Prologue

-" Things spoken by someone. "

-' Things thought by MC. '

"Quotes"

(Comments)

[ Narrator Comments ]

*Names or things that are in bunny marks*

-' Haaa, it has been a really long time since I was this excited about something. ' I thought.

Despite being twenty eight years old I was unusually unconcerned with everyday events, or better to say, I couldn't bring myself to care. People could say " What's the deal? Everyone has stuff one cares about. "

That might be true, but to me, that was a problem. “ I frankly do not care “ have always been a part of my life: be it an exam, a work or a school. I had always breezed through things without a single effort. I still remember getting my M.C.A.(Master's Degree), which took me less than six hours to make up and write down a thesis. Honestly, I have no idea how I ended up with a Master's and a decent job.

A sudden bump made me remember that it was time to get off the bus as I perpetually couldn't bring myself to get a driving license. -' Anyway, I got sidetracked long enough. It’s finally the time to get this stuff on the road, and get the newest VR capsule.'

-’ Yes, it is finally THE release date - 7:49 AM 9th October 2026 - of the GustCorp's VR Capsule System. It might not be the first VR game, but it might very well be the last. With a promise of full VR immersion and time dilation of one to three the exclusively released full VR game "ArCiel" is likely to blow the competition out of the water. ‘

As one could guess there was, indeed, one thing for which I actually cared, and that thing was Role playing. Whether it’s a book (which I read more than you might believe), a game (being in three MMORPG’s simultaneously and raiding was tough, not to mention plenty of normal RPGs that I played in the meantime) or an event (duh, if you thought I couldn't speak to people like some NEET you were wrong - being a tabletop Game Master for last twelve years and making a showcase tabletop events and lectures have given me a lot of confidence [if he says so himself lol]).

-' Hmm, at least there is one bright side to these things being so damn expensive - no queues. '

[After signing the invoice and exchanging the pleasantries with a shop clerk]

-' Now I need to wait for two days until they deliver and install the capsule. '

[ Yes, he actually ordered whole thing and arrived home without paying any attention ]

-' Hmm, I will spend the time reviewing stuff that I need to know about a game. ‘

-' First thing, from what I heard, in game avatar movements are heavily dependent on players own skill in moving his/her body in real life. Which I think is not too good, I have had some fighting experiences and I can even proudly  claim that I have never lost a real fist fight once, but compared to my father or his friends, some of which are kickboxing pros, I always felt like a "Random Thug Number 3". Also, as they say, no matter how good you are there's always a Chinese twelve year old genius who is better than you. And it was a long time ago when I could be considered fit... '

-' Anyway, about the next thing, I have bloody little idea about this full immersion thing. It looks good on paper and they claim that they can somehow recreate all of the senses. Somehow, I think that being stabbed will probably hurt like hell, even at twenty percent ratio that they claim to use. Frankly said, I am not too keen on exploring how it feels to have a blade stuck in your gut, anesthesia or not. '

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

-' Hmm, a third thing, there is a limit of one character per account and account is strictly bound to a person, supposedly a scan of the iris enforces it. Hmm, so I will need to make a good and memorable character then. Damn pity! I have soo many characters on hand (as any Game Master should). Picking one and only one will be hard! '

-' One other thing, which is by far the most important to me, whole world is said to have been created by a cutting edge AI and NPC’s are said to " Live their own life ", or so the company claims. Hopefully it’s not a total hoax. '

I yawned and switched off the PC. It took me a while to look all of the details up. At least I had a decent idea on how to solve the problem of fighting pros having an edge, which was the usual thing I had to counteract while playing FPS games.

-’ How is it related one might ask? Well, I am not too good at FPS games and my run&gun exploits usually end up with a third person view of the body. How come my kill, death ratio is in the top tier then? That's not that easy to explain, best I can come up with can be summed up as  “ Thinking! “ I stay calm, monitor the flow of combat and set up ambushes to gain tactical advantage or move from the flank. Even an LMS pro can't do much when getting hit from behind. Still, head to head I get owned badly, that's why I prefer strategy games. ‘

While thinking to myself I did the usual chores but going to sleep wasn't going well with my excitement, so I stayed up for long hours thinking about an archetype that I should go with.

-' Hmm, warriors, knights, barbarians are a no go. Twelve year old, talented Chinese children are scary. Though seriously, if I meet a half decent fighter that's the end, so warriors are out. '

-' As usual, there's no way I am going for a Priest, as an ego is mutually exclusive with faith. As for a mage... that's a tough one as I have always played a mage. One way or another, that's pretty much how I played most of the time. Since there's only one character, I shouldn’t go for a mage. Meh. Gotta find something else and maybe later learn few magic skills... if it’s even possible that is, there's not much to go on on the net. '

At that moment I remembered why I haven't been playing rogues in my old MMO, or rather, why I stopped playing them and rolled mage. It was too damn easy with my gaming style. To pick one’s engagements, to control the flow of combat and if the enemy's better, you could just run like a little bi… girl:

-' ...rogues are naturally good at running… ' I thought to myself. -' ...and I should find the one that should do the trick. '

I unconsciously grinned to myself while considering an old NPC, one which my team loved to hate when we played the tabletop RPG. I still use its name on the forums after all those years. It will be glorious return of a criminal whom even gods couldn't contain...

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NEXT CHAPTER: Prologue, Part 2