Shou was teleported into the middle of the starting town, Regylia. The town was full of vibrant colors and beautiful small houses. A couple NPCs were standing outside some of these houses. Fantastical sounding music could be heard in the background. Shou now looked just like the avatar he made and was dressed in rags. He sat down and waited for Kazumi. While waiting for Kazumi, he decided to take a quick look at his stats.
STATUS
Name: Jiran Class: Warrior HP: 50/50 SP: 25/25 STR: 35 DEF: 15 SPD: 29 INT: 11 DEX: 20 LCK: 18 M.ATK: 15 M.DEF 12
Eventually, an orange-haired girl walked over to Shou. Her blue eyes looked down at him. "So now what do we do, Shou?"
Shou blinked for a minute. He pressed his hand against his chin trying to think, "I'm sorry, who are you?"
A red stress mark appeared on the girl's forehead, "Idiot! I'm Kazumi!"
"Ohhhhh. Sorry but your avatar just looks so different from you, so it was hard for me to recognize you."
Kazumi crossed her arms and turned her head, "Yeah and your avatar is like a mirror of you, huh?"
"Really? Thanks," Shou said, once again missing Kazumi's sarcasm.
Kazumi rolled her eyes, "Whatever, just tell me what we're supposed to do next."
"Hold on, I'll send you a party invite so it's easier for us to play together." Shou pulled up his menu and sent Kazumi a party invitation.
Kazumi has joined your party!
After that, Shou decided to take a peek at Kazumi's stats.
STATUS
Name: Kazumi Class: Cleric HP: 50/50 SP: 25/25 STR: 10 DEF: 19 SPD: 20 DEX: 35 INT: 30 LCK: 25 M.ATK: 15 M.DEF: 20
Shou then noticed Kazumi's name and her avatar name was the same. "Kazumi, you shouldn't use your real name online."
Kazumi became flustered and couldn't come up with a response as a result.
Shou laughed at this before saying, "Alright hold on, let me go talk to the starting NPC."
Shou walked over to an old Sage who held a staff in his hands. The Sage gave Shou the lowdown of the game, "Ah, young one I see you are a Warrior. Here, you'll need this sword. Ofillia is in terrible danger, you are the chosen one. You must find Endless Cave and defeat Neshar, the Dark Mage responsible for all the monsters and evil animals occupying this world. Brace yourself, young Warrior, for the fate of the world rests in your hands."
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You've obtained Bronze Sword!
Shou walked back over to Kazumi. "Alright now it's your turn. Go talk to that old geezer so you can get your weapon. Hey, what class did you pick anyway?"
"Cleric," Kazumi answered as she walked over to the Sage. He began speaking, "Ah, young one I see you are a Cleric. Here, you'll need this staff. Ofillia is in terrible danger, you are the chosen one. You must find Endless Cave and defeat Neshar, the Dark Mage responsible for all the monsters and evil animals occupying this world. Brace yourself young, Cleric, for the fate of the world rests in your hands."
Kazumi went back over to Shou, Does he say the same thing to everyone?"
Shou nodded, "Yeah all NPCs do."
"Great. So then if I stick with you I'll have to hear everything twice."
"Yep, but you don't stick with me, you'll probably die. So it's lose-lose sucker," Shou said jokingly.
Even if it was a joke, Kazumi wasn't laughing, "You're about to not have a girlfriend in five seconds."
Shou laughed a little before spotting an opportunity for a fight, "Look, it's a Dusty Crab."
Kazumi shrieked and hid behind Shou's back, "Kill it, kill it!"
"Okay relax. This is just a game, remember?" Shou took out his bronze sword and carefully ran towards the Dusty Crab. He swung his sword at the crab. The crab attacked with its pincers in response. Shou winced as blood trickled down from his arm. "What the…? I shouldn't be feeling any pain. He put the thought aside as the crab moved in for another attack.
Shou dodged swiftly and swung his sword in a fluid motion. The crab fell down and vanished soon after. A bag was left behind by the creature. Shou went to open it and got a small potion.
Kazumi peeked over Shou's shoulder slightly, "Is it gone?"
"Yeah don't worry, its gone Kazumi."
"Can we please log out now?" Kazumi pleaded with Shou.
"We just barely got started," Shou complained but then noticed how serious Kazumi was. "Fine, we can log out."
"Thank goodness." Kazumi opened her menu and went to click on the log out button. So she was perplexed when she couldn't find such a thing. She turned to Shou and decided to ask him for help, "Hey Shou, um how do I log out?"
"Really Kazumi? It's right there at the bottom of the menu."
"Um, it's not working."
"I'm pretty sure it is." Shou opened his menu and pressed the log out button. His jaw dropped when he realized that Kazumi was right. For some reason, the log out button wasn't there.
Suddenly a voice could be heard throughout Oflilia "Attention players of Oflilia's Game. As I'm sure you've all noticed, not only do you feel actual pain, but you also cannot log out. Do not fret for this is the purpose of the game. You all have ten lives, use them very wisely. You only have one of two ways to escape from this game. Either use up all of your lives or win it by completing one-thousand quests and making it through Endless Cave."
One of the gamers shouted at the invisible voice, "That's crazy! You're telling us we have to beat an MMO?! It's impossible!"
"Well then, you'll just have to die ten times over. Those are your only options."
The announcement then ended and suddenly everyone's avatars had morphed into their actual appearance. Shou looked down at his hands, returned to their orginial skin color and felt the drastic change in his height. He looked around the area, watching as many of the players were sent into a panic. Some of the gamers tried killing themselves but most didn't try it more than once after experiencing how real the pain stimulators were.
Just what was going on here? Shou contemplated that question while urling his lip in a mix of anger and frusturation. The situation itself was clear...they were trapped inside this game now. But why? His father was the one who developed the game, so why? Why would he not only trap Shou himself in here, but also put his life at risk?
"Why Dad?" Shou muttered under his breath in horror as tears leaked out from the corner of his eyes. "Why?"
Kazumi sobbed heavily with her face buried in her hands, "Shou, I don't want to stay here forever. I want to go home."
Shou put his arm on Kazumi's shoulder to comfort her, "Don't worry, we'll get home Kazumi. I promise we'll win this thing." Shou stared up intensely at the luminescent purple sky with its two full moons. "Ofillia, it's game time."