Volume 2 Chapter 1 pt1

The Goblin city

In a high school classroom that held thirty students, there was only one who really stood out among them. His name is Do Hyup and he sat in silent study at his desk like the others, but he sat not on a regular seat, but on a wheelchair, small and compact enough to fit under the desks just like any other chair.

Do Hyup was a freshman at a high school with an elevator system. Upon graduation from the middle school with passing marks, one was automatically enrolled into the high school for the following semester. Do Hyup was in the self paced classes for students who learned at a different rate than others. Although there were fellows there who could not keep up with the school's learning pace, Hyup was not one of them. Do Hyup could comprehend a book completely after reading it over once, and he read very fast. Whereas other students in normal classes were taking six courses simultaneously and expected to learn them all by the end of the semester, Do Hyup took one course at a time, learned it within two weeks, took the exam for the course which required above 70% to pass, and moved on to the next course. At this pace he would graduate early at any other school, but he and his parents choose this school because it had an extremely wide variety of subjects, and qualified teachers to teach them. Hyup had many interests, and had intended to learn everything the school had to offer before he turned eighteen and went to college.

The speaker system on the wall make two dings, an indication that it was the scheduled time for lunch. Hyup waited for the people who intended to leave disperse before rolling the wheels of his chair back out of his desk and to the wall leading to the door. Just as he passed the doorway he said, "Wait long?"

Yoochun, Hyup's best friend had been at the doorway waiting for him. "You really love to make me wait don't you?"

Hyup rolled passed him to the cafeteria and said, "Now what kind of person would that make me?"

Yoochun rolled his eyes and started talking about his new classes and the people in them. About how some have jerks and some have gems. Hyup mentions the names of some of the people in his class, most notably some of the better looking female students and many of the well known nerds, of which Do Hyup was a member. After buying food at the student store, they searched for a table. Most of them were crowded but they only need to find one with a single empty seat at the end.

They found a mostly full table that met the requirement, Hyup rolled over to the end of the table and Yoochun sat at the end seat.

Hyup asked, "Why haven't you told me about your summer yet?"

Yoochun gave him a puzzled look, as if to say, 'you know why.'

"I figured you wouldn't want to know the kinds of fun I had without you."

Hyup smiled and said, "Ok, how about this, you tell me everything you did without me, then I tell you everything I did without you, and whoever had the most fun wins."

Yoochun gave a fiendish grin and said, "You're on. I spent the first month fishing, kayaking, swimming and surfing. After that we spent a month on a island learning how build stuff from what grew there and forage food. And the last month we spent camping on another island. A whole month camping, without any resources from the outside, building our own shelter, fishing for food and collecting fruits from trees, and looking up at the starry night sky you can't appreciate from inside the city."

There are plenty of people who wouldn't consider being without cellphones, computer and electricity for a month fun, but Yoochun and himself were not among them. A summer out on an island fending for themselves, seeing what they were capable of without the help of others seemed like one of the coolest summers one could have.

Hyup said, "Sounds awesome. During my summer, I read about ten thousand books, got drafted into the army, learned to use a sword, fought in hundred of battle against men and monsters, learned all kinds of new skills, and killed hundreds of politicians."

Yoochun stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. He collapsed off the table and complained he couldn't breathe, causing quite a scene. After getting up and assuring everyone who looked at him he was fine, he stared at Hyup with a skeptical gaze. A girl next to him said, "Are you talking about Royal Road?"

Yoochun looked at her quizzically and Hyup nodded. Yoochun said, "What is Royal Road?"

The girl answered enthusiastically, "It's this awesome new virtual reality game where you live inside the virtual world and do whatever you want?"

Yoochun asked, "Like Sims?"

The girl changed to an expression like she was looking at someone who who had just received a gaping head wound. She looked at Hyup and said, "Is he ok?"

Hyup said, "He's been on an deserted island for the past two months."

She nodded in understanding and continued. "It is fantasy based role playing game. You live and play in a world that is filled with monsters and magic. You can be anything you want. A warrior, a wizard, or even a blacksmith, whatever you want!"

Yoochun seemed interested, "Can you become a king?"

At this question the girl hesitated, "Well, not instantly, you have to work your way up, gain fame, gain reputation, become a lord, gain more reputation, conquer everyone around, and build up your land into a kingdom. Then you'll be considered a king. The kings on the continent right now are all non player characters, so you if you want to be one you need to build up your kingdom from scratch."

Yoochun asked, "That's cool, if it is the highest position then it would need a lot of work to get to."

She shook her head, "No, there is a position higher than that. If someone united the entire continent and ruled over every king and kingdom, that person would be the emperor, currently there isn't one, but there is a big prize to whoever becomes the emperor."

"Oh, what kind of prize?"

"Whoever becomes emperor get 10% on the income the game makes that month."

"Is that a lot?"

"Yeah! I heard the game will soon be released internationally! Soon people from all over the world will have it and will be paying Unicorn Inc. monthly to play."

Yoochun looked at Hyup with a mischievous smile and said, "So the world's biggest game hater finally found a game he likes?"

Hyup sipped some soda and turned to the girl and said, "What do you think about comparing Royal Road with every other game in the world?"

She raised her shoulders and said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "There is no comparison. There is a difference between looking a monster on a screen and looking at its face in virtual reality. The details in Royal Road is barely distinguishable from reality. When fighting you feel the damage taken as pain, when you fight for a long time you feel exhausted. It isn't like a game where you control an avatar through a remote or controls. You become the avatar."

By this time an audience had actually gathered around her. With a few exceptions most people had heard about Royal Road but most had not played it. The capsules had sold out month after month. There were probably a lot of people who had ordered it amongst the student body but they would not receive their capsule till at least the end of the month.

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A guy who had been listening moved up to conversation and said, "You guys play Royal Road? Where did you start?"

The girl said, "The Ancient city of Tentoro, Aidel Kingdom."

The pair looked at Hyup who relented, "Fortress of Yarsan, Kallamore Kingdom."

They both winced a bit. The guy started, "That sucks. I've heard bad things about Kallamore. The monster attacks are endless and any User who participate in the battle receives no help from the army and die too often. It is a horrible place for a user to start, You should come to the Kingdom of Haven! Both of you! It’s really great, it is a great place for users, it filled with quests and opportunity."

Hyup made a note to completely avoid the Kingdom of Haven, he didn't want cookie cutter quests. He said, "No thanks, I'm heading east at the moment."

The girl said, "I'm happy with Aidel Kingdom at the moment."

The guy frowned and asked, "Well, what classes did you guys choose?"

Hyup said, "I'd rather not say." He didn't want to announce that he was a jack of all trades with a secret class.

The girl said, "I think I'll pass as well, I have no need to share my class with a stranger."

The guy frowned a bit and left the table. Yoochun had watched the whole scene while eating from a steaming cup of instant ramen. The crowd around them started to disperse into groups to discuss among themselves, Hyup could guess what they were discussing.

Yoochun said, "The game sounds fun, but it sounds like it would take up a lot of time, would you be able to do a lot without living in it?"

The girl said, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it, time in Royal Road moves four times faster than it does out here. Spending six hours inside a capsule is spending twenty four hours inside Royal Road."

This last point seemed to grab his attention more than any other point, "Ok, I'm sold, I'll put an order in for one when I get home."

Hyup looked around to make sure no one was listening and asked, "So, what class did you get?"

She frowned a bit and said, "I'll tell if you tell."

"Ok, I got a secret class that is somewhere between a craft class and a spellsword. A jack of all trades that uses ancient magic I have to discover myself."

"Ohhh, that sounds interesting. I'm a gladiator. There is a massive colosseum in Tentoro. I fought there till I got the class."

Do Hyup was impressed, gladiator was a class that could only be acquired when the champion of a colosseum gained the crowd's approval for their matches. This was in no way an easy feat. A gladiator was able to use a large variety of weapons from swords to hammers to tridents and even unique one of a kind weapons only they could use like iron fists with a crescent blade extended out. The skills they could learn were dependent on weapon mastery and fame. Fame was the lifeblood of any gladiator, they were one of the few classes where fame affected how strong their skills were and when they lost a fight and died, their fame greatly decreased.

Hyup asked, "What's your weapon specialty?"

Impressed at the understanding the question revealed, she said, "Sword and shield."

"Shield type?"

She smiled, "Bladed, attached."

"Impressive, I'd love to see you fight."

A bladed shield was a small round shield that was thinner than average and had a its outer edge sharpened like that of a blade. Attached meant it had a cord that attaches the shield to the hilt of the sword. The sword, the shield and the cord could each be used as a weapon to kill someone. When used together it was like three people fighting at once. However the use of such a complex weapon would require the utter most focus and concentration.

"Maybe that can be arranged."

The speakers rang again, signaling the time to return to class.

Hyup frowned a bit and said, "You can call me Hyup, lets talk again later."

"Hm, then you can Miyeok."

Miyeok took her finished lunch and left.

After school was out and Hyup went home, he started on his homework. When he started a new course he received a large packet of problems that could only be answered when one understood the materials. He divided it out into manageable sections and started where he left off the prior night. The subject this time was Early Tech History, the progress of computers and technologies through the twentieth and and early twenty first centuries. It was a pre-requisite course to Modern Tech History, and was necessary to gain access to the high school's technologies lab. He had read through all the material that this day's portion required and filled in answer after answer until he was at the point he stopped reading. He was actually a few days ahead of schedule which is where he needed to be. By the end of his homework it was dinner time. He ate at the dining room with his mother and watched the television. It was a nightly ritual to watch the news around that time to keep themselves updated on the current events of the world and use it to start up a conversation. However the news this time was on Royal Road. The station brought in an expert who stated that using a capsule for a long period of time may lead to negative health effects, and that Royal Road was a fad that would soon decline in popularity making way for the next fad.

Hyup's mother asked, "Do you think Royal Road is a fad that will pass in time?"

Hyup smiled and said, "When the first moving pictures came out, many investors thought that it was just a fad whose popularity would pass with time. What other stations are there?"

Hyup's mother changed the channel till she found another news station. This one had a special on Royal Road, and said that soon they would premire a show dedicated to news from the Royal Road itself. They silently agreed that this would be their default station from now on.

After dinner, Hyup did his business in the bathroom and went to his room. He removed the muscle stimulator's battery pack from his pocket, took out the battery, replaced it with the one on the its charger and put it back into the pack.

The accident that took away his ability to walk destroyed muscle tissue and severed the nerves of his legs. Before the advent of modern technology, severed nerves could not be reattached, but with the help of the best doctors money could buy, his were. However the muscle could not be repaired so easily. The damaged and dead muscle had to be removed, but with years of therapy, they could be regrown. The muscle stimulator had several nodes attached to parts of his damaged legs that caused to muscles to flex and relax one hundred times throughout four minutes once an hour whenever he wasn't sleeping. Each section did so at a different time, meaning that most of the day while sitting in his chair or using the capsule he was technically exercising.

He got settled inside his capsule and closed the lid. One of the best parts about his self paced classes was that he only had a school monday through thursday, and today was thursday.

Connect to Royal Road?Yes|No

He answered, "Yes."