- Natalie POV -
'Seriously, how hard is it to find a useful game to help me climb from Player Rank F to Rank E? ' I thought in frustration as I looked at page 3 of the list of games developed by the Game Creators at Nova Forge Academy.
I know that the NFA isn't one of the best Game Creator colleges, but all the games are practically copies of the most successful games of recent years.
And I can't even blame the Game Creators for that... it's not like they have enough knowledge and mana to make more complex games...
'Who told me to just be a weak Rank F Player?
I sighed at the thought.
Looking at the fifth game where the objective is to stand in a forest swinging a different weapon in different climates, I was about to give up, until I saw that the list was already running out and decided to give the games below a try.
Even though I knew that the likelihood of these games being good was practically minimal, what cost would it be to look at a few more games before I went looking for games on other colleges' pages?
[Desert Arrow Blocking Training!]
'Boring, my focus is on magic.'
[Labyrinth Trap Evasion Training!]
'It might be useful if someone is going to fight in a maze or a place with lots of traps, but that's not my job, boring.'
[Magic Resistance Training under Lava!]
'That sounds a bit interesting, but why should I have to stay under the lava to practice? Don't you have any really useful or interesting games?'
[Runestone]
'Bori... what?!'
Looking at that strange game with a name that said nothing about it, I was confused.
'What kind of training is this?
I had never seen a game page like this before, so, curious, I clicked on the page to see a better explanation of what the game was and what the focus of the training was.
Opening the game page, instead of showing a picture of someone somewhere training something, what the game was showing was two people smiling while holding strange cards.
'Playing cards? This Game Creator thinks that playing BlackJack will make someone stronger? Is he crazy?
Even though I felt it didn't make sense, I kept looking at the images of the game showing how it worked and noticed that each card had a different effect that, when played, would do something different.
The more I looked at it, the more interested I became in this game, even though it didn't show any real advancement in the Players' skill power.
As the images were interesting, I shifted my gaze to the explanatory text about the game.
-
🎴 RUNESTONE 🎴
Welcome to Runestone, the strategic card game that combines real-world progress with fun! Who says training has to be boring?
Runestone takes the concept of card battles to a whole new level, using the revolutionary technology: False Neurological Feedback! Who said that only games with a high Rank can provide False Neurological Feedback to Players?!
🌀 WHAT IS RUNESTONE?
Runestone is more than a card game; it's an experience that not only entertains you but also improves your Rank as a Player. Choose a hero, build your deck and go into combat against other Players. But what really sets Runestone apart is that, unlike other games where training is extremely tedious, in Runestone you'll have fun all the time!
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
...
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The more I read about the game's description, the more I felt my blood boil.
Wasn't that exactly what I was looking for? A way to become stronger that wasn't as boring as other games were?
But reading about this 'False Neurological Feedback', I began to think it sounded too good to be true.
Everywhere I looked about it, the only thing I found was scientific articles by big Game Creators talking about how difficult it is to make it work and how only the biggest Game Creators managed to implement it in their games.
Now a Rank F Game Creator was hinting that he had replicated this strange technology in his Rank F game?
'That sounds too good to be true...' I thought, a little disappointed.
But despite my disappointment, I still clicked to download while continuing to read the game page. When the game finished downloading completely, I instantly clicked play, curious to see how it would work.
Everything the game page was saying seemed very unreal.
When I clicked pay to play and injected my Mana into the Game Linker, I felt my consciousness leaving my body and traveling to the virtual world of this game.
Unlike other virtual worlds in other games that tried to be scary or oppressive, to push the training to the limit of what our mind and body could take, this game took me to a strange wooden tavern with warm, cozy lighting.
In this tavern there were several empty tables and behind the counter there was no one, but to my amazement, a strange, funny and charismatic voice startled me as it spoke.
[Welcome to the Runestone, Player! Take a seat at the table with a Runestone tray].
Looking around and seeing no one, I figured that this voice had probably been pre-recorded by the Game Creator to help beginner Players understand the game.
Following the voice's suggestion, I slowly approached the table with a box on top and sat down in the surprisingly comfortable wooden chair.
As soon as I sat down, the box began to glow and opened for me, showing two images, a large, muscular green-skinned man holding a large axe or a beautiful white-haired woman with a scholarly aura holding a golden staff.
[To begin, select your hero. Each hero has unique abilities that can change the course of the match, and your real-life stat gain based on False Neurological Feedback depends on which style of card you use. Mages have more access to magic cards, increasing the amount of magic you receive at the end of the game, warriors have more creature and weapon cards, increasing their strength and agility at the end of games].
Looking at the two drawings and seeing how beautiful and delicate the woman was, even if she was a rogue I would still choose her, but her being a mage made me even more excited since I could improve my magic by playing with her!
After clicking on the mage, the design of my board changed slightly to represent the appearance of a magic workshop, which I found adorable.
[You have selected Grand Magus Lyna Proudstone!]
'I'm enjoying this more and more!'
[In a dueling card game, you should ideally put together your own deck, but if you don't want to, Lyna Proudstone's basic deck is available for you to use at any time].
Curious, I started looking at the cards in Maga's basic deck and I was pleased with what I saw, but out of curiosity I also looked at the other cards available for me to choose from and I realized that I understood too little about the game to customize anything, so I just stuck with the basic deck.
[Now that you have a Deck, you can play your first battle, good luck Great Mage!]
Hearing the game call me Great Mage made a Great Smile appear on my face as I shifted my gaze to the menu in front of me.
Even though the board was made of wood with rustic elements all over the place, whenever the game menu changed the board made mechanical sounds as if it had actually changed in a realistic way.
'This Game Creator has really thought through even the smallest details...'
In front of me were two buttons, [Casual Match] and [Ranked Match].
Reading the description of both I wanted to click on Ranked Match, but the button wasn't available until I had completed 10 battles.
Resigning myself to my fate, I clicked on [Casual Match] and a roulette wheel started spinning, apparently deciding my opponent.
'This game already has so many Players?!' I was surprised by this.
[Worthy Opponent!]
That was the title of the opponent the game chose for me, which pleased me.
Within seconds the board began to change, splitting in half with my half of the board having the appearance of a magic laboratory while the other half had the appearance of a warrior training camp.
On the other side of the table, the body of a person began to materialize.
This person was a young man who looked about my age, with straight black hair down to his eyes, eyes that were a shade of green so light they looked golden, delicate features and a thin, almost malnourished build.
'He looks exactly like a wizard, why is he using a warrior deck? Maybe he wants to take advantage of the game to cover up his deficiency in physical strength?! That's kind of clever...' I thought as I analyzed the boy.
Just as I was analyzing him, he also looked at me curiously and gave me a polite smile.
“Hello, I hope we have a good game.” He held out his hand as he kept smiling at me.
Surprised by his politeness I was momentarily stunned and it took me a few seconds to recover, reaching out to shake his hand a little embarrassed.
“Thank you, I'm looking forward to it too.” I said, not knowing what else to say.
After we greeted each other, a coin appeared in the center of the board and then I received a warning that I would play first.
As soon as this notice appeared, magically the cards from my deck that were next to the board flew into my hand, leaving me slightly surprised.
Embarrassed by how I was acting, I glanced covertly at the boy on the other side of the board and realized that he just ignored how I was acting and looked at the cards in his hand seriously, making me sigh with relief and look at my cards again.
At this point I didn't even remember that I was in a game where the focus was on training and getting stronger, the only thing I was thinking about was how much fun this whole new experience was being.