Welcome to the world of Viathan. The creatures of this world are ruthless. Players from the human world will soon realize how terrifying these monsters are. However, there are low-level monsters as well.
Our journey starts with a teenage boy who lives in Tokyo. He recently got his hands on the brand new Virtual Reality system. VR for short. There were only 25,000 copies sold of Viathan Hunter.
Viathan Hunter was to be released worldwide. However, there were some complications during the release of the game. With that being said, Viathan Hunter released in Japan only.
The teenage boy was sitting on his bed. Thinking about what classes and skills there were going to be and what he would choose. He’d always play a dual-wield fighter in most of the games he owned. But those games were on PC. Mostly MMORPG-style games.
Sugita Studios. They are the company that made Viathan Hunter. Since the company created its VR system, they called it SSVR for short. The game, however, took many years of development and progress. A couple of employees said the SSVR killed the BETA testers. If you even believe such a thing. I mean, what kind of VR would kill a person.
He stood up from his bed and snatched the VR from his table. Putting the VR over his head, he lays down. The softness of the pillow felt comforting, as this was his very first time doing a VR system.
“Connect!”
It transported his mind into reality as it left his actual body behind. A few seconds after booting up, he was in a class selection. There are a lot of options for him to choose from. There was one in particular that caught his eye. A class known as Fighter.
The Fighter class had some unique abilities. This was also the only class that would let you dual-wield swords or flintlocks. He chose this class for the dual-wield ability since that was something he was used to.
After he chose his class, he had to pick a name for his character. A name that the whole server would one day chant his name for praise.
“Hmm… How about Juriko.”
He types in Juriko. There was a continued screen that was brought up when the name entered. He pressed the button and transported further into the system.
After a matter of seconds, it transported him to the courtyard. He takes a glance around and can see that this city was huge. The number of players that were here was beyond what he expected. However, Juriko didn’t have any friends in the real world. The only friends he made were the NPC’s he made during gaming hours.
“This… Is… Amazing!” he said, as he pumped his fist in the air.
People were walking around the courtyard that already had their weapons equipped. The more he looked, the more he could see that every player had a weapon. He wondered how he could do the same.
He walks up to a group of women.
“Excuse me.”
“What do you want?”
“Could you tell me how you equipped your weapon?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
He shakes his head.
“Wow, you’re such a loser.”
“Later loser.”
The group of women walked away and made fun of him.
“Wait…”
Someone walks up behind him.
“I can help you.”
He turns around and looks at a woman with pink hair and pink eyes. Considering this was the first woman that has ever walked up to him. It made him feel a little nervous.
“Hi.”
“Hey.”
A few awkward seconds later, she speaks up.
“Do you still want me to help you?”
“That would be very helpful.”
She walks up to him and stands right next to him.
“To open your inventory, make an X symbol in front of you. Like this.”
She makes an X symbol and her inventory opens up. However, he couldn’t tell if she opened it. Each player’s inventory was private.
“Umm..”
“Oh! We can’t see each other’s inventory because of the players settings. But if you do the symbol, you will check your equipment, items, stats, and more. Try it.”
He gives the X symbol a try to open his inventory. The equipment he started with wasn’t much. His class came with 2 swords, 3 healing potions, rations, and zero gold to his name, as new players had to earn gold by completing quests and other tasks.
“Thanks! I appreciate your help.”
“No problem.”
He clicks on his equipment and hits the attach button. He had 1 sword on the left side of his waist and the other 1 was on the right side of the waist. She stares at him with a smile.
“If you don’t mind me asking. What is your name? Mine is Juriko.”
“My name is…”
Before she could give him her name, some people were calling out to her. She waves at them as they motion for her to come over.
“I’m sorry. I have to go. Bye, Juriko.”
She runs toward her friends. Juriko had a disappointing look when she left. He wished he got her name, but he had a feeling he might see her again one day.
“Now. What was I going to do?”
He thinks for a minute. He had an idea that suddenly hit his mind.
“Yes. I was going to go fight some monsters. To the forest!”
He ran towards the forest. He had an exciting look on his face, as he hoped there would be monsters in that area.
The forest was just outside the city. It would take you about 30 minutes to walk to the forest. Which he didn’t mind since he was all excited to fight something in virtual reality.
The city was enormous and had walls surrounding the area. There were NPCs running the shops and inns. Most of the buildings comprised bricks and wood. As they made some of wood. Some were black wood and others had brown wood. Some even had white wood, which was very rare to get.
After running for 30 minutes straight, he realized he slowed down halfway through the run. He looked underneath his health bar and could see a stamina bar and a magic bar. The stamina bar was green, the magic bar was blue, and his health bar was red. Just like any standard MMORPG game.
He walked into the forest and saw plenty of boars. Glancing above their health, and saw they were level 1 boars. He looked at his level and saw he was level 1.
“I should try to level up for a bit before taking on a quest.”
He was about to take out his blades before a guy came running up behind him, shouting.
“Hey, wait!”
“Huh?”
The guy stops behind him, catching his breath. Juriko turned around and saw this guy who had dark red hair and orange eyes.
“It seemed like you knew where you were going. May I join you?”
“Um… Who are you again?”
“Oh, my apologies.”
The guy sits up straight after catching his breath and gives Juriko a thumbs up with a grin on his face.
“The name is Klein. I am the most powerful samurai in all of Viathan Hunter.”
“If you’re powerful, then why are you only level 1?”
Klein rubs the back of his neck.
“I’m still working on my leveling. Becoming a samurai is a dream come true.”
“So you chose the samurai class?”
“Hell yeah, I did!”
“I chose a fighter.”
“Why fighter?”
“I love dual-wielding weapons. I always choose this class or ability in every game I play.”
“Good choice. We could use a dual-wielding master in our party.”
“Party?”
“Yeah. Don’t you want to team up?”
“I don’t know…”
“Come on, it could be fun. I could carry my weight.”
“As long as we help each other. Then I don’t see the problem with teaming up for a bit.”
Klein throws his fist in the air.
“Hell, yeah!”
After Klein yelled. There was a boar that came rushing towards him. He pulls out his blade and blocks the creature. It pushed him back a few inches. The boar falls back a few feet, getting ready to charge again.
“I’ll let you have this, kid.”
“My name is Juriko.”
Juriko pulls out both of his blades and does a quick examination. The blades comprised bronze. They had a durability limit on both and would have to be repaired when it reaches zero. All blades had durability.
He gives out a fighting stance before launching himself at the boar. As soon as he gets next to the boar, he does an attack move that is called Flurry Strike. The blades impacted the boar but didn’t kill it. Juriko steps back.
“What kind of move was that?!”
“Its called Flurry Strike. You should have some move sets too.”
Klein checks his moves sets. The move he had was Deep Cut. He rushes the boar and gives the Deep Cut a try. He stabs the boar in the stomach and brings his blade up the creature’s back. Leaving a deep cut in the boar.
The boar fell over dead, and its body was bleeding from the cut. Klein and Juriko both cheered with excitement as their voices echoed throughout the forest for every player to hear.
“We did it!” Juriko said.
“Yeah, we did, partner!” Klein said.
They got a bit of XP from the kill. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough.
Both of them walked up to the boar. They were trying to figure out what they had to do. Should they skin it or leave it there for the vultures to eat?
“I think we have to skin it for its materials,” Juriko said.
“What tools do we use, though?”
Juriko checks his inventory. There was a small carving knife in his pack. He brings it out and carves the animal. They got a few boar hides after he carved the creature. Both Juriko and Klein got some boar hide.
“Should we head back and sell these?”
“Hell, no! Let’s keep fighting these suckers!” Klein said.
Klein rushes headfirst into a herd of boars. Juriko shakes his head before he charges in.
Nightfall was upon the world of Viathan Hunter. Juriko and Klein fought as many boars as they could before their weapon durability hit zero. Klein didn’t care when it hit zero, he still tried to attack a boar. However, his weapon did zero damage to the creature. Klein and Juriko had to run back to the city with a herd of boars chasing them. Luckily, they lost them a few miles back.
Juriko and Klein arrived in front of the gate. They both each had 10 boar hides in their inventory. The price they could not determine. A shop owner must identify the amount of gold it is worth.
“We should sell these hides to a merchant,” Juriko said.
“Agreed.”
The walk down the road was not long. There were a lot of merchants in the city. Almost every corner had a shop and inn. There were even bakeries and blacksmith shops. A player could even buy a house if they wanted. However, houses are expensive.
They soon arrive at a shop called Belles General Store. Juriko and his friend walked inside the shop. There was a woman who was smiling behind the counter. She had red hair and red eyes.
Klein was all over her in a heartbeat. He races to the counter and acts as a cool guy in front of her. Juriko did not know what had gotten into him.
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“How are you doing?” Klein said, as he winked at her.
“Hiya! What can I do for you?”
“You could help me by giving me your phone number.”
She puts her hand on her chin.
“Hmm, I don’t know what a phone number is.”
Juriko walks up to the counter and steps in front of Klein. Klein raises his hands in frustration.
“We would like to sell some boar hides. Miss…”
“The name is Belle.”
Klein’s face turns red.
“My, my, my…”
“Are you okay?”
Klein sticks his hand out in front of her.
“My name is Klein, Belle! I’m a samurai lord who has never lost a battle!”
“Klein, huh? I like that name. It’s unique. It’s nice to meet you, my Lord.”
She shakes his hand and gives him a beautiful smile. Klein got more red. Soon enough, his nose bled as he collapsed on the floor with hearts in his eyes.
“Oh my, is he going to be okay?”
“I think so? I barely just met the guy.”
She takes her focus off Klein and looks at Juriko.
“So about the hides?”
“Oh, right? How many do you have on you?”
“We have 20 in total.”
“Okay, let me think.”
She thinks for a second before raising a finger.
“It would be 50 gold each. 50 for you and 50 for Klein.”
“I’m guessing boar hide doesn’t sell often?”
“Not really. It’s only 5 gold pieces for 1 hide. Sorry, it’s not much.”
“You’re good. We gladly take that amount.”
“Okay!”
Juriko pulls out his hides. He had to grab Klein’s hide from him since he collapsed from her beauty. Belle takes the hide and gives 2 pouches to Juriko.
“Thanks again, Belle.”
“No problem! Have a good day!” she said as she smiled and waved at him.
Juriko walks up to Klein.
“Let’s go, lover boy.”
Juriko grabs Klein by the collar and drags him out of the shop.
They continued to walk down the road as most of the shops closed. The only place that was still open was the inn. Some players don’t go hunting at night because of the dangers in the wilderness.
“I wish the blacksmith was open,” Juriko said.
Klein looked around and saw a blacksmith who was working on a blade. He taps Juriko on the arm and points at the guy.
“Looks like your wish might come true. Let’s go!” Klein said.
Juriko and Klein run towards the guy. The blacksmith notices them and smiles. He puts the sword down and stands behind his counter.
“What can I do for you two?”
“We would like to fix our blades. Can you help us?” Juriko said.
“We murdered a lot of boars today. It was a blast!” Klein said.
“How many did you kill exactly?”
“We killed and skinned 20 boars,” Juriko said.
“I’m surprised you defeated that many.”
“Has no one come to repair their weapons?” Klein asked.
“No. I haven’t seen a face all day today. People rarely come to my shop because there is always a cheaper place down the road.”
“That sucks. Is there anything we can do to help?” Juriko said.
“Hmm… I could use some help in the future. I’ll keep you in mind.”
“Good, because we are excellent at helping. Smelting a weapon without a sweat,” Klein said.
“Oh really? Is that a challenge?”
“Hell yeah, it is!”
The blacksmith and Klein stare at each other.
“Haha, I love your spunk. I’m going to have to take you up on that challenge someday.”
“It’s a deal,” Klein said.
“If you don’t mind me asking. What is your name?” Juriko said.
“The name is Kholtor. I run this lovely shop.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Kholtor. I’m Juriko and this is Klein. We are adventurers from another world.”
“Another world, huh? I love it.”
“If you don’t mind. Could you repair our blades?” Klein said.
“Of course I’ll repair them for you.”
“Thanks!” Klein said.
Juriko and Klein pull out their blades and give them to Kholtor. He takes them to a table and lays them down. He picks up his hammer and starts hammering away. It took a few minutes, but after that, he repaired the blades. He brings the blades back to Juriko and Klein.
“Here you go. Good as new.”
Juriko checks the durability, and it is now at the max. He was about to pull out his gold, but Kholtor waves and puts a finger to his lips and winks at him. He smiled and puts his blade away.
“Thanks again, Kholtor,” Juriko said.
“Yeah, thanks!” Klein said.
“Anytime. You guys have fun out there.”
Juriko and Klein wave goodbye at Kholtor, which leads him to wave back. Juriko could now go night hunting, but he had a feeling it was already too late to go hunting at the moment and continued their walk down the road.
A few minutes later, Klein comes to a halt and opens his menu.
“Oh, crap!”
“What is it, Klein?”
“I have to babysit my little brother today in the real world.”
Juriko checks the time in the real world, and what he can tell it’s still daylight IRL.
“You’re lucky you have a brother.”
“Yeah, he’s a little troublemaker, but he’s still a good kid.”
Klein skips through the menu and finds the log out button.
“Well, I guess this is it for now.”
“Let me send you a friend request.”
Juriko sends Klein a friend request, and he accepts it.
“Thanks! I needed some friends who play this game. See ya!”
“See ya, Klein.”
Juriko walks away until Klein says something.
“You’re still here?”
“I clicked the log out button but it’s not working.”
“Let me try.”
Juriko scrolls through his menu to find the log out button. He finds it and clicks the button. He waits a few seconds, wondering how it would work. But nothing happened after about a minute. A click later and nothing.
“That’s weird,” Juriko said.
“Maybe it’s a glitch in the system?”
“Maybe…”
There was a sound of a clock tower that was in the town square. It rang throughout the city, letting people know it was midnight. Juriko looked around the streets and saw players going inside the inns.
“Do you want to grab a drink?” Klein asked.
“Do they serve minors?”
“It’s a video game, dude. I’m pretty sure the law won’t give a damn about it.”
“If you say so. Let’s go.”
Juriko and Klein made their way towards an inn that was down the street. They stood in front of the doors while Klein read the sign.
“The Ethereal Tavern. Sounds magical,” Klein said.
“Let’s hope it’s not full of people.”
They walk inside the Tavern. They packed the place with players drinking and partying. Klein walks up to the counter with Juriko following close behind him. He didn’t care for people. He was always a solo player in the games he played.
Klein leans on the counter. The bartender stares at him.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, you sure can. I would love to buy a drink for my friend and I.”
The bartender pours some ale in 2 tankards and hands it to Klein. He was about to take it before the bartender stopped him.
“Payment required.”
“Oh, right? How much?”
“10 gold.”
Klein swallows. He stares at the bartender with a confused expression.
“Why is it expensive?”
“Ale comes at a cost. You outer worldians wouldn’t understand.”
Juriko taps Klein on the shoulder.
“Just pay the man.”
“Alright, alright, fine.”
Klein gives him 20 of his gold and the bartender yanks it out of his hand.
“Get out of my face.”
Klein takes the ale and finds a spot in the back of the Tavern to sit at. Juriko sits across from him. Klein gives him the other tankard while he takes a sip and sighs pleasantly.
“I guess he woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Klein said.
“Don’t you think it’s weird?”
“What?”
“He called us outer worldians. I thought the NPCs acted like, well, NPCs.”
“It seemed a little off for him to say that.”
“That’s not the only thing. The log out button is not working and these players don’t seem to care.”
“They probably think it’s a glitch. Just like we did.”
“I guess…”
“Look, you’re thinking way too much about this. I’m sure they will fix it by morning.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I am right. I’m always right.”
Klein takes another sip while it lost Juriko in thought. Something didn’t seem right to him about this whole situation. Belle even showed emotions towards Klein, he thought. He took a sip of the ale and felt disgusted by the taste.
The hours went on as the night became late. Juriko and Klein got a key from the bartender and had a room to stay in. The room cost them 25 gold for one night. They stayed together in one room to keep the cost down. It was 10 more gold for a one-bedroom with two beds. They split the profit among themselves.
Klein slept on the left side of the room while Juriko slept on the right side. They didn’t have any pajamas and had to sleep in the clothes that were provided by the game. Klein fell asleep first while Juriko stayed up longer, coming up with theories. He finally fell asleep when his eyes drooped.
Juriko wakes up the next morning with the sun glaring through the window. He sits up on the bed and stretches his arms and looks over at Klein’s bed and saw he was not in it. He gets out of bed, puts his shoes on, and heads downstairs.
The bartender was the only one who was downstairs. He was behind the counter cleaning all of his tankards. Juriko walks up to him and sits down at the bar.
“What do you want, blue eyes?”
“I was wondering if you have seen my friend? He has red hair and orange eyes.”
“Last time I saw him, he went outside.”
A few seconds later, Klein comes rushing through the door. He looked to be in full panic mode and rushed to Juriko. He grabs him by the shoulders with his head looking down.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Klein raises his head. He had a frightened look on him.
“We can’t go home!”
“What are you talking about, Klein?”
“Look!”
Klein scrolls through his menu and finds a window that had a warning label. He drags it in front of him and shows Juriko the warning.
Juriko read the warning, and his eyes grew. The warning stated, “The log out button will not get fixed for the time being. There are complications with the system moderator. If you want to get back to your homeworld. You must defeat the boss that lives within the world of Viathan Hunter. There will be an announcer to discuss this shortly. Thank you and have a pleasant day!”
“What do they mean, we have to defeat the boss? They can’t do this,” Juriko said.
“I can’t go home… I can’t see my family… I can’t even enjoy pizza on Fridays!!!”
Klein fell to his knees and his body shook.
“Calm down, Klein. I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding. The warning said there will be an announcer. Maybe this person will explain more about this whole mess.”
Klein looks up at him.
“You think so?”
“I don’t think so. I know. We will be home soon and you will enjoy your pizza on Fridays.”
Klein sighs. He stands up and sits down at the bar.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to overreact. I was just scared, that’s all.”
“Don’t worry. I was a little scared too.”
Klein nods.
They stayed in the tavern for hours. Klein worried while Juriko was messing with his stats. The clock struck noon and there was a ring that went throughout the entire city. Within a few seconds, they teleported Juriko and Klein into the center of the town square. They teleported every single player into the center.
“What the hell? Where are we?” Klein said.
“Looks like we are in the center of town.”
“But why?”
Before Juriko could answer his question. A face appeared from the clouds and was hovering above all the players. A face that was hidden behind a cloak. He claps his hands.
“Bravo! It seems you all purchased the game.”
“Who is that?” Klein whispered to Juriko.
“I think it’s the announcer.”
“You are probably wondering why the log out button is not working. That is because I disabled it from the other side. I imprisoned you inside of Viathan Hunter until you beat the game. But, don’t worry. I have faith you will make it to the end and defeat the ultimate boss that lies somewhere beneath the earth.”
“Can you believe this bullshit, Klein?”
Klein doesn’t answer.
“Klein?”
Juriko takes a glance at him. It traumatized Klein with fear and regret. Juriko looked around the plaza and could see many people who looked traumatized.
“Klein, don’t listen to him. The button will work.”
“No… He’s right.”
Juriko looked behind him from where the voice came from.
“We are all going to die here. One by one.”
Juriko clenches his fist and looks at the figure in the sky.
“Fair warning. I would be cautious when fighting enemies. If you die in the game, you die in real life. The system will destroy your brain by exploding your head.”
Those words frightened Juriko. The thought of your head exploding in front of the ones you love was a traumatizing sight. He looks at Klein, who looked like a statue made of stone. He did not flinch or budge from his spot.
“Now, since you know all of this. You should also know I added additional monsters to the Viathan Hunter. Viathan is a big place, full of many monsters and freaks. The difficulty scale is now way up. I hope you all make it to the end to face the toughest, ultimate boss I have ever created. I bid you farewell.”
The figure goes back up inside the clouds as every single player stood still for a moment. Within seconds, people panicked. The fear has caught up to all of them that witness the warning from the mystery figure.
Juriko takes Klein’s hand and drags him along the back alleyway. He sits Klein down on a crate with fear taking over him. Juriko takes a bucket of water and splashes Klein in the face. It woke him up within a matter of seconds. Klein shakes his head.
“Hey, are you okay, Klein?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“We need to get moving.”
“Where are we going?”
“Anywhere but here. We need to level up fast and explore what Viathan offers. We defeat that ultimate boss so we can go home. Don’t you want to go home?”
Klein cries.
“I do but *sniffles* I don’t want to die.”
“You won’t die.”
“*sniffles* How do you know?”
Juriko smiles before giving him a thumbs up.
“Because I’m going to be the best hunter in the world of Viathan Hunter. I will defeat that ultimate boss, even if it kills me. You can count on that.”
Juriko extends his hand out towards Klein.
“Come on, Lord Klein. Let’s make you the best samurai in all of Viathan.”
Klein wipes away his tears.
“Hell, yeah!”
Klein takes his hand and Juriko lifts him from the ground.
“Let’s go exploring!” Klein said.
Klein runs. Juriko smiles and follows behind him. They ran straight out of the city and made their way east through the forest. There were a bunch of boars in front of them. Juriko and Klein both nod at each other. Klein used his deep-cut skill while Juriko used his Flurry Strike skill. They escaped the herd of boar and continued running down a path in the forest. A path that would lead them to companionship.