Chapter 1: The Definition of a Noob

Hi my name is Sora Sato. If I had to describe myself with one word.... hm, I would say normal? I enjoy playing sports, like soccer or badminton,  I guess that’s not normal. Most kids my age play games. Well my grades are pretty normal. Though my favourite subject would be biology. I never liked history. Oh, my looks? I would say... below average, well my self esteem is pretty below average too, but thats normal right? Ah, who am I talking to again?

“Sora! Get to school already! You’re late!” (???)

“Yes mom!” (Sora)

Sora bolts out the front door to catch his friend waiting for him out front.

“Sora! How long are you going to make me wait?” (???)

[tsk]

“Aki, you didn't have to wait you know...” (Sora)

“Hey! I always walk with you to school, you know that!” (Akiko)

“Tsk, that's why I told you to stop, geez.” (Sora)

“Let’s stop talking, we’re late!” (Akiko)

Ah, who’s this gorgeous girl? Akiko Maeda, my childhood friend. I had a crush on her for a while, but since the start of high school, she got way more pretty. I don’t want her to know how I feel so I try to avoid her...

Running through the hallway while dodging various obstacles and angry teachers....

[huff, huff...]

“We’re so screwed...’ (Sora)

“Um, you first Sora....” (Akiko)

As if opening the door to hell itself, Sora braced himself for whatever was ahead.

“Ehehe, morning Sensei” (Sora)

[tap tap tap]

“Morning Sensei” (Akiko)

There standing cross armed, in an overbearing presence, was Prof. Okamoto. Her black leather stilettos were tapping on the floor as she glared at Sora.

“Take your seat” (Prof. Okamoto)

The reluctant walk of shame as the class giggled at Sora’s misfortune.

“Sora, I’ll be seeing after school” (Prof. Okamoto)

“Hey but-” (Sora)

"No buts!" (Prof. Okamoto)

Sora turns his head towards Akiko, glaring but at the same time pleading for help. Sensing his presence, Akiko preemptively looked in the opposite direction.

Ugh, I’m doomed.

***

Lunch time. Another homemade lunch by Akiko! Yay!

“Hey Sora!” (???1)

“Sup bro, I heard Mrs. Oka’s gonna eat you after school!” (???2)

“Hahaha, dude you’re so dead” (???3)

Stuffing his face with Akiko’s lunch box, he gave death glare at his friends.

“Shut it, Akiko made me late” (Sora)

“Haha, whatever. Did you guys buy the new game yet?” (???1)

“You mean Golden Age? I’m getting it this weekend, after my paycheck” (???3)

“I got a date with a pretty lady on friday, I’ll come with you Shota on the weekend” (???2)

“Cool Yuta, meet me at my place” (Shota)

“Aight” (Yuta)

“What’s Golden Age?” (Sora)

Not very surprising since Sora never play many video games in his life. He enjoyed being able to manipulate the flow of games through strategic movements and felt that video games lack the freedom to do so.

“Sora, let this genius Mitsuo tell you all about Golden Age!” (Mitsuo)

“Uh, oka-” (Sora)

“Golden age is the pinnacle of VRMMO! The enhanced physics module and graphics are said to be technology from the future!” (Mitsuo)

“Uh, I-” (Sora)

“Even though race selection isn't as varied at other games, the class system is very in-depth and the game creator claim over 500 different hidden jobs!” (Mitsuo)

“Hey Mi-” (Shota)

“And the items! So many different types of weapons and item enhancement, you can b-level up-p duffen opurt-y o cum ah owe-r” (Mitsuo)

“Oh god, he’s spazzing again!” (Yuta)

“Someone quick, knock him out!” (Shota)

“To-eheh-maxi-hahaha” (Mitsuo)

“Dammit Mitsuo!” (Sora)

*punch*

Sora punch Mitsuo right in the eye! With his glass twisted, frothing at the mouth, Mitsuo fell over his lunch while twitching his left arm.

“Another nerd spasm...” (Yuta)

“We should take him to the nurse, Sora help me carry him” (Shota)

After their eventful lunch, school came to a close.

***

“Ahh, I’m finally home!” (Sora)

Opening the door, the first thing Sora sees is his mom giving the same pose Prof. Okamoto did.

“Why are you home late Sora? Do you know how worried I was?” (Mom)

“Sorry Mom, I was late to school so Oka-sensei punished m-” (Sora)

“And that’s why I told you to get your arse moving in the morning! You never listen!” (Mom)

“...” (Sora)

“Hurry up and eat dinner, ah, why can’t my boy be normal?” (Mom)

Normal? I’m very normal, my mom is the one not normal.

Sitting at the dinner table, his dad was reading a newspaper. Nodding as Sora sat down.

“Rough eh?” (Dad)

“Yeah... Mom just doesn't understand” (Sora)

“Hey kiddo, you know your mom just cares too much. Cut her some slack if you can” (Dad)

Cut her some slack, it should be the other way around!

“Anyways, how school?” (Dad)

“Ah, the usual... everyone keeps talking about this game called Golden Age” (Sora)

“Golden Age! I've seen the trailers, pretty impressive since my days” (Dad)

Oh right, dad was a pretty big gamer when he was my age. That’s how he met mom apparently.

“Meh, I don’t like video games that much, I rather experience the game in person” (Sora)

“Hah, you really don’t know nothing about VRMMO do you?” (Dad)

“What’s VR stand for anyways?” (Sora)

“Virtual Reality! You experience the game first hand, like a new life!” (Dad)

“Sounds too expensive, wouldn't playing something like baseball feel more exciting?” (Sora)

“Hah, you’re missing out Sora! Hey, why don’t you use my old capsule sitting in the garage, kids your age need to socialize more and play more games!” (Dad)

“Meh, I’ll think about it” (Sora)

I’m not really interested, what’s all this hype about VRMMO anyways? People are just wasting away doing nothing when they could be doing it in real life.

“Thanks for the meal Dad, I’m going to finish my homework” (Sora)

“Alright kiddo, call me anytime when you wanna try out a new game” (Dad)

That night Sora was texting his childhood friend about his day...

-and then Oka-bitch made me clean the floors- (Sora)

-Lol, she picks on you a lot- (Akiko)

-I don’t know why she never calls you out! So unfair- (Sora)

-Hahaha, I love you ^_^- (Akiko)

Sora took a moment to re-read that last text.

-Anyways, whatcha doing?- (Sora)

-I’m buying Golden Age with Kimi-chan, you?- (Akiko)

Again Sora took a moment to re-read that last text.

GOLDEN AGE?

-Gtg sleep now, cya- (Sora)

Sora rocketed down the stairs and straight to the living room. There, his dad was still flipping through the same newspaper while looking up at Sora.

“Done homework?” (Dad)

“Uh yeah, Dad about the game” (Sora)

“I’m listening” (Dad)

“I wanna play Golden Age” (Sora)

“Pfft- you wanna play a game?!” (Dad)

Why is he so shocked? He’s always pushing games onto me since I was five.

“That’s right dad, is that possible?” (Sora)

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“OFCOURSE! Hahaha, I’ll have it ready this Saturday! Hahaha!” (Dad)

“Uh, thanks dad, I’m... gonna sleep now...” (Sora)

“Hahahahaha, cough cough, Hahaha!” (Dad)

Sora went back to bed while hearing his dad laughter for the next 5 minutes....

Why are my parents so weird?

***

Saturday approached much faster than Sora anticipated. Gripping his phone, he was collecting his thoughts.

I gotta do it, I gotta do it...

His fingers were shaking, thumbs hovering over the keypad...

-Hey akiko, whatsup?- (Sora)

Silence. 30 minutes of silence. Sora face turn pale as he held his breath.

-Oh hai sora-kun, I’m playing Golden Age, kinda busy- (Akiko)

-You too huh? I’m going to start soon too!- (Sora)

-No way, YOUR PLAYING GAMES?- (Akiko)

-Yeah, you wanna play together?- (Sora)

[du-thump, du-thump...]

His heart was pounding on his ear drums. As if seconds seemed like eternity, he kept staring at his screen with anticipation.

-Sure, I’m in Rohan City, Human Race name Misty33, cya there!- (Akiko)

“...” (Sora)

YES! I DID IT!

Sora’s Dad had already set up the game capsule in his room, cleaned and smelling like brand new! Sora plugged his phone into the capsule while slowly climbing in.

This is it, I’m doing it.

As he closed his eyes, he felt super comfortable in the chair. Relaxing, all the tension he built up seem to fade away.

After a few streaks of green light flash over his eyelids he heard a female voice...

[Welcome to Golden Age, new user detected, one moment please]

His dad has already given Sora a crash course on VRMMOs so Sora felt confident for whatever was ahead. The pitch black feeling suddenly turn white. He felt like he was standing in another room, without any walls.

[Hello new user, please select a language]

“Japanese” (Sora)

The words Japanese appear in front of Sora.

Japanese

[You have selected Japanese, do you confirm?”]

“Yes” (Sora)

Please choose an in-game name

“hmmm, Sora”

The name Sora flashed in his face while blinking red.

Sora has already been taken, please choose another name

“Uh, Naruto”

*Denied*

“Sasuke!”

*Denied*

“Grrrr, ShadowWolf!”

*Denied*

After several minutes of back and forth...

I need to pick a western name...

“Uh, Marcus?” (Sora)

The name Marcus flash in front of Sora, but this time the letters were green.

Do you confirm Marcus?

“Yes” (Sora)

Welcome Marcus, please choose your race

Before the game could even render images of Marcus in different races, Sora shouted.

“Human!” (Sora)

A mirror-like person appeared in front of Sora eyes, completely nude but with the little elephant censored out, Sora was taken back by the game accuracy. Even though the scar on his right arm was missing, everything else looked almost identical.

You have chosen Human race, do you confirm?

“Yes” (Sora)

Would you like to purchase beautification module?

Thinking deeply about the question just asked, Sora definitely wanted to look more attractive, at least so Akiko would notice him more.

“Uh… Yes?” (Sora)

No credit line detect on smart phone, please manual input credit card

Darn it.

Sora knew his dad would be against giving him money for beautification module. It was made very clear during his crash course on VRMMOs. His dad said normally games would give you some options to adjust your character for free, however, golden age made any modification micro-transactions, so he would either need to steal his parents…

“Ah forget it, I don’t need any” (Sora)

Clothes began to appear on Sora’s clone, a simple beginner outfit fitted with a wooden sword.

Would you like to start the tutorial?

“No thanks!” (Sora)

Please select a starting city

“Rohan!” (Sora)

Thank you for playing Golden Age, character loading, please wait...

Though the game said loading, it took less than a second before the white scenery changed into a bustling town of foreign people. Sora began to look around in amazement as he stood there jumping around.

Gravity seems normal, movement-check, eyesight-check, touch-whoa!

As Marcus started to grope his own body…

“Ah look, another noobie” (???)

“Haha, the guy didn't even change his appearance” (???)

Marcus ignored the rude comments while testing out his body. It felt super realistic, no, it was real! The breeze on his skin, the smell of the city, everything was perfect. After snapping out of his utter amazement, he remember he had a mission. Determined like never before he walked forward while shouting…

“Misty33! Misty33, you there?” (Marcus)

“Oh boy, that kid’s crazy” (???)

“Hahaha, look at that idiot” (???)

Marcus was indeed a noob, even the noobs would call him noob. He spent the next two hours in-game looking for Misty33 before deciding to give Akiko a call...

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