoke shouted while slamming a cave wall with his fist.

"We didn't do anything to others but... why did they attack us and swipe our whole village? Mom and Dad... I'm sorry I couldn't even protect you, I just ran away."

Earlier in the morning, Kaido village was attacked by a bunch of armed thugs. They slew all the villagers and took their valuables and money. As a young man, Izoke was able to escape from the onslaught. He ran through the dark forest for the whole day to get safely away from their attackers. Right now it is night time and he is taking shelter in a cave. His Mother, Father, and all his precious friends were killed by the armed individuals who most likely were bandits. He was in a dilemma, whether to return to the village or not. It was not worth it anymore to return to the village now that there was nobody there. No parents, no friends, just no one.

"Who were they? Why did they attack us?" Izoke questioned aloud while crying. He was alone so nobody would answer his question.

Suddenly as if to answer his question Izoke's body started moving frequently. Becoming somewhat transparent while twitching back and forth. There were sounds like paper tearing while vertical lines moved all over Izoke's body. Izoke didn't know that he was Glitching. All he knew was he is in great pain.

"Ahhhh Ahhhh" he screamed. It felt to Izoke like an invisible assailant was skinning him alive with a dull knife. After a few minutes, he collapsed. Izoke passed out and went into a deep slumber.

He awoke to the sounds of birds singing and light crawled into the cave. It was morning now, Izoke started moving, his pain was all gone. He woke up after a few minutes.

"Huh, all my pain is gone. What the hell is this? What is this blue bar?" A blue screen was hovering in front of Izoke's eyes.

Congratulations, your Character creation is complete!

"What does mean by character creation complete?" Izoke exclaimed aloud. After that, he touched the bar and many letters appeared on a new screen in front of his eyes.

Player: Izoke

Level: 5

Skill: Auto Copy (A skill to copy other skills through observation).

Items: 0

Registered as a Newbie

"What is the meaning of this one?" Izoke huffed confused.

After that, he tapped the tab and it disappeared. Only his Hp was shown as a bar to the side of his vision. If he focused on it there was a numerical value. 90 Hp was what it showed when he focused. When he questioned what HP was another message appeared explaining they were hit points. Hit points are a representation of how much damage can be taken before resulting in death. Izoke shivered at the idea of ever running out of these "Hit Points". As long as there is red in this bar I'm good right? Izoke reassured himself.

Then after finding no more changes and nothing else he could figure out, Izoke started walking through the forest. He needed to move and focusing on doing so made him think less about his dead parents. It was mid-day and getting rather hot outside. After walking for two hours, Izoke could see a town where many people were gathered. It was much larger and more crowded than his village had ever been.

Once within the town's gates, Izoke could see the sheer size of this place. There were many shops filled with strong looking people who spoke strange works Izoke had never heard before.

"Okay guys I'm gonna be AFK for a few," A man told his comrades right before going completely motionless for 10 minutes straight. What the hell it looks almost like that guys not even breathing, Izoke questioned internally.

This town Izoke discovered is known as "Hale". People were buying and selling many strange things. Izoke was shocked by the discovery of this town. He was shocked because he never knew there was another place where so many people lived nearby. He had never left his village but he was certain his parents told him there weren't any other dwellings within many leagues of where they lived. Walking deeper into the village and looking here and there he could tell the town was different from his village, the buildings were tall, people were wearing armor and nice clothing. The ground looked untread by people which was extremely unusual for a town and the buildings all looked brand new. Almost like the place just sprang up overnight!

'BAM!" Izoke stumbled into a heavily armored guy.

"I am so sorry, Good sir," Izoke apologized.

"You disgusting rookie trying to touch me, How dare you!" the guy replied while narrowing his eyes in anger. He was a tall man with a shining bald head. His eyebrows were dark and thick and there was a long scar over his eye that Izoke just knew would normally result in a lost eye. Yet somehow this man had his eye still. Even more suspicious was the fact the man looked only about 20 years old and yet clearly appeared to be a veteran.

"Hey man, Don't be so rude to a new player," Another guy named Edara said to the armored bully.

"Who are you to order me?" The bully replied aggressively.

Edara Put his hand on his swords handle while saying, "Do you want to fight me". Edara's sword was an eloquent rapier about two and a half feet long. It was currently still in its scabbard that was tied to his hip. The scabbard was a gorgeous sapphire blue that seemed impossible to fashion onto a wooden scabbard.

Pulling his blade from withing its scabbard and pointing it at the Bully Edara activated some kind of power. A bright white light surrounded Edara's blade giving off an intimidating feeling.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Copy Skill?

*Select*

Yes

Or

No

Another pop up appeared in Izoke's eyes for the third time today.

'What is this... My power is to copy? That sword aura looks awesome! So hell yes! Izoke replied in his head.

Skill copied*

Holy sword acquired!

Oh, Shite! Holy sword! I shouldn't mess with him, thought the Armored jerk before saying, "No, I don't want to make you cry".

The bully hurried away before Edara could say anything else. It was obvious to Izoke that he was running away with his tail between his legs. Edara helped Izoke off the ground by giving him a hand. They started walking and talking to one another.

Edara, "Hey newbie how about you join my party?"

"Party?" Izoke asked.

"Ha, didn't you read the forum? Also, its standard game practice where have you been living under a rock? Don't tell me you've never played a game before," Edara explained giving Izoke a playful pat on the back of the head. The last part of his explanation was meant to be a joke by Edara's tone but Izoke was sure he had never played the kinda game he was talking about.

"Now hurry up noob! the rest of the party's at Login Hotel," Edara berated to hurry Izoke along faster. Izoke suddenly realized that listening to all this new and shocking information had made his movements slow to a crawl.

"Now if you want to be a successful player early on your going to need a good party to power level you!" Edara explained.

"Also you are going to need better equipment," Edara added while giving Izoke a surveying scan with his eyes.

After a few more minutes they reached the hotel where Edara introduced Izoke to his comrades.

"Izoke how long ago did you register in Fantasy Collusion," Edara asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean after entering the game you need to register your identity in the Cunning Cave beginners area," Edara commented, "Check your tab by focusing on your name which is near the HP bar".

Izoke was confused but he found his name and focused on it. Then his stats appeared on another panel in his vision. "yeah, here are somethings like my name, items, and others".

"It means you are already registered", Edara confirmed.

"Registered to what?" I asked concerned.

"Are you some kind of NPC bro, you don't know anything. This is a virtual reality game......." Edara lectured what felt to Izoke like an eternity but was more like 20 minutes.

It was mind-bending to learn that this whole world is just a game. How can you say I'm not real? It is real to me! I think and feel just like you!

Everyone was friendly and wanted to know where Izoke lived, what is his real-life age was, But he had no answer. Luckily, the group just thought that he is shy.

"Hey did you hear about the Kaido village," One of Edara's party members named "Gruff," said changing the subject. A change of subject would have been what Izoke had wanted had it been anything but that subject.

"Yeah, I heard that Todo group attacked the village and killed all those NPC's just for easy EXP," another party member named Cindy added.

"I mean they are not REAL people, they are just a bunch of worthless NPCs. What do we even care if they die or live?" Edara pointed out to his friend.

Izoke was trembling while hearing Edara's response to what his friend said. " Hey what is an NPC?" he asked.

" NPC is a non-player character. They are just created through the AI and are basically like dumb animals pretending to be humans. I mean I have also killed many NPCs, they are just so weak and it is simple to steal things from them." Edara commented.

Hearing that these people kill his kind without remorse made Izoke feel very angry. Throwing a chair against the wall Izoke left the hotel. Edara and his party just stared on in quiet surprise.

My whole life was a lie, I was an NPC of this stupid game. Nobody cares whether we live or die. Those guys are players if they die they can revive but what about me? If I die I can't even return. This is both the real and virtual world for me since if I die I stay dead forever. Being powerful is only a way to survive this cruel world. My people's death is just a joke for them. Izoke contemplated as he fidgeted with frustration while walking out the hotel's front door.

No, I can't lose to these people because this is our world, not theirs. I will become powerful enough to make this world mine. This is the promise I make to myself! To my parents! To every NPC who suffers their fate!

First Izoke decided to start collecting information about the game. Listening to other players and visiting this new town's library. Izoke had heard of libraries but never seen one before. Many things like Modest tower, wish, and skills were explained within these sources. He also gained knowledge about his skills. He can acquire any skill he sees and can use them anytime. It is a super-rare skill that normally has more restrictions like level caps to what he copies. Normally one would have to be a way higher level than 5 to copy holy sword which is how Izoke discovered his great advantage. People seemed to refer to such a positive glitch as a "Bug". Using it in-game was called being a "Bug PLayer". Which was considered cheating but Izoke didn't mind because he needed this unbalanced power? Well guess I'm a bug player then, Izoke thought.

Finished researching Izoke headed to where everyone said the beginner areas were. There Edara saw an unusually large population of mildly aggressive grey foxes. All Izoke could afford to buy as a weapon was a small dagger. Fortunately, the Holy sword skill copied from Edara still worked with it.

Approaching a nearby fox that showed as only level 7 Izoke activated holy blade. The fox jumped at him as soon as he activated the skill. instinctually Izoke flinched but luckily the arm he lashed out with was the one holding his dagger. The holy blade skill boosted the weapon's power so much that a mere scratch cut the creature in two.

A level up notification popped up in Izoke's vision.

Approaching another fox Izoke repeated his previous action. The stupid creature used the same predictable movements as the last fox. This time Ezoke flicked less and did not close his eyes. Striking the fox directly in the chest with "Holy Blade".

"Level up!" Exclaimed another blue box.

"Level up!" Said a blue screen as he easily killed another fox.

"Level up!" A box once again told me to an even easier kill than the last.

You are now level 10 explained the last box. From what I had gathered It seems I'll have to move to an area with stronger monsters to keep gaining Exp. Supposedly monsters get way tougher to fight as well which is why players train and fight to gain new and stronger skills. This helps the players stay ahead of the monsters in power or ability. Lucky for me I have the ultimate skill grab!

"I'll be an NPC who will survive. Since I've become a Bug I'll be the strongest!"