"Poor aptitude my ass!" Alex Hall smashed his second monitor that day after receiving an email from his favorite game developer "International Gamers Coalition", the creators of the world's first VRMMORPG ||Gate to Utopia||.
Alex was fortuitous to have been blessed with two parents with high paying jobs. Were it not for Alex's parents being incredibly wealthy, he would not be able to live the life of luxury he had been enjoying up until now.
Alex discarded the broken monitor and replaced it with a brand new one laying beside his "gaming fortress". He read over the terms of the email for any hint that he would be able to play the beta if he retook the test, but there was no such luck.
The International Gamers Coalition (IGC) required potential candidates to submit a mental health test and a signed non-disclosure agreement prior to releasing personal machines to beta testers.
Alex was one of the first to sign up to beta test, thinking that the mental health test was going to be no problem. However Alex struggled on some of the questions, becoming frustrated and making mistakes the more he filled out.
It had not even crossed his mind that he had failed the mental health test in the two weeks that he waited for the email.
First, he was depressed while moping around his one bedroom apartment and making instant noodles. Next came anger, like a flood washing over his body a wave of emotions sent him punching his table and throwing glass cups at the wall.
Alex was a product of bad parenting, two parents who could not properly discipline their child or pay him any attention. Only by acting out and throwing a fit could he get the attention he so desperately needed and it became a habit he developed into his adulthood.
The first friend he made only paid attention to him because he was equally as loud. As his friend got into gaming so did Alex, however Alex had the luxury of buying top of the line equipment and any new game system that came out. Even after his friend stopped playing games and transitioned into a young man going into the workforce, it was too late for Alex.
With the introduction of games into Alex's life, he found the outlet he needed for his special attention and skill. His "online" friends would constantly compliment him, and receive gifts from Alex in return. This became a circle of instant-gratification for Alex who was too naive to understand that he was being taken advantage of.
This was the first time Alex had ever been deprived of something in his life. Tasting rejection for the first time, he could not comprehend the feelings that welled up inside him. This gave birth to a powerful need for revenge within him.
Alex sent hundreds of emails within the span of a month to the developers of ||Gate to Utopia|| to let them know how big of a mistake they had made in not choosing him for beta testing. He received no reply emails, which only further fueled his anger towards the company.
A month later, the personal machine for ||Gate to Utopia|| became purchasable at select stores across the world.
When it came time to buy the actual personal machine, Alex was one of the first in line. During the time where he waited for the personal machine, he affirmed to himself his goals. He read every article he could find from early game reviewers, bought the in-depth strategy guide that was secretly released on the dark web, and had been practicing movements based on the "activation" of certain skills to ensure he had the advantage when the game officially started.
In order to show the developers how much of a mistake it was to not allow him into the beta, he intended to start along with every other commoner on the release day and establish himself as rank 1 on the server. After all, this level of handicap was necessary to make sure everyone knew he was the best.
While the main server was down until the release date, the personal machine could be donned and a character could be made while players waited for the official launch of the game.
Alex made his character, a slim but muscular human-like body. The reason it was human-like was because (race) was a grayed out option for him. The option itself was stuck on human, and Alex figured it would unlock on release day. While waiting, he created a visually appealing character according to his taste.
Alex crafted his figure with black hair, black irises and a slight Asian look, attempting to give his character a more "demonic" look to intimidate anyone who spoke to him. When he was satisfied by the look of the character he turned off the personal machine and crawled into his cold bed.
The countdown for the official launch had begun. The opening was slated for exactly 12:00:00, and his alarm was set to coincide directly with the launch time. As the time drew closer, Alex became more and more flustered with his character's visual appearance.
Ten minutes before launch, Alex re-entered the personal machine and changed his character model to look less demonic. Instead of black irises, he changed to red eye color with white irises, and made his facial features a little less delicate.
Eventually the changes had slowly shifted his visage from Asian to North-American, with a more pronounced chin and slightly tired looking eyes. This gave his character a more "rogue-like" look, which he thought would serve his purposes more if he had to resort to PK'ing for resources.
PK'ing referred to the ability to kill another player (player killing) and was a perfectly acceptable action in the game. This action of course came with repercussions, for when you become a PK'er other players can attack and kill you without penalty. There is even a reward for hunting down and trapping or killing PK'ers.
Two minutes before the games official launch, Alex laid down at his bed and watched the alarm clock he had set.
One minute...
30 seconds...
15 seconds...
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
The visor on the personal machine brightly displayed the character model.
A musical note played from the speakers of the headset.
"Thank you for playing ||Gate to Utopia|| please enter your in game name below!" An autonomous female AI voice spoke.
"Reaper." Alex spoke out loud.
"Sorry, this name is not available, please try again." The female voice monotonously answered.
"Shadow." Alex spoke, slightly irritated.
"Accepted. Import previously created character model?" The female voice asked.
"Yes!" Alex was getting flustered, all he wanted to do was jump right into the game.
"Accepted, previously created character model being imported. Gender is correct, calculating character model proportions. Login commencing. Have fun!" The female voice disappeared and a small musical note played.
The first jump was always the hardest according to the reviewer panel, and Alex braced himself for the worst.
All five of Alex's senses seemed to stop as he was suspended in a pitch black void. Suddenly the world began to slowly be created around him.
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What he expected to see was vibrant colors of a brown dirty street and a blue sky, but he did not. Instead, the first thing he saw was black iron walls surrounding him and pillars made of crushed bones.
When his eyes properly adjusted, he saw a large room that could easily fit a small village inside it, but was otherwise hollow and void of life.
Alex raised his hands to eye level, checking over his features and clothes. Everything had appeared exactly the way he wanted during character creation, so the model was accurate, but he had weird spiked growths all over the back of his arms. His arms and the visible parts of his legs were covered in patches of black scales.
"Something isn't right." Alex's other four senses were returning now.
His olfactory sense kicked in and all he could smell was brimstone and burnt flesh. The smell was nauseating and he could not help but wince from it.
He touched the scaled skin and felt the texture, it was tough and stretchy, like the body of a lizard. The sound of flesh touching scales was extremely coarse, like sandpaper.
The taste of burning flesh rested on his tongue, making him involuntarily gag a couple times before he closed his mouth. His stomach growled but he paid no attention to it.
Alex looked around the room and noticed a large throne made of bones behind him. Previously while he was getting his bearings, he had mistakenly sat on the large throne.
He stood from the throne and began to run towards the only exit he could see, two large black iron doors roughly 15 feet high.
Just the journey to the exit was a twenty minute jog, and Alex was a little winded when he reached it.
When he finally reached the door, he pressed his hand against the black iron and his hand print began to glow a beautiful blue.
The black iron door creaked open and Alex got his first view of the outside world.
In a word, the view from the black iron door outwards could be described as a hellscape.
Ghouls, wraiths, undead and demons were torturing npc souls as they screamed in anguish from being stabbed and whipped. The realistic screams of the damned made the landscape a living breathing horror.
In the distance, a larger and much taller black iron gate protected the entrance to the inner grounds of the castle Alex was in. The walls attached to the black iron gate were at least 50 feet high, and were guarded by colossal demonic monsters with 6 arms and 4 legs.
Each arm of the colossal demons carried a weapon of a different variety, and the armor looked to be attached to their tough skin. Blood and fire oozed from their wounds like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.
Before any of the monsters noticed the black iron door opening, Alex closed it in a panic.
"Oh right, the status screen!" Alex, visibly flustered, remembered one of the most important aspects of the game.
Alex operated the status screen just like how the official strategy guide explained.
Using his mind, he envisioned a box with his character status, and it appeared in front of him. The strategy guide mentioned that in the status screen there was a logout button underneath the GM call button.
"Let's see." Alex rubbed his chin. Alex assumed this was just a bug and felt relieved, he can just log out, contact a GM and start over in the beginning town. However the more time this took, the more others would have an advantage on him. Thinking about it now, he became furious.
Name: Shadow
Level: 1
Race: Demon
Class: Demon King
Title: One who rules the underworld
Skills: -
-
-
Pet: None
-Stats-
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Endurance: 10
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 10
Spirit: 10
Health: 100
Mana: 100
-Equipment-
Weapon: None
Off Hand: None
Head Gear: None
Chest Gear: Beginner's Robes
Leg Gear: Beginner's Leggings
Foot Gear: Beginner's Shoes
Ring Slot 1: None
Ring Slot 2: None
Neck Slot 1: None
Special 1: None
Special 2: None
Alex was speechless. When he looked below the GM call button, there was no log out button like there was supposed to be.
Alex panicked and began to issue verbal commands quickly.
"Exit! Leave! Return! Menu! Escape!" Alex attempted to open additional character related AI boxes, but only the status window showed up.
Alex focused his mind and clicked the GM call button. There was no use panicking when it can all be resolved by the GMs.
After ten minutes, the GM call button came through and a GM spoke directly to Alex.
"Hello player, what seems to be the issue." The GM appeared before Alex as an angel with wings of pure white. The GMs eyes were closed, and he was looking down in the direction of Alex.
"Your game glitched and put me here, and even gave me the wrong race and class, also I don't know how to log out." Alex was noticeably angry. How dare they make him wait 10 minutes.
"Everything is working as intended." The GMs eyes remained closed as he smiled. The type of cold smile that unnerved you as you realized you had made a powerful enemy.
Undeterred, Alex stared at the GM in disbelief.
"What do you mean 'working as intended'? This is ridiculous, I can't even log out!" Alex stomped his foot in grievance.
"You are the demon king, you cannot leave your domain. A word of advice, you should seek to get powerful quickly. For the demon king, dying in the game means dying in the real world. It would be utterly pitiful if you died as a level 1." Alex was in a daze at what the GM said. The GM opened his eyes to reveal a blinding white light.
When the dazzling light faded, the GM had disappeared and only a small iron dagger was where he stood.
Attached to the dagger was a parchment.
'If you wish to call my bluff, kill yourself and see if you escape this world. Either way, no one will miss you.'
Though the words were written beautifully, they hid a murderous intent behind them.
Alex laughed at the note and grabbed the dagger, but when it came down to it, he could not slice his wrists.
If it turned out to be true, he would really die. He sat on the cold damp floor and held his head in his hands. 10 minutes passed before he suddenly stood up and removed his gaze from the floor.
"It just so happens that becoming rank 1 on the server was always my mission!" Alex stared up at the ceiling of the large black iron castle.
A single tear slipped down his face, but was quickly brushed away.
"Watch me, you shitty GMs. Nothing will stop me!" Alex shook his fist to the ceiling before returning to the black iron door.
He slowly placed his hands on the door and the hand print glowed magically before the large door opened.
Equipped with only a small iron dagger, Alex ventured out.