It has been a month since Hayato had gotten back from his 10 years of service in the dark side of the government and he had fallen right into the routine of his family.
In the mornings; from five until six; he would help his mother and younger brother Shinichi in cleaning and cooking. From seven onwards: he would go to the university to continue his studies, which he had actually completed years ago due to the person in charge of him at the time he was with the government, and spent time with the people he had acquainted himself with. After studying from 7am until 6pm; Hayato would go straight home and helped his mother and younger brother with dinner and after that it was either study or sleep.
Though on his off days, which were on Friday and Sunday, he would sometimes help train the students of his family’s dojo or simply go to the park and enjoy its serene environment either alone or with some acquaintance or friends he had met by accident.
Currently it was a Sunday and without anything to do nor any students to teach, since Ryutou was present, Hayato had nothing to do. His mother was at the park with her friends, his younger siblings were either out with their friends or were simply working part-time and his father and older brother were instructing the students.
Hayato walked around the house in a blue Yukata. He finds it more comfortable than what he had used when he was still in the government. After all: wearing a loose Yukata was still better than a stiff suit.
“Oh big brother, what are you doing here?” From a sliding door to his left appeared his blonde younger brother wearing casual attire. It was his youngest brother: Shinichi.
Unlike his brothers, Shinichi inherited much more of his mother’s traits than his father’s leading him to look more feminine than those of the other males in the household. Simply put; he was what Japanese people would call a bishounen that can serve the role of a trap.
“I was merely walking around. What about you Shin? I thought you were out with your friends?” Hayato was actually surprised to see any of his younger siblings at home. “Or were you just going to go out now?”
Shinichi nodded. “I was going to go over to Ren’s with the others to play so I won’t be here until before dinner” he explained. Hayato had no idea if this Ren was either a male or a female so he just smiled.
“I guess I will be going now. See you later big brother~” Shinichi bowed to his elder brother and walked towards the entrance of the house where his other friends must be waiting.
Seeing as he had nothing to do at the moment; Hayato went to the dojo where he heard yells and the diligence of his father’s, and to a lesser extent: his, students.
When he entered, he saw the usual students practicing their katas while being observed by the instructors who weren’t busy sparring with students to improve their forms.
“Well, well… What brings you here little brother?” Hayato turned towards his left where Ryutou came out of the store room with a few wooden swords. He was wearing the standard Gi and hakama of the dojo.
“I was just stopping by to see how their training was going.” Hayato answered as he looked at the students. Most of which were younger than 17 while there were a students of above 18 years. Some were even older than him.
Probably noticing the presence of the second son of the Dojo, the other instructors approached the twins.
“Hayato-san, when did you came?”
“Would you mind sparring with me again, Hayato-san…?”
“I was wondering when you would show up again, Hayato-san”
Hayato greeted each and every one of them with respect. Even if he was the son of the Dojo’s owner did not meant he would act all high and mighty. “I was just stopping by but I wouldn’t mind sparring for a little while.”
“Ah, Hayato… mind demonstrating how to implement the Ichiharu style in combat? I was just about to teach the next batch on how to do it.” Hayato turned towards the voice. It was his father, Hitogami Ichiharu.
“Father” Hayato bowed. “I guess I would not mind demonstrating it.” Hayato answered after straightening from his bow.
“Good. You’ll be demonstrating it with Ryutou. Get ready. We’ll start as soon as you finish gearing up.
===========================
Hayato stood adjacent to his elder brother wearing the same attire as Ryutou and the other instructors.
“I wonder how much my little brother has grown in these past 10 years.” Ryutou mused as he stretched his arms.
“I will let you judge it then brother” Hayato bowed to his brother who also did the same.
The two stood in the middle of a 5x5 dirt court with several wooden weapons littered about. It was a simulation where they had to implement the Ichiharu style in a battle field. Standing outside the 5x5 court was Hitogami Ichiharu who served as the referee.
“Are you both ready?” he asked as the two got into identical stances. “Remember: no hitting below the belt. I still remember when you were both 8” the two’s stances collapsed instantly.
“Father, that was an accident!”
“Don’t remind me of such a painful past!”
Hitogami merely laughed then the two got into their stances again and sprung forth as soon as Hitogami gave the signal to start.
The two were equally fighting it out. Every blow was countered with another blow. Each step was planned ahead to try and confuse the enemy, every blow would always be chained by a kick or a chop or a hit and every gap in defense was compensated by using it as a lure to get the other into a trap.
The two made some space between them by jumping back but then went into the fray again after picking up a wooden sword.
Like the battle of fists before this: Ever blow was countered with another bow. Every step were chained and made to look like as if they were dancing while they weaved in and out of their opponent’s attack range.
============================
While the two were ‘demonstrating’ the Ichiharu style, a single female student with red hair was watching their fight with interest; well… more interest; than the others.
‘Those two are way too different from the rest of the instructors… They don’t even look like they are giving their all in this’ She thought as she watched Hayato used the back of his blade to stop a piercing move Ryutou made. ‘How come the younger brother only showed his face now?’
“Whoa... so this is the power of an instructor…”
“They’re fast but not too fast… and these are all just beginner movements!”
“How the hell did they chain those ridiculously insane movements!?”
“Hayato-sensei is so cool while Ryutou-sensei is dreamy~”
‘At least most of them are actually paying attention to the fight…’ the red haired female student commented in her head as she watched the two sons of the Dojo spar. The two even managed to break the wooden swords they were using. ‘I would not want to be their opponents…’ She thought with a shudder.
=================================================
After five minutes of sparring, Hitogami stopped the two before any more of the Dojo’s equipment got broken and after half an hour of cleaning and making sure no dangerous pieces were left; Hayato went and took a shower and by chance met his younger brother Hyakuren who had just came out of his room.
“Oh, what are you doing home Kuren?” Again, Hayato did not expect any of his younger siblings to be home.
“Oh there you were bro. I was just about to look for you.” Seeing Hyakuren go back into his room again, Hayato tilted his head with a confused look. “Here, your present!” Hyakuren came out with a box the size of his head in his hands. “It’s a VR helmet! Seeing as you have too much time, I thought maybe you would like to try a VR game to pass the time whilst training!”
Hayato accepted the box with a smile. He knew of the existence of virtual reality games. He was curious of it since people in his class kept talking about it.
“There are all sorts of games you can try out but since I know you like realism more than anything-” ‘not really…’ Hayato added in his head “-I went and installed one for you already so all you need to do is create an account and log in~” Hyakuren continued, oblivious to his elder brother’s comment.
“Thanks Kuren. I was meaning to buy one for myself so thanks~” Hayato thanked his younger
brother. “I’ll try it later.” Hyakuren nodded and went back into his room without saying anything else.
‘Well… he was not really much of a talker when it came to things other than games, crafts and history…’ Hayato laughed without malice and proceeded to his room to drop off the present and take a shower.
It took him only 5 minutes, including his shower time, to finish his business and now he was curious of the game. Now he sat on his bed inside his plain room which only consisted of a study table, closet, bedside table and bed. In his hand was a manual for the VR helmet named [Gaia sphere].
“After making sure that the [Gaia sphere] is plugged in and ready, just simply put it on and say the command: mind-on after it finishes calibrating your body and its systems… After that you will feel a slight tug on your subconscious before being transferred into the [Data lounge] where you can select what program you want to run whether it is an online game or merely an online café to talk with your friends…”
Hayato looked at the goggle like object on his pillow. It was a [light model] meaning that it was emphasized to be used when laying down or sitting back.
“It’s pretty good considering it was only made two years ago…” Hayato commented. He put the manual on his table and put the [Gaia sphere] on before lying down. He turned it on and waited for five minutes without moving as the machine scanned his body. He heard a mechanical voice.
Please touch your body to help the system calibrate your avatar
Hayato did as he told and touched his body. (Not in an indecent way mind you…)
Body calibration finished. Will now calibrate the systems to construct your avatar, this will only take one minute
Hayato took a breath. He was about to experience his first [full-body dive] and to tell the truth: he felt nervous. ‘It is not going to be like that novel where I get stuck in virtual reality… right?’
Avatar construction complete; Say the command to [full-dive]
Closing his eye and taking another breath, Hayato calmed himself and opened his eyes.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Mind-on”
He felt a tug on his consciousness and before he knew it: he was in a pitch black world.
=======================================
Everything was pitch-black in one second and in the next there was a flurry of colors. He felt his ‘body’ being pulled somewhere and before he knew it: he was inside a blue room with several hologram-like features with different names.
Looking around, he saw a mirror that reflected his avatar. There was no difference in his appearance. He still had his heterochromatic eyes, his snow white hair and oddly enough: he was wearing the blue Yukata he had on before diving into the [data lounge].
He looked around him. There were many folders and he could even see data of ones and zeros moving about. He wondered if he could customize the [data lounge] to his own personal taste before shrugging the idea off and focused.
“If I was not mistake; it was called… [Kismet online]” Hayato looked around and found a single icon with the name written on it. The icon was shaped like a wheel with a sword piercing it in from the top.
“Fate, huh…” He mumbled before pressing the icon.
He was slightly startled when the room was suddenly devoid of folders and shortcuts but he quickly grew out of it and stared at a window that had two empty rows for his account and password. He quickly typed on a virtual keyboard and pressed login.
The window disappeared and his vision was replaced by a lush forest and the word [Kismetia]. It was the intro movie for players but he skipped it and replacing the skipped movie was another blue room and again a mechanical voice prompted him to do something.
Please choose a race
Before Hayato came out at least 10 races with some having other subspecies; apparently, when people find new races and new subspecies: it is added to the creation screen where players both veteran and new can re-create their character with a sacrifice to their levels and items but keep their gold.
The twelve races were: Human, Orc, Elf, Dwarf, Fairy, Pixie, Machina, Demi-beast, Demi-human and Magi.
The humans were a race that was balanced in physical combat and magic but was more of a jack-all-trades type of race that can do any job without too much trouble but were incapable of mastering a job unless their stats were perfectly aligned which was good for beginners.
Orcs were a race that specializes in physical combat and more than often suffer from inability of casting magic but they have a subspecies specialized in magic and their overall combat proficiency was good but they lacked in [Life skills] which enable crafting and cooking. Their faces look gruesome and savage but were also good for beginners.
The Elven race was a race that specializes in range combat with subspecies that can handle close-combat magic. They primarily used magic but unlike the Magi, Pixie and Fairy race; they had better defense and agility. They are characterized by their pointed ears and beautiful faces (Usually at least…)
The Fairy race specializes in supportive magic and is a good race to master healing magic with. They have decent physical resistance and good mana regeneration due to their high INT gain. They are characterized with their transparent wings that glow slightly depending on their subspecies. Their transparent wings and hair corresponds to their respective elements
The pixie race was a combination of the Magi and Fairy race that have balanced magic capabilities and are the magic version of humans who were jack-of-all trades for all classes in which they are a jack-of-all magic. They do not really have wings but they can control the mana in the air to let them fly.
The Magi specialize in full-combat magic and are characterized with their horns on their heads and a small gem in their foreheads. Though suited for ranged magic, their physical defenses are terrible and require a certain amount of concentration to use as they needed to ‘Feel’ the magic. Most look human but with horns that don’t look anything like animal horns.
Dwarves were a race of small people that are the best when it comes to craftsmanship and have high DEX gain. They primarily have both high DEX and STR but are terrible in the speed category and due to their short statures, are harder to control than humans. They are characterized with their short heights and burly statures as well as their beards.
The Machina race specializes in physical combat and is unable to use any type of magic but is highly resistant to magic in return. They have good physical resistance but cannot stay in water for too long unless they have a high enough water resistance. They split into two subspecies: one being a to-the-core robot and the other a cyborg/android like species.
Demi-beasts are half human and half monster and are more monster than human. They have a lot of subspecies and not many of them can wield magic as freely as the Humans, Elves, Pixies, Magi and Fairies; though they do have better skills in hunting and surviving but like the Orcs: they suffer from inefficiency in life skills. (E.g.: werewolves, Dhampires, smaller variant of minotaurus)
Demi-humans are the same as Demi-beasts but were more human and just like their cousins: have a lot of subspecies. This race does not focus on anything and relies on their subspecies. They have decent abilities in taming and life skills but gain offensive and defensive abilities slowly compared to other races. Depending on the sub-species chosen; the player will have a boost in one type of magic/physical ability.
=========================================
Hayato did not take long to ponder on what race he wanted to choose since when he was younger; he was interested in the tales of [Kitsune]. Fox spirits that have appeared throughout Japanese history. He scrolled over the [Demi-human] race and picked the [Foxling] sub-species.
Unlike in most games; or any game he knew at least; the player cannot choose what type of species the animal the picked they will get when their avatars are created if they chose the [Demi-beast] and [Demi-human] race; Meaning that if someone chose the [Dogkin] sub-species: they might become a German shepherd or a pug. It was all randomized so they had no choice but to either accept it or recreate their avatars.
Hayato waited as his avatar stopped glowing and sighed in relief. He was given the traits of an arctic fox which is known to be able to survive in climates of -50°. “So I will probably gain cold/ice resistance.
Please name your character
“Hayato”
Confirmed, we will now scan and create your character status
Hayato was surprised the name was not yet taken given the time [Kismet Online] had been active in but was grateful nonetheless since he did not need to think up of new names. (Not related to story: Lucky bastard… unlike me you seem to be void of any name making troubles…)
Character status completed! Here are your stats
[table]Player InfoName:HayatoAlignment:N/ALevel:0First job:N/ARace:Demi-Human, FoxlingSecond job:N/AGender:maleThird job:N/A[table]combat windowSTR:30MEN:30AGI:40TOUGHNESS:40INT:30LCK:40VIT:30DEX:40
To say Hayato was surprised was an understatement. He knew he was trained to be the best of the best but he did not expect his status to be… this.
Congratulations for achieving max starting status for AGI! You have been awarded with the semi-passive skill: Wind Walk
Congratulations for achieving max starting status for TGH! You have been awarded with the passive skill: Fighting spirit!
Congratulations for achieving max starting status for DEX! You have been awarded with the passive skill: Dexterous hands
Congratulations for achieving max starting status for LCK! You have been awarded with the passive skill: Lucky bastard!
“Isn’t that last skill an insult!?” Hayato face-palmed after reading the skill name “At least I have passive and semi-passive skills now…” He sighed rather deeply.
Welcome to [Kismet Online]
Hayato felt himself being pulled towards his avatar. There was nothing but darkness for a while as he regained his five senses one by one and when it was time for his sights to return, he was teleported out of the blue room into a bustling plaza in the starting town for new players.
You have found [Shinzan Town]! It has been set as your default Respawn point!
for three in-game days: you will not be able to leave the town in order to allow you to familiarize yourself with the controls but you can still accept quests