“Agh!” Sean winced at a momentary mild pain on his face. Despite being slammed to the wall, the pain was only somewhat unpleasant and fleeting. Still, he was acutely aware that he was being choked from behind and immobilized in a crushing grip.
“Who are you?! Where is this place?” questioned the man behind him, his hold tightening by the second. “Talk, or I will end you here!”
“…Can’t… talk…” Sean managed to tap the man’s wrist. The choke felt professional, like that of an MMA wrestler; Sean knew he stood no chance, even though his attacker didn’t seem particularly muscular.
Realizing his mistake, the man loosened his grip, allowing Sean to stagger forward and drop to one knee, while he himself stayed tensely vigilant. “You can speak now.”
Sean coughed a few times while rubbing his sore neck before retorting with mild annoyance, “—This is the game world. You should know that already!”
“Ha! Kid, you still believe a game can be this immersive?” The man scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“Whoa, you must be an old man. But why don’t you take a look in the mirror — you look no older than a high-schooler in his sophomore year.” Sean smirked sarcastically.
Besides, the idea of a technology capable of transferring consciousness between bodies seemed far more ludicrous than a fully immersive VR game. He had heard that players would mistake others in the same chamber as them for NPCs, but this was the first instance of a player attacking another player on sight. What luck.
Hearing his remark, the man inspected every inch of his body, his eyes widening in shock. “You’re right. My beautiful muscles are gone,” he said, scratching his head in disbelief. “My bad about that rear naked choke. I got slightly carried away. You okay, bud?” He then offered a hand to help Sean up.
You called that slightly?! You almost killed me, dude! As a popular game critic, Sean’s skill at information gathering was second to none. He was well aware of the severe penalties for dying in the game: a twenty-four-hour resurrection CD and loss of merit points — not to mention that he had to queue up for the resurrection. For a new player who had just joined, such consequences were disastrous!
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sean replied, accepting the hand and standing up. Complaining wouldn’t change what had happened.
Scanning the room, he spotted a wardrobe filled with acolyte robes and other attire. Bingo!
He grabbed a few items for himself and tossed a set to the still-unclothed man behind him, who was looking at him curiously, quipping, “Here, take these and have some dignity, will you?”
“Haha! Thanks, man!” The man laughed, gratefully accepting the clothes. As he began dressing, he started, “Speaking of, my name is Ma— Wait, it’s ChickenSmackdown_MaxLevel.”
“Mhm. Hold on, ChickenSmackdown_MaxLevel? Really?” Sean almost couldn’t believe his ears. Such a trollish username shouldn’t have existed in this game, which prioritized immersion.
He grinned sheepishly. “Hey, I’m not the best at picking names. Just went with whatever popped into my head at the time. It’s not that bad, isn’t it?”
“Fine, I will call you Chicken, then.” Then, Sean introduced himself with a hint of pride, “I am KuroUsagi — a game critic.”
“Ohh! You’re that KuroUsagi from the game forum. Why didn’t you say so?” Chicken’s laughter echoed again; It appeared that he had relaxed his guard down even more now.
“Fuck! You slammed me to the wall and choked me before I could say anything.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
Sean brushed off the apology and focused on the black mark on his wrist. According to the official website forum, it was the key to accessing his status screen, and as he activated it with a thought, the screen indeed appeared instantly before him.
KuroUsagi
HP: 94%
MP: 0/0
Power Rank: None
Elemental Affinity: ???
Mana Aptitude: ???
Meditation Technique: None
Status: Healthy
Strength: (5)
Agility: (5)
Vitality: (5)
Magical Power: (0)
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Infused Mana (total): (0)
Whew, look at that. A single choke took 6 percent of my total health points. The rest of his stats aligned with what was detailed in the wiki, however.
“Is that your status screen?” Chicken curiously peered over.
“Yup.” Sean chose not to delve into details. He moved towards the only door in the room and said as he pushed it open, “Let’s go. We should head out and meet the other players first.”
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Behind the scenes, Victor observed the unfolding events with keen interest. His attention was particularly drawn to this diverse batch of players — an amalgamation of unique individuals. Among them were a professional wrestler, a well-known game critic, a wealthy business mogul, a street magician, a gym coach, and many others with out-of-the-ordinary backgrounds.
This eclectic group was the outcome of carefully sifting through over ten thousand applicants. Given the vast pool of gamers, it was inevitable that an array of extraordinary talents would emerge. Of course, Victor had painstakingly ensured that each player’s background was thoroughly vetted for a clean record, aiming to minimize any potential issues. Well, at least that was what he was hoping for: to see how these people would interact with this world.
Suddenly, something on the screen caught Victor by surprise, making him sit up sharply. This… Whatever it is, I’ll be meeting them soon anyway.
With this in mind, Victor began his preparations to make a formal appearance at the auditorium. The former headmaster had truly given him a surprise.
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Exiting the chamber, Sean was greeted by a bustling scene teeming with new players, each sporting a range of expressions — from awkward and surprised to excited and curious. It was clear that, like Sean, many had only known about the game through others’ experiences and were now immersing themselves in it firsthand.
Surprisingly, there were four female players in this group. Wait, I’m not sure if that one is female or not…
That one, in particular, was a person standing behind a flamboyantly dressed female player with wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes who screamed “wealth and privilege” from her actions. This individual had the same-colored hair, a round face with sharp, discerning eyes, and a petite build, and their demeanor suggested a subordinate role to the woman they followed. Yet, Sean couldn’t quite determine if they were male or female, not that it mattered.
“What the fu—”
More strikingly, one of the two other female players stood at around eight feet tall. Her physique was imposing, straining the fabric of the largest acolyte robe available. Her skin was crimson red, and horns protruded from the sides of the head above the temples. If not for the other players surrounding and talking to her, he would have suspected her to be an NPC. As for the other one, she was pretty plain in comparison to the rest.
Still, what happened to this player to be different from the others? Did the legend of character customization actually exist? Obviously, not even a game critic like him would know the answers to these questions.
Apart from these four, the other players were exhibiting a strange kind of excitement… It felt off, but Sean couldn’t really put his fingers on this. It wasn’t the typical unbridled excitement he expected from gamers entering a new world.
What’s up with these people? Sean thought to himself, scrutinizing each of the players here. Why does it feel like I am the sanest person here?
His contemplation was interrupted by Chicken, who had emerged from the same chamber as him. “Dude. Not even I would mess with that red girl in real life,” he commented, swallowing his spit and nudging him from the side.
“Yeah, me neither.” Sean noticed the growing commotion between the female players. “Huh? What’s happening?”
“It looks like she’s picking a fight with someone.”
It turned out that the female player with a rich lady vibe and the towering, muscular, red-skinned one seemed to have some conflicts. After asking a nearby player, the two of them apparently came from the same chamber.
“Hey, red giant. Mind not blocking the view with your outrageously massive pile of muscles?” mocked the blonde-haired female player, who had her hand near her shoulder with her wrist flicked. Even though she looked to be nearly 170 centimeters tall, she was like a small kid in front of the red one.
“Who’s this little one talking? Still drinking milk?” retorted the red-skinned woman.
“You! So what if you have a special build in the game?! Bet you’re just a wimp outside.”
“Ha! I’m a gym coach in real life. I can lift one hundred kilos with one arm. What about you, an elementary school kid that likes lollipops?”
“Hoho, actually, I run a multi-billion-dollar tech company. I can buy this game and the company behind it with a snap of my finger.”
“Hahaha, this little girl sure can dream big. Sure, if you’re the owner of such a fictitious company, then I am the president of the United States.”
“Hehehehe, it’s fine if you don’t believe me.”
“…” Sean was speechless as he watched this argument. He decided that these two players were just like elementary school students…
Thankfully, their argument was interrupted when the game’s opening plot began just a few moments later. Suddenly, one of the players’ Shadowlink Marks emitted a soft glow and projected a hologram that transformed into a delicate, ethereal fairy.
“Attention, everyone!” the hologram fairy announced in a melodious voice, capturing the attention of all the players and quieting the previous commotion.
Familiar with this scene from the official website, the players instantly recognized it as the introductory phase. The script played out just as they had seen online, with the fairy extending warm congratulations to the new players and sternly reminding them of the severe repercussions for any breach of the rules. But one particular thing that Sean noted was that the language the fairy used was not English but something else entirely that for some reason he could understand.
Holy shit! What those people said is true! I can understand and speak a different language. He realized the potential of this technology but now wasn’t the time to explore that.
After the brief introduction, the group was guided outside, moving towards the large, imposing building that stood majestically at the heart of the academy grounds. Sean, as a game critic, evaluated every piece of scene that was playing out — in terms of realism, this game was eleven out of ten!