Introduction

Hello, this is Promet here!

Let me say a few things about myself, in return i will omit prologue and start with 1st chapter right away (well, although i said that, this chapter will be considerably short. I have yet to decide if I will make one long chapter once upon a time or rather lots of short chapters often).

I am writing novels for hobby and recently thought about publishing them. After reading LMS i stumbled upon FF section and a thought crossed my mind. I decided to write a fanfic myself, since I need some feedback regarding my writing style. Also, it just so happens that two of my not yet realized ideas for novels are for virtual reality and such, and one of them fits perfectly here. Having said that, please mind that English is not my native language (although I dare say I know it quite well) and therefore mistakes might occur. If so, please do not hesitate to inform me as this will be a valuable feedback for me (I am going to create separate subsection for that as well as for your opinions, please do not hesitate to write. OK enough talk, let's go, chapter 1! I'm choosing you!!!

PS. please note that this isn't the exact copy of LMS setting and there are differences in various instances

Edit: I added more space between paragraphs next day for more comfy reading, regards to Limilicious for pointing that out (previously it looked just like here in the introduction).

Chapter 1

Ken was standing on the hill, one of many that preceded a not to high mountain range. It was spring and he was looking at a makeshift grave made of mounded rocks and a flat, rectangular rock stuck into the ground vertically. Inscribed on it were letters, denoting who the one sleeping an eternal dream inside is - the name's Charle Magnus, nothing more was written.

The youth looked average, around 20 years old, 170 - 180 cm tall man that is neither slender nor fat, just average. The same could be said about his clothes and completely shaved face, only his jet black hair was a far cry from actual fashion trend - long and gathered in the back of his head into a long ponytail, reaching the bottom of his blade bones. Well, aside from appearance he was by no means average, but this is not relevant at the moment.

"Thank you, Master Magnus. If not for you, I don't know what would have happened to me. As I dreamed of, I am going to venture into the world seeking adventure. Fear not, for you have taught me the invincible Soaring Sword style. May the gods guide you in the afterlife, and thank you for all you have done for me". Young man said the goodbyes to his deceased master and, after making sure that his late master's sword - claymore named Joyeuse - could be drawn any moment, he descended into the forest downhill.

Not a long time has passed since Ken entered the forest, and his path was already obstructed by monsters. The ones he met were goblins - low level humanoids. Ken have already fought them several times and knew that the ones in this area were around level 70, only their chief was stronger by 20 levels. Goblins obviously have already spotted him and were now brandishing their weapons in excitement.

"Look boys, we have dinner!" exclaimed gleefully their leader while imitating honing dining knives with his double-wielded sabers. The remaining twenty grunts shouted with enthusiasm, flailing their various weapons above their heads in threatening manner. Unfortunately for them, Ken was neither inclined nor even able to comply with their vicious plans, since he was lvl 220 after training... and that was just the level, not the stats. What a bother, he thought. But if you think for a while, there always is a bright side, right?

"Very well, monsters. I have yet to try out Joyeuse in battle, so you can be my test subjects."

Goblins, enraged by his declaration, decided to set their joy aside for when they will have killed him already. And thus the battle began, with almost two dozens of humanoids rushing like a coastal tide against Ken. But if they were the tide, then Ken was a strong rock, and he parried the attacks of the first two goblins, killing them in one hit in an instant. The goblin leader, who was watching from afar with conceited smile was thrown into a fit of rage, shouting commands at the goblins that made them pull off and then attack the youth together in two waves.

It was not difficult to fight them. Not even one goblin touched him, as his agility was his forte. His slashes weren't that strong, but each of them was lethal as he was skilled enough to make out weak points of goblins' shoddy armor and strike them accurately. As a result, only a few seconds have passed and only Ken and goblin ringleader were left, latter with his jaw dropped and staring blankly at the one opponent he shouldn't have picked a fight with.

"Well, I'm afraid there is no dinner today", Ken jeered at his opponent, "you are going to sleep with empty stomach."

The goblin looked at him with anguish, then shouted:

"This be not end! You be hearing?! This not end!"

And started running. 'It seems he's not on the bright side', thought the human after hearing the lousy grammar in his speech. Although Ken had lazy personality, he never let off anyone who dared to stand in his way or bear his fangs at him. And so, he used the peculiar footwork of the Soaring Sword style, with ease passing the running monster and then appearing suddenly before him, stopping him in his tracks. The goblin blinked, surprised.

"You... how...!?"

"I told you didn't I? The bad kids need to be punished." Ken threw yet another mocking remark at the enemy.

"Since it be come to this... Die!"

The goblin used a skill - both his blades started to shine in bright, red color, seemingly his last resort, since he hasn't used it yet. Ken made a bored expression and blocked it with his scabbard - well, it was his master's scabbard and his master's sword, really, but since the master was dead, it was technically his now - that was fortified with magic and then simply decapitated his opponent with a flowing horizontal swing of a sword.

'As expected of master's sword, very sharp and durable. I already like it', he thought to himself while leaving.

***

As expected, a great quantity of monster roamed the woods. There were goblins, kobolds, wolves, bears, lizardmen and such. Of course, all of them was intent on killing and eating Ken, but none had what it takes to. Result - a bloody trail of sliced bodies in the wake of the young swordsman.

Someone would be surprised that there were no humans. This mountain range was near a kingdom that players have just recently gained access to - as a starting point, that is. Some have already arrived here, but not many of them ventured into the mountains. It was common knowledge that where there were mountains there were powerful monsters and not many were strong enough to have the gall to challenge them. Well, actually, the hills here didn't have such powerful monsters - they were lvl 200 at best.

That's why Ken was surprised, when he came upon a similar carnage (similar to the one he himself made). At first he thought that maybe he just has already gone through here, but quickly he abandoned the thought as he checked the position of the sun in the sky and it was clear as a day that he haven't been here before.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Has some kind of a beast ventured here?" he asked himself in puzzlement quietly.

KLANK SHWIIISH ARGGH

Suddenly he heard a series of sounds that could only indicate that there was a battle somewhere near. With his curiosity currently taking the better of him, it won over his laziness and almost against himself he closed in onto the source of the sounds curiously.

"Curiosity may have killed the cat, but that cat has nine lives", he murmured virtually inaudibly to himself.

After ten minutes of fighting protruding bushes finally he managed to get close to the repeating and increasingly loud sounds of battling, and carefully hiding on the edge of the forest he saw a group of five people. They seemed to have been arguing about something and no such sounds as before could be heard.

The young swordsman decided to stay where he was and scrutinized those people before making any decision.

As mentioned before, there were 5 of them. A tall human archer, wearing a well fitting leather armor. A petite woman in a robe with a scepter, probably a wizard. A robust man of average height in a white clothes, probably a healer. A tall and slender man in a leather armor equipped with daggers, probably assassin. And finally, an averagely sized man in black leather clothes with a strangely shaped guitar on his back, seemingly a bard, he was also the only one with a long haircut (the woman had a short bob cut barely reaching her arms). Four of them were arguing among themselves, whilst the assassin was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, observing the argument.

Ken was looking at the spectacle puzzled, trying to understand what was happening. After sparing a look to their surroundings, he saw quite a big number of corpses consisting mainly of lizardmen and a few other monsters. It took him a while of scanning it, but finally he made out a large, two-handed sword lying on the ground. He was moving carefully around in an effort to find a better view, when he heard a snap.

It was a dry branch lying on the ground. And he stepped on it.

"Who's there!", immediately the archer reacted. Ken couldn't have known it at the time, but he was a ranger and had advanced tracking skills, amongst them one passive that allowed him to hear any noise made by living beings in the vicinity. Now he and assassin, who apparently had similar skill or ability, lashed their heads in his direction, while the rest of the party followed suit tensely.

Young man sighed inwardly at his carelessness and came out, holding his hands slightly above his head with their palms positioned forward to indicate his peaceful intentions.

"Good morning. I apologize for surprising you - people rarely come here", he greeted them in hope of avoiding conflict.

"What the, it's just a player" woman sighed.

The party visibly relaxed. They expected a monster, not a human. Of course there is a possibility that he is a Player Killer. But if that was so, he either should have companions (which he did not, otherwise he wouldn't come out like that, they concluded) or he was more or less harmless thanks to their numbers.

Of course, regarding the suspicion, the same can be said about Ken. He had no guarantee that they wouldn't kill him or first toy with him and then kill him. Thankfully, when he came closer, he saw that none of them had the air above their heads glowing dimly - his master taught him that the gods governing the world had every sinner marked that way.

"What brings you here?", the youth tried to inquire about the goals of the party.

"Oh, we are on a quest to kill the lizardmen in this forest. The adjacent country's lord had gotten his hands on information that they are preparing a raid, and we were asked to launch a preemptive strike." The mage elaborated.

"Oh i see", Ken accepted her explanation, as he didn't notice any falsehood in her statement (unless she was good enough to fool him, but that was a low possibility).

"What about you, what are you doing alone in here? I'm surprised you are in one piece", archer cut in into their exchange.

"Oh, I am on a journey. My master has died afer teaching me everything he could, so I had no reason to stay at his place"

"Ah, is that so. Well, time for..."

He couldn't finish, as the healer intersected, "Hey, you are a swordsman, right?"

His first answer were uneasy faces of his comrades, but he pressed on, "If so, how about joining us? What's your level? You aren't an NPC, right?"

The youth answered him with a blank stare, "My level's over 200. But what was that about pissing supposed to mean?"

The faces of the party stiffened. Inability to hear correctly (or at all) the word "NPC" was one of things denoting bots. An NPC?! Here?! Unbelievable! They just couldn't accept the fact that he was an NPC. Since, how is it even possible? NPCs always stayed in one place, like city or a village. The only exception was an event or military raid, whether on monsters or other targets. Astonished, they discussed it among themselves, using whispers.

At least a moment later healer asked, "Hey, do you have any goal in mind? Are you perhaps on a quest of some sort?"

Ken was slightly puzzled by their behavior, but giving it nary a thought he answered simply, "Well not really, I just seek strength, challenge and adventure."

They exhaled air from their lungs, there could be only one conclusion: a hardcore role playing gamer, a player who completely assumed the role of an in-game character refusing to do anything that might disabuse the others regarding him being a supposed person (NPC included, as they thought).

"If so, would you like to travel with us? We have lost our tank and have to go back to the city to rejoin with her, but it's dangerous because of high number of lizardmen lurking in the forest", archer proposed, while looking at and poking something invisible in front of him.

"Sure, why not"

Ken understood: they were foreigners. That being said, he didn't hold anything against them, so he accepted.

The party's first suspicions proved to be false: Ken was nothing like weak and they stormed through the forest and into town called Deepsilver, where their respawn point was fixed and after a day's (ingame) wait time they would join up with their revived companion.

In the meantime Ken got to know his new companions, they were: Acaleri the assassin, Thunder the bard, Flossie Kriegel the mage, Iborelian the priest, Marley the ranger. Also, there was a woman warrior, but he would get to know her later.

Random author's rant: crap, this is the last time I'm finishing writing in the night after a goddamn cat didn't let me sleep, making a fuss from 7 to 9 AM whereas i went to sleep at 4 AM. Not to mention proof reading and correcting mistakes for 40 minutes at 3 AM the following day.