real world, oct 1st 2043
Kai dropped off by the bus station to his home, holding in a bag the box for his newly bought headset for Infinite Dendrogram. He tried to make sure the bag didn't hit anything while he went home. It was very worrying that the headset only cost him $150 and yet he made sure nothing happened to it before he got to try it and see if the game was as great as Tam told him, or honestly if it was even half of what he said. At least Tam would stop pestering him about it.
Opening the front door and sliding the bag to his side to avoid his mom catching a glimpse and asking him about it before he had anything of value to say about it. It wasn't that Kai's mom really worried about what he chose to spend his money on or if he was taking on bad influences. She was quite trusting of him, probably a lot more than many parents did their kids. But Kai wanted to have something to talk about if his mom asked, rather than stand and twiddle his thumbs trying to think what he currently had to say about the game.
His mom wasn't in the living room and Tina, his dog, was probably sleeping in his big brother's vacant room. Kai went straight to his room and sat down in his chair. He knew it shouldn't be possible, but he didn't want to end up falling asleep while playing the game by mistake. Putting the bag on his work desk, he opened the box inside and took out the helmet console. He then stretched his other hand onto the box, finding a short manual but no additional cables. "Wait, what?" Kai took a look in the box and saw there was nothing else inside. When he examined the helmet, he saw it had no cable entrance anywhere either.
Thinking in dismay that he might have actually been scammed, he opened the manual. All it said was to put on the device and click the power switch. Deciding to check it before going to the store to accuse them of any foul play, he clicked the power switch and wore the helmet. A sudden flash of colors assaulted Kai's eyes before the scene settled onto a small study.
infinite dendrogram, ???
Kai was almost scratching his eyes out of habit to ease them from the quick burst of light before realizing he didn't actually feel any discomfort. "Well, at the very least, this is a pleasant surprise."
"Ahem...?" Moving down his hands, Kai saw that opposite him sat a white cat wearing clothes with a hand to his mouth. "Wait, was it him that spoke?" Kai thought before the cat spoke again. "Welcome to Infinite Dendrogram, a world of infinite possibilities!"
Turning his head to take in the new space before laying his gaze back on the cat, Kai responded, "So this is Infinite Dendrogram? I can't imagine you can do much of anything in this place like you say."
"Oh, don't worry. The world will open up in just a bit. This is more of a character creation screen, if you may," the cat jumped from his chair down and went on his two hind legs to a mirror set behind Kai's chair.
Kai spoke while following the cat, "Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense. It would be weird if you couldn't change your appearance before starting the game." Kai stood in front of the mirror and tried to change his hair color to silver by thought. Surprisingly, his image in the mirror and from his peripheral vision, he could see his hair also changed color. "Cool, are there any templates or limitations on customization?"
The cat quickly replied, "No templates. We discourage any idea of players having too similar looks on purpose. As for limitations, you can't make yourself bigger than what this room can accommodate or too small either. But otherwise, it's pretty open to your imagination."
Kai focused on making his belly area a little slimmer, "Don't judge," he added before Cheshire spoke. He turned his hair back to its normal color and added his glasses from real life. He looked at his reflection and noticed it said at the top, "Real life view." Kai asked about it, and the cat replied, "Oh yeah, you can choose the visuals of the game between real life, cartoon, and anime style." Kai didn't bother changing the style, but the idea was pretty cool.
Finishing with his avatar, Kai turned back to the cat, "Done. Anything else before starting the game? Also, sorry for not asking before, but what is your name?"
"I'm Control AI No.13, also called Cheshire. Now, for your other question, I need to explain to you about your starting gear. Have you chosen a starting country, and most importantly of all," Cheshire took a small box from its pocket, and Kai instinctively put his hand forward to take the box before Cheshire opened it. The rock inside disappeared, creating a simple circle mark on Kai's hand. "I give you your embryo. Glad we got that done," the cat continued to walk towards a large table in the corner of the room, spread on it a large map.
"You may choose any of the countries shown here on the world map. Grenvola, the sea-faring..." Kai interrupted Cheshire before he continued, "I can replace my starting country after I start the game, right? I actually checked on the countries. I think I'll go to Legendria."
Cheshire responded a little irritated, "Yes, you can switch your country after starting, though it's somewhat difficult based on the distance. Are you sure about your choice?"
Kai responded somewhat disinterested, "Yes, I'm sure. Also, it's fine if I choose to use an alias here, right? I'd like to use the name Shekō Ruun." The cat replied cheerfully
"Certainly, Shekō Ruun. Now for equipment, every player starts with simple leather armor, a hunting knife, and 5000 Lir, each Lir having a worth of 10 yen in your world," Cheshire said with a smile.
"Yen doesn't tell me too much, but I think I'll get used to it. Thanks for the introduction," Kai said with a nod.
"No problem," Cheshire replied as the floor opened below Kai's feet, and he started falling from the sky towards a gigantic tree. This is a very aggressive start, Kai thought in panic before landing on the ground seconds later, somehow not hurt in the slightest. "Okay, it's not so bad," he said, looking around and seeing the giant tree surrounded by colorful balls of light. Kai confirmed he was in Legendria and opened his inventory to find he had a knife equipped and leather armor, just like Cheshire said. "Cool, I guess I should find someone to give me a quick beginner's tour."
Walking through the front gate of the city, Sheko saw other people materialize from thin air wearing all kinds of sets of clothes. He had a certain thought in mind, "The fashion coordination of equipment in this game is so much better than normal. At least I won't look like a lunatic by end game."
He then spotted a group of five weird-looking people walking with a direction in mind. At the front, leading them was a strongly built centaur wearing emerald boots from his hooves all the way to his horse body, lugging with him a lumpy sack that looked almost empty. Someone else at the back of the group had a short stature, a blue zipper coat, and a completely white skull for a head. "Those guys must be other players. No way a roaming NPC would look so weird," Sheko thought before going to ask them for some tips.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Not wanting to beat around the bush, Sheko turned to the centaur at the front and said, "Hey, can I bother you for like an hour max to get a grip on the game? I assumed there might be a tutorial, but I guess I was wrong."
The centaur stopped walking and turned to look at Sheko. He was about to start speaking before pausing and then starting to speak a moment later with a deep, serious tone. "Sure, we took a job recently to find a bounty and bring it to the guild. I tracked its spot; it's staying around a dingy shed in the woods. There's a farming spot nearby for low levels. You can tag along, and we'll intervene if you're close to dying. GasStar wants to pick up a second job anyway, so go with them and pick the scout job. They already know the spot I was talking about, so we'll see you there." Sheko thought, _I guess he wants to stay in character in front of his friends. Guess it's fair._ Once the centaur finished speaking, the skeletal person walked by Sheko and pointed to him the guild building at the end of the street and started walking, but Kai stayed.
"Not to disrespect, but I was thinking of taking a combat class to start as early as I can," Kai said. The centaur responded with a lower, more morose tone, "Well, whatever. The scout job gives you threat detection, which could be really useful for a noob." Kai cringed a little at the use of the word at him. _Everyone has to start somewhere. Noob isn't really something to point out. What a jerk,_ he thought. Sheko turned to the other three party members for their opinion, but they simply stared and sort of avoided making eye contact with either Sheko or the centaur. But then GasStar spoke from the opposite direction Kai was looking at.
"Leave him, Kaizo. Let him do what he wants." _I guess Kaizo is the centaur,_ Kai thought.
"Oh, don't be nosy. I've played for a month more than you, I know quite a bit more than you," Kaizo replied.
"Well, then you're supposed to know by now like me that Dendro isn't a game like that. There isn't a universal tip for beginners, and there isn't a best choice," GasStar was almost seething by that point. But before it could get worse, a girl from the other three in the group stepped in and pulled Kaizo towards the direction of the city gate. "Come on, we don't have so many hours in the day, right?" the girl piped quickly. Kaizo let the subject drop and walked to the city gate with the other three party members, and GasStar pulled Sheko with him.
"What's the deal with the Kaizo fella?" Sheko asked.
"I don't really know. He's been making this party for quite some time and apparently records everything for his channel to get donations for his friend," GasStar replied.
Sheko got somewhat frustrated with himself. "Anyway, so what job should I take?"
"Well, if you ask me, I'd probably still suggest scout."
"Wait, but you just argued with Kaizo for telling me to take scout," Sheko said.
"Yes, because he told you to take it without even asking for your opinion," GasStar said, getting a little worked up. But then he continued, "Listen, this is really important. In this world, everyone gets a chance to leave a mark. Don't let yourself get pushed around."
"Wait, world? Dude, I think you're taking all of this way too seriously, but I get what you mean," Sheko said.
"Okay, well, as long as you at least get what I meant, it's fine," GasStar said.
The conversation died down, and they both walked to the guild building.
Once they got close, Sheko realized two things about the city:
1. There were at least mermaids and avians living in the city because the streets included some wide, clean waterways, and on various buildings, there were warning signs and the occasional avian passing by.
2. The guild building was so frequented that, unlike other roads in the city that had vegetation growing in patches, any major road leading to the guild building was completely flattened. As dozens of people at a time went to and from the guild building, Sheko now saw from this closer point of view that it was a building large enough to accommodate maybe 300 people easily and had doors large enough to accommodate two giants walking in at the same time, even though Sheko didn't see any giants in the area.
"Why is the guild building so huge? It's like someone got the measurements for a skyscraper and decided to make it cubical," Sheko asked as they walked with the rest of the crowd into the guild building.
"Well, we are in Legendria. Just about any good potter wants monster parts for his work, so almost 30% of the population has some levels in combat jobs to hunt for materials. The other 70% of the population buys their materials from the first group, and so there is always a great influx of quests," GasStar explained.
After going up the stairs to the entrance of the building and going through the doors, GasStar pointed to a corner in the room with another crowd around a door to a separate room. "That is the job crystal room. There are a lot of other job crystals around the city, but this one is accessible, and you can immediately go take a quest after." GasStar walked to join the crowd, and Sheko followed, but once they got close, Sheko split from GasStar and snuck between the crowd whenever some open space had been made by the shuffling people. He got inside the room after just a minute inside, he got a quick look at his options and chose to take the lancer job in the end. *I'll fix the 'not having a spear problem in a moment,'* he thought to himself.
By the time Sheko got out of the room, GasStar was still about two minutes from entering. Sheko poked him on the shoulder, ending up missing any muscle and touching a neck bone that made GasStar turn. Sheko told him he was going to pick a quest, but GasStar asked him to wait a second. "How did you already get in? We got here at the same time," GasStar said.
Sheko replied simply, "Well, I'm really good at quick reading, so going through the jobs was easy. And also, people in a crowd are not very good at realizing someone is going around them to get to the front. Shuffle a bit, and you'll end up in the front pretty quickly."
GasStar dropped any further questions, and Sheko asked a receptionist for a starter quest and a map of the area. He bought the map for 1000 lir and was told to take a slime-killing quest, but Sheko requested a quest for a more humanoid monster. However, the receptionist warned him that there was a small kobold tribe north of the town, but they didn't really suggest that he go straight for that elimination quest.
Sheko lifted his left hand, showing his embryo. "I'm a master. Even if I die, no real damage has been made, and the quest remains open for the taking, right?"
"Well, there is the death loot drop, but otherwise, yes, you'll be fine after three days to recover in the other world, and the quest will remain open"
"Then it's fine, I will take the quest," Sheko insisted on the point, and the receptionist conceded at last, marking the spot on his map. The exchange was long enough for GasStar to finish choosing a job and come to call Sheko to get going, but before leaving, Sheko discreetly took a discarded broomstick from one of the walls and put it in his inventory. Once they started walking, Sheko took out the broomstick and inspected it. "Doesn't count as a spear. Well, I still have an idea. GasStar, do you have some sturdy rope?" GasStar answered a little confused but gave Sheko some length of rope anyway. "Thank you." Sheko then took out his knife and tied the knife to the end of the broomstick. Once he finished, he inspected it again. "Yup, it worked. 'Homemade spear.'" GasStar quickly snapped to take the spear from Sheko to inspect it as well, surprised that the knife stayed completely still. Inspecting the spear, he was surprised after confirming what Sheko said. "Yeah, you definitely shouldn't get stuck with Kaizo. You'd figure out any tips he would give you in the first day. He won't have anything to tell you by the end of the 3rd day."
"I think it's a problem with people exclusively playing video games that they make some assumptions, but this is more like a tabletop RPG than a normal MMO."
"That's a pretty good description of it, but don't forget that it's also a video game, so it has some mechanics that make less sense if you were playing a tabletop game."