This is my very first story I had in mind, so I hope you guys who read this can tell me a review so I know what to fix or not fix.
----------------------------------------
Hey there, my name is Chikonto Sweetcheer, but everyone calls me Chi-Chi, and even though I seem like an average high school student on the outside, I'm actually a strong gamer geek on the inside. It currently is the year 2158, and Earth has developed quite a bit. Believe it or not, but I am actually ranked #1 in the world! The large group of people that I am usually online with consists of 11 people that go to my school. We happen to be in the same grade, so we ended up turning into really good friends. I still haven't told my group how good I am, because I'm worried they might hate me for it, so I always make sure that I don't play too hard, in case they figure it out. The group itself has 7 boys, and 4 girls. Their names being, from boys to girls: Brad, Chad, Simon, Cameron, Andrew, Carson, Coloreo, Sommer, Katie, Emma, and Lucy. As far as short descriptions go, Brad and Chad are twin brothers, Simon and Cameron are cousins, Andrew and Carson are simply good friends, Coloreo, or as we call him, Cole, is my brother, Sommer, pronounced "Summer", is my bestie, Katie and Emma are sisters, and finally, Lucy is somewhat secretive of her life so we don't know her family background. I believe we are ready to start the story now so let's get it started!
----------------------------------------
"hey, did you guys hear about that new game that's coming out tomorrow? 'Lost in Time', I think it's called," Chad asks, as he is eating his lunch at school with the "Group". "Duh, who hasn't? It's supposed to be the major hype of this year," Brad replies with a slight, snarky attitude. "I already pre-ordered the 'Special Edition', so I'm supposedly going to get some special features unlocked," I tell them. It surprises me, though, because after I say that, everyone just stares at me in question. I then ask them, "What, did I say something wrong,". "Yeah, you did. Since when was there a pre-orderable edition? At that, a 'Special Edition'," Katie says, quite curious in the conversation now.
"You guys didn't see the-..." I thought for a second before talking. "Oh right, it was a 4 hour deal only, and they didn't advertise it, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one to find out about it. That would probably explain it," I say, with a solid tone of voice. "Well that's no fair. What if someone really badly wanted it, but their internet was slow, so the order wouldn't go through," I hear Emma say, oh so quietly. "Oh, and hey Chi-Chi, why didn't you tell me about this when you first ordered it, hm," Cole asks, inquiringly. "Weeelllll... if you really want to know, I was kinda up late a couple nights ago, and I happened to come across it when I was on their homepage," I reply.
"Wait, what time was it when you found it," Cole asks, again, inquiringly, as if this were an investigation. "Um, I don't know the EXACT time, but I'm pretty sure it was somewhere around 1:30ish," I answer, hoping that this was the last question I would hear from Cole. "Seriously!? you were up that late at night!? What were you doing before it," This time, the question comes from Andrew. "Well, I was at first playing in the Worldwide Tournament for that so-called 'best first-person game', but since I got first place, I decided that I should go look around for some other stuff I could do, or get, for later on. I happened to come across that pre-order edition, so I was going to-" before I finish my story I hear Carson cut me off. "WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! Did you just say you won first place in the Worldwide Tourney," Carson and everyone suddenly look intently at me. I was confused at first, wondering Why are they staring at me? Did I say something? Then I realized what I said, and immediately started to shrink in my seat. My secret might be finally set free!
"Um, did I say that... ummmmm... ugh, the cat's out of the bag, isn't it," I say, in a quite sad tone. Then everyone, including my brother, all stand up and yell, "SERIOUSLY, YOU'RE THAT 'No Luck All Skill' CHARACTER!?!?" After a few seconds, I finally say, "Do you guys think you could keep it down? I don't want anyone else finding out about it. Even if I am that person, I hope you can still treat me as a fellow comrade, rather than a legend." "What in the world! My sister is a legendary player? Since when have you been keeping it a secret," Cole asks me. "Well, for you, it's a different story, but for the others, I've been hiding it since we met," I tell the group. Everyone looks a little P-Oed, but my brother says the first thing after the short silence, "Well, how come whenever I watch you play, you're never under that name? It's always something random, like 'xXxXxEkcsxXxXx' or 'true pain'?"
I reply by telling him, "Well, that's because I have fake accounts, so that you WOULDN'T find out." "Still, I'm your, brother, so you should've told me," Cole says, this time, quite demanding. "Well, if I did do that, you would've probably bragged in your classes saying things like, 'Hey, did you guys know that my sister is that really good gamer?' and then that would spread farther and farther down the line of people that eventually people other than the school kids would know. People like the news, or gaming channels. That's why I never told you," We sat in silence for the rest of lunch, questioning each other silently in our minds.
"YES, it's Saturday! Finally time to try out that new game when it gets here," I yell. As I say this, I hear the doorbell ringing. "I wonder who's here..." When I go to the door, There is a man there with a medium-sized box, then asks me, "Are you Chikonto Sweetcheer?" I reply by saying, "Yes, I am her. Do you need something?" He tells me, "Yes, I need you to sign here." As he is saying this, he brings out a pamphlet with a little 'insert signature' at the bottom. After I sign it, he takes it back, hands me the box, and bids me farewell. I didn't think I ordered something this big, so I decided to open it cautiously.
As I open, I come across a full set of gear, which includes a full headset, that which is similar to a 'Oculus Rift' headset, a chord that plugs into the computer from the headset, a manual on how to set up the headset, a black armband that looks like it will be a snug fit, and finally, the game "Lost in Time" along with a separate code for the special unlocks. Wow! This is quite a setup for a game I think to myself. I get my phone, text the "group" that I am going to start playing the game, and I will be playing under the name "No Pain, No Game". Not waiting for a reply, I get started with the setup and follow the instructions as provided. To my surprise, other than putting the headset on last, the armband is put on last, but as soon as I put it on, it turns on like a seamless touchscreen TV. "Hey, this looks like it's going to be a neat game," I say as I continue the setup by putting the game in the computer's game drive, plugin the headset to the computer, put the headset on and turn it on.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
I immediately realize that I'm going into a virtual reality first-person game because of the setup menu, which i can literally walk around in! I sign in to my account, setup my name as "No Pain, No Game", and wait to see what's next. This is one of those moments when I'm glad that I have Ethernet connected to my computer. It makes loading games like these perfectly crisp and non-laggy. I actually have a negative ping all of the time. The game now brings me to a 'create-your-character' screen. Apparently there are 5 races, but after I input the special code, there ends up being six races. These races include: Human, Half-elf, Elf, Orc, Dragonborn, and Giant. You only get one character to use, so you have to choose your race wisely. I also heard that this game affects you in the real life in some way, but I have no clue what it means by this. The Giant is the special code race if you didn't figure it out already. I Decided to go with the Giant race because it sounds special.
Also, since I was apparently the first person in the game, I get better things to start with than other people. This includes perma-buffs, stats, and equipment. Next is the minor things, like details. Apparently, Giants start out looking like normal humans but end up growing taller by a good amount. I tried my best to make it look like the real me, so for a start I set my base height at 4'7", but with some adjustments, like a better and slimmer body, a cool face tattoo, black eyes with purple pupils in the shape of an on button, and a bright purple lightning shape scar that goes over my left eye.
After I set up the details, it asks me what I want my body to look as an end product of my growth. I didn't make myself end it too tall. Yes the max I could set it to was 14' high, along with proportional measurements, but I set my height to be maxed out at 10'7" feet, the proportions of my body after its will be a slightly bulkier body, my cup size will change from a 30C to a 38DD (YAY!), and luckily my body will increase its stats by 8 all around whenever I gain 1' in height. After this is setup, it asks me to choose my class. There are 7 classes total, 8 with the special code. The 8 that I can choose from include: Classic Thief, Classic Mage, Classic Warrior, Healer, Paladin, Gunslinger, Elementalist, and Unknown. Again, if you haven't figured it out, the special code class is Unknown, and so I end up choosing this class. one of the perks of the Unknown is that you get a bit of every single class, while also getting to choose two other separate classes. The second perk of this class is that it's weapon choice is the particle stuff that floats around you, which is called "Multi-tool Particles". In the end, I chose: Unknown, Healer, and Elementalist. These will definitely be useful in the future.
Finally, after I finish all of this, it tells me to set my base stats. I get 25 points to spend between 5 stats. These 5 stats are: Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Speed. However, since I had that code, I also have a 6th stat, along with 15 bonus stat points due to being first logged in. This stat is called: 6th Sense. I'm pretty sure you know what the first five do, but what the sixth one does, is it allows me to have what they call "Mind's Eye" which means I have better senses of all the basic five senses, and even when my eyes are unusable, I can see everything perfectly fine. I think I will keep this one a secret from the my group unless I have to end up telling them. As to how I spend these 40 stat points, I start by giving each one 5 points each, which leaves me with 10 points to use. I put 1 on each one, which then leaves me with 4 points left. I decided to put all 4 of these points on 6th Sense. In the end, my stats are set up as follows: Str-6, Vit-6, Wis-6, Int-6, Speed-6, 6th Sense-10.
As I finish this, it asks me one last thing, which is what perma-buffs I want. There are 4 perma-buffs in all, but for each one you choose, it decreases the exp you gain at a time by 2.5% each. These four include: 7th Sense, Extreme Senses, Extreme Stat-Boost, and Free-Revival. What each of them do are quite special. 7th Sense is just as it entails, it gives you a seventh sense, which is being able to see auras. Extreme Senses basically heightens your senses by a dramatically large amount. Extreme Stat-Boost basically adds 15 points of stats to each stat. Free-Revival means that whenever I die, I automatically revive, but this buff has a cooldown of 3 minutes. I decided to choose all 4, since I'll only be losing 10% exp per gain. After this is chosen, it welcomes me to the game, and I am spawned in.
The second I look around to see where I am, I think to myself THIS IS A GAME!? I flop on the ground as I take in the surroundings, not realizing the fact that I could feel the short fall I took.