The winter in America was about to begin. I sat comfortably in my room, enjoying reading a book about witches from the 1500s. My eyes moved constantly, following each word and sentence. After 20 minutes, the ache on my back, from sitting too long, forced me to slip a bookmark on the page I had reached and headed to my soft bed, considering what to do next. Suddenly, my phone rang; it was my friend, Alex.
I answered the call and the we spent 2 hours talking about many things, especially our holidays. Alex's vacation seemed perfect and joyful; he had visited various states, interacted with the locals, and learned about their habits. I felt envious to him for not having a chance as he got; I never experienced different culture in real life, only trough literatures. Lost in thought, I didn’t realize had been ignoring Alex for 2 minutes. He asked if I had a problem. I laughed then explained to him.
He understood my feeling and suggested I try a game called Ngakaisa universe, a MMORPG game offered 5 worlds to live in, each world had its jobs, characteristics and culture. intrigued by the idea, I checked it through the internet. The game was free and only available in virtual reality. I asked Alex if he wanted to accompany me in playing the game, unfortunately he couldn’t as he didn’t bring his VR equipment with him, but his weeb friend would be wailing to play with me, he suggested. I refused the idea, wanting to try it first.
5 minutes had passed, the game was completely downloaded and was ready. I wore the VR equipment, then opened the game. slowly everting faded into darkness. Nothing was there except a brown table standing not near me. I floated towards it, and there was a piece of paper laying on it with empty column for identity, waiting to be filled.
“Name Cas, age 18, skin color brown, height 160 cm” that what I wrote, putting back the pen beside the paper. Suddenly the paper began to float, it emitted a dazzled light before vanished into the darkness. I stood watching in confusion. After that, a robotic voice greeted me.
Hello, Cas," said the system. "I am Jama, your assistant. Welcome to the Ngakaisa Universe." Another light flashed, forcing me to cover my eyes. I found myself in a clean shiny white room, looking around, there are five posters on the wall. Each poster represented a different timeline in human history.
”Take a look and choose which world you want to live in," said the system as it played a cozy song. My finger touched my chin as my eyes roamed checking each one until a Dark Ages poster spotted by my eyes, a theme I was drawn to. I took out the poster and found an information paper behind it. This world offered a medieval kingdom in the 8th century, jobs like archmage, knight, witch hunter, and doctor. There were also pictures of the place: a village surrounded by walls and in the center established a castle. "What a beautiful," I said to myself. However, as I read further, boredom began to attack; understanding the structure of this world felt no different from rereading a book I had seen before. With a yawing of sleepiness, I put back the poster and moved to another.
The other poster related to the Heian period, which was unfamiliar to my ears: many people I knew who watched anime and claimed to be "weeb" or "otaku" barely mentioned about it. The concept was indeed interesting: a Japanese town with its unique culture and jobs like geisha trainer, katana maker, and craftsman, among others. I was surprised after noticed how long the job list of this era had. Yet, too much Japanese culture among people in my life and though, I was born in Asia, I was never a big fan of Japan.
The rest of the poster, Hollywood golden age and ancient Greek. Somehow, I was not having desire to even look at it. watching American movie and playing Greece mythology game were my favorite, but this time they too much appeared in pop culture.
I glanced at the last poster, Industrial revolution. The curiosity dragged me to take a closer look. The world provided an old London city in 1880. The picture on the poster, a town of London with its cloud polluted by dark smoke of factory and people wore nice looking clothes operating machines, fascinated myself: I felt so much magic by looking how aesthetic this world might be.
I shook my head, turning back to reality. Without thinking twice, I chose the Industrial Revolution. “Thank you for choosing this era,” said the system, then turned off the music. "Would you like to hear the details of this world?"
“Absolutely,” I replied with excitement. Slowly, an iron door rose up from the ground. The door then opened, letting light spill out from within.
"Please, enter the door to learn more about the world," said the system. I followed the system's instruction, entering the door at once. Inside, I found myself standing on the streets of London.
“wow” I surprised to see Dark cloud on the sky, stain of steam polluted the wall and the street and the feeling of how bleak it was. some people were hurrying to the factories.
“Welcome to the Industrial Era,” said the system. “This world takes place in Great Britain in 1880, where society lifestyle has shifted from farming to working in factories. As a new player, you arrive here without any money or items. Starting off by working as labor in your first playthrough will help you until the money you gather is enough to sing in the guild to choose your job.”
I was teleported again, this time to a bar. The warmth of the fireplace was comforting, yet the place was still suffered from steam stains. “Here is the guild,” said the system. “You can sign in as an entrepreneur or become an adventurer. To the man over there”.
I looked over the man. He gave me a slight wave and a charming smile. I returned the smile. One thing I noticed was that the bar was empty of players, only npc buying some bears coughed by my eyes.
“So do you want to be a businessman or adventurer?” asked the system. Why would I become a businessman btw? This is a game not a real world.
Can you explain about adventurer?” I command. “Sure,” it replied and teleported me again to a jungle. some of the trees were covered in smoke residue, and many pieces of metal from broken machines scattered across the jungle. I looked around and saw the town of London, still reached in my eyes just a little bit harder. “The main purpose of being an adventurer is fighting against the monsters threatening London.
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Suddenly, a giant foot stepped on the ground in front of me. I looked up and saw a big train monster, its only big yellow eye looked so threatening. “What on earth!” Its appearance awed me with a great feeling. The system moved me again to keep me away from the monster.
“The monster appeared in the jungle and sometimes, they would visit the town. As the traveler, it’s your job to protect the town” it explained. I stared at the monster, noticing it sniffed a tree. there were a black rabbit sitting near the tree, camouflaging itself with the tree effected by smoke residue. A white rabbit appeared from a bush, making him as the main prey of the monster.
“You can unlock several skills and items as you level up. Each item gives you different buffs and abilities” the system showed me the items using a screen. There is also a guild you can make or join to clear quests together,” explained the system.
“Thank you. It's all I wanted to hear,” I said, then gave a thumbs up.
“You are welcome. I am happy that you feel satisfied,” said the system, then it changed my clothes to a white shirt and brown overalls. Somehow, I also got a mustache, which was kinda cool honestly, but I am not a fan of it.
“Can you remove the mustache?” I implored
“Sure,” it replied and removed the mustache, replacing it with a nice brown hat. I looked in the mirror and thought it fit the industrial theme well. “Thanks,” I said. “So, can I start the game now?”
“Of course,” said the system. My body suddenly covered in light. “Hope you are enjoying our game, and don’t forget to give us a rating. Each rating helps us improve the game,” said the system, and I was teleported onto a train moving at high speed.
Strangely, nobody was there except for me and a man in black, neat clothes, wearing an expensive top hat and monocle. He seemed to be one of the entrepreneurs in this world. Judging by his appearance, he was probably one of the whalers for the game. I was doubtful if he would be willing to talk to me. Sure, this was only a game, but caste systems might exist among players, according to my experience of playing many games.
I took a seat near the window, watching the smokes polluted the blue sky. without I realized, the man had been walking toward me.
“May I sit beside you?” he asked. I nodded as I didn’t want to be rude. He took a seat elegantly; cleaning the smoke stain first, then placed a white fabric.
“I see you are new here” he said as he pulled out a book from a bag
“Yes, I am,” I said, then looked at some symbols attached to his right sleeve. “Perhaps you are a veteran? If I am not wrong,” I guessed.
“Oh yeah, I have been playing this game since 3 years ago. I remember when game only have 3 worlds and this world used to be filled with many player” he explained,
“Used to?” I asked, raising one of my eyebrows. He looked at me then smiled. “Yes, used to,” he replied, opening the book for me. the pages of the book filled by photos of the man and probably his friends. As the pages being flipped further, the number of people in the photos decreased until leaving the man alone in the last photo. Each photo had its own story and the last photo was melancholy ones.
“But why?” I asked, “why people leave?”
"After the arrival of two new worlds, Heian age and Dark age, people had lost interest in the Industrial Revolution. I can't blame them; Industrial revolution doesn’t have many contents as the other worlds, even though it had existed since the beta phase of the game," explained the man, it took him some time to closed the book. A look of sadness crossed his face. I could empathize with him; losing many friends in an online game could indeed be quite painful.
He looked back to me and took out a gold coin. “Take this coin,” he said with a smile, that gold money emitting a little light from it. “Use this money to open the shop as soon as possible and then you can join to my guild as merchant.”
I refused his offer then explained why I was here. “You want to be an adventurer?” he said, shocked.
“Well, yes” I said rubbing my head “is there something wrong about it?”
“No,” He emphasized, “but the number of adventurers in the steam world has been declining for the past three years. You're probably the only adventurer in this world I've met since last year.”
“Huh?” I was so surprised which mean I will be alone in here?
“Yes, and updates for this world come every six months, benefiting mostly businessmen like me,” he explained.
I pondered over my choices. What was the point of being an adventurer if I was the only one in this world? The disappointment was clearly carved on my face. The man put his hand over my shoulder. I looked at his gaze; my true feelings could not be hidden. He touched my cheek and said, "This world is not that bad," as his hand reached for another from his bag book and handed it to me.
I opened it and saw some designs of beautiful houses, people, and the monsters of this world; the train monster, human smoke, and others. “This is magical” I said, it flashed me the same feeling when I saw the London in the poster. Remembering me of something, I looked out the window and saw the beautiful city of London; the people, building, machines. It melted my heart with how majestic the city was, fading sorrow slowly.
My smile back and the man smile too. He offered a coin again but I rejected it. “I appreciate your kindness but I want to start from zero” I said eagerly
“Okay” he said put his coin back but took a key instead. “You still need a home. Pavement is not a bed” he tittered.
I wanted to reject it but the man said he would be offended if I said no. “Thanks’ I said accepting the silver key by my palm. His hand was soft and the charming smile almost hypnotized me. I felt so much comfortable around him.
Suddenly, the train slowed down, meaning the train was about to stop. We walked together out of the train, and before we split, he held my hand, tucking a card name between my palm. “Call me if you need a help” he said and walked away. That was the last time I felt his soft hand and gentleness. I continue to walk, cherishing for meeting such a kind veteran. The moment I walked up on the stair, the journey had started.