A blade cuts through the last of my squad. Suddenly that blade slashes at where I am standing. Acting on instinct alone after countless battles my body rolls to the right. The blade which previously would have sliced my body in half now only nicks my arm as I roll. I instantly get onto my feet and retreat backwards somewhat in order for me to get my bearing. Looks like I am the last one left. I smirk while noticing that all of my ten man squad besides me are each in half. Nine bodies in total all cleanly sliced horizontally just above the navel. The man I am battling sure knows how to handle his weapon. My eyes focus on the man before me. He is around my height which is 5’11 and looks like a picture perfect replica of a samurai. His katana he is wielding is wicked looking with impractical teeth on the back made for ripping and the blade portion sharp enough to cut through the toughest of armors. We lock eyes neither of us daring to breathe. Just as when I was wondering who is going to attack first I feel an immense amount of killing intent aimed directly at me and the man is gone. Well not gone just moving faster than my eyes can track. Silly man since when has my eyesight ever stop me from seeing.”Life Detection” I yell out and feel a pull on my mana reserves which by the looks of things is hovering dangerously low, suddenly I close my eyes and I can detect two souls within my area of effect. Me and the man who is currently appearing right behind me.
Now! I think to myself while shouting out “Blood Overflow!”. My mana pool in my body is now completely drained so I have to make this worth it. Blood Overflow is a peculiar spell, it allows me to viciously cycle blood throughout my body which somehow enhances my whole being. Time slows down to a crawl while my body can still work normally when in reality my brain and body is being overclocked while everything else is still running normal speed. I quickly turn around and I am met with the man with his katana near inches away from impaling me.
A vicious smile is on his lips as if he is enjoying the sensation of killing. Yeah definitely not going to get impaled today I think while dodging the oncoming strike. Then I unleash a torrent of slashes from my own blade that is a standard shortsword. My strikes are barely scratching the armor but by aiming for one spot directly towards his heart, I was able to break the armor surrounding that area. From there it was a simple thrust into the man's chest to bring his life down to zero. Finally Blood Overflow ends with a huge debuff to balance the OPness of it. Without the debuff and the cost then people would just be spamming the spell. The man whom I just defeated disintegrates into particles of dust and what I am left with is nothing but a screen and some items. Giddy with excitement I check the screen and look at what it says.
[Congratulations on clearing the Lone Samurai, the hardest boss in the game on the ultra-veteran difficulty setting]
[Calculating Rewards...]
[New item added!- Katana of the Bloodthirsty Samurai]
[New item added!- Armor of the Bloodthirsty Samurai]
[Difficulty reward added!- Skill Book: Siphoning Slashes[Legendary]]
[Experience Earned-200,000]
[Level UP]
[Achievement Earned!- Slayer of the Ultimate Warrior]
Still smirking I pull off my Virtual reality headset and my earbuds while taking off my haptic suit. Crawling out of the suit I stand up and look into the mirror. Just your average guy I think to myself. Being the same height as my in game character which is still 5’11 not quite hitting the six foot mark. My eyes a Dark Emerald that has always driven the few girls i've been with wild. Playing soccer during middle and high school I still have quite a toned body at only 25 years of age. My naturally tanned complexion thankfully brought to me by my father allows me to have a decent golden tan year round without even having to go outside. Oh yeah I am white too, not native american or spanish but just white. After I was done inspecting myself I took a quick shower and settled down on my apartment couch with a microwavable dinner in one hand and the other with a remote deciding what movie I want to watch when my phone starts buzzing reminding me I haven’t read my texts yet. Aw shit I forgot to celebrate with my team on the boss kill earlier! I then grab my phone and very carefully set my dinner down before I start checking my texts.
Gary: Dude! Can’t believe I got wiped first! Whatever man I don’t care. Do you know who’s getting the loot?
Sam: Hey boss just wondering how your gear is holding up. Just let me know if you need anything!
Claire: Just watched your battle! Can’t believe my little bro is actually good at something Tongue [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/tongue.png]. Good job.
Gary and sam. The only two guys from my childhood who stayed with me and made it to the big leagues like I did. Being a Pro-Gamer that is, Gary being one of the best healers I have ever met. His spell rotation is insane and he seems to be constantly keeping everyone in full health even sometimes resurrecting people while at the same time using the smallest amount of mana he can get away with. The only reason that last boss came down to the wire was because the boss somehow figured out he was our squads only healer and he ganked him before everyone even was fully geared up. Gary has never really been into anything else other than gaming so when we decided to try and go pro he was basically our manager. He has always told me until this day he never regrets having a major in economics.
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Sam on the other hand still fights with my squad sometimes and while he is an amazing tank when we need him, he mostly prefers doing simple jobs like blacksmithing or enchanting in games. All of it is essential to my team of course so I personally keep him on the payroll, especially with how immersive these games are now. If he wasn’t a mechanical engineer turned gamer, then he probably would have a hard time figuring out schematics for his own type of armor. That’s right, the stuff he makes is without system guidance which not only allows him to make whatever he wants in the boundaries of the genre, it also grants special bonuses. My armor is specially made for me to constantly heal me when I use my devastating blood magic. Without him I would have been dead many times over.
Anyways, the three of us met freshman year in highschool are have been inseparable since. Since the others chose careers that were crazy complicated, I felt obliged to do the same. That’s why I have a degree in chemical engineering. I also am a freelance alchemist, selling off my high-tiered potions to make some extra cash. The three of us have been on some crazy adventures both in game and out but unlike the other two, I have never shown people my real face ever. No one except for them and my family knows that I am secretly a very successful individual. I do this because I always like being a shadow, never having to confront people because no one knows I was the one that did it. Never having to feel obliged to take pictures with my fans because I don’t want to. This lifestyle is definitely not for my other two friends who need the constant exposure to stay afloat in the gaming world and keep the checks coming. What I pay sam after all is not enough for the hardware he has. I don’t have to worry about it though because my source of income actually comes from the countless tournaments I have won over the years which i’ve used to invest in some well managed stocks. Basically with my bank account right now and not counting the amount I have in stocks I am set for life.
While I replied to the texts of my friends and my teasing older sister, a knock on my apartment door brought me back to my senses. Slowly getting up from the couch careful to not mess up my dinner I the walked to the door and opened it. When I did however all I could see was a white room where my hallway is suppose to be. This room looked to be of decent size, able to easily fit fifty people inside. But there was not fifty people inside, there was just one man. If he were to stand up he would easily tower over you at a large height of 6’8. His stature indicated that he was once a football player or pro-wrestler but as time grew on his muscles still remained while his physique diminished. His eyes though, a beautiful light blue contrasting his pale white skin, shone with a radiance only a millenia of age could produce. When he saw me he smiled and I noted that while he appears old, he still appears to show no worse for wear.
“Come here child do not be afraid, I am merely here to assist you in the upcoming calamity.” He spoke with a slight british accent but his voice was as clear and strong as a crystal clear river that always flows. He nods in front of him and a couch similar to mine appears in front of him. He then beckons me to sit and I do.
“Sir, What are you?” With awe filling my every syllable. The man looks taken aback, as if he wasn’t expecting this answer and his replies only further proves my guess.
“Interesting way to ask such a question and I will answer but first let me answer some other questions that everyone else always have. My name does not exist in any of your languages simply because there isn’t such a word that can quantify it but most shall call me God. We are currently in a fragment of reality where time does not pass outside of this specific room. These questions are easy to answer but your question slightly baffles me simply because I too do not know. All I know is that I existed long before the universe started developing, in fact I recall actually having something to do with creating this place. I do not know if others like me exist but I can tell you that I am the only one I have ever met. If you were to ask me what this was all about at first then I would have told you something you would not believe before I told you everything else I have.” With this the old man gets up and towers over me, only then do I realize that while looking old he doesn’t seem to have let that impede his movement. He then turns to me as if gathering a thought and merely says “So, now that you have heard all of that, do you have another question?” He then looks at me almost expectantly, waiting for a question he knew needed to come. I then asked what I was thinking about for the last couple seconds after he finished talking.
“Yes actually, Why is this all happening? What is the reason?” I ask seeing as how he never truly answered a certain point. Once hearing this the man's face lit up into a smile before beginning his lecture.
“Well when I say I existed before the universe, I certainly wasn’t the first thing created by whatever higher force that is above me. The creation of a system of such sorts in this case was created long before my being came into existence. I learned from the system that outside universes such as this one there exists an element called mana and it was responsible for the creation of your universe. The only problem is that when the mana is used to feed your universe to constantly expand and create matter, the mana is used up. This makes it to where magic is not accessible to the inhabitants of that universe and in another case the system. The system feeds off of the ambient mana in the air, miniscule amount mind you but it enables the users to use amazing abilities. Mana is constantly being fed into the universe to make sure it stays growing but like a cell when it is too big, there isn’t enough nutrients or mana in this case to be constantly supplying to the center of it all. When this happens the universe stabilizes and then begins to become saturated with mana. This universe you currently reside in has finally been able to be saturated with enough mana to cause the system to initialize. Currently using my powers I have put every sentient being into a reality fragment such as this and have given them roughly the same talk. The reason for this is simple, as soon as the system initializes the dense mana in the air will start to form horrible abominations and begin attacking the world. I have appointed myself as guardian to such new worlds in hopes that the sentient race or races can have a fighting chance.” Once he finished that bombshell he then says “I am also going to give you the glimpse of what the system consists of and what your status is so you can spend your free starting points appropriately and also purchase any abilities you might want. Just note that once you finish these changes and step out of that doorway then all hell will break loose. Literally.” He then proceeds to sit down and wait to give me some time to process. However instead of dutifully accepting the fact that the entire human race is now in a huge rpg spanning a whole universe and I will have to fight for my life, I instead hyperventilate and pass out over the fact that the whole universe has turned into a huge rpg and I have to fight to survive.