This is the last member of our cast for now. Later on we'll finish it off with two more members each in their own territory. He is a gamer but the other two might nor be, you never know. This chapter is a little shorter than what I expected it to be, but it's still interesting. I also released this chapter earlier, so enjoy!
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Chapter Five: The Gamer
A man in his mid-twenties was seated in front of a computer. His hair was flat and black, and he had pale skin. He was super slim - you could barely seen any form of muscle on him. He was wearing a black shirt along with some black shorts.
On the computer screen was a website. It was titled Azure. The man scrolled down the website quickly as he searched for the forums. He randomly clicked one and read some of the comments.
Coalman: The game is amazing. Everything feels so real.
NeetLife: Yeah, if you haven’t played this game yet you are losing out.
Sweetea: I have to say of all the vrmmorpg’s i’ve played this one is the most fun.
AngelxAngle: Yeah, in our village the NPC’s react just like real people. It gives it more of a realisct feel.
StrawBKiller: Sup noobs!
Coalman: GTFO!
StrawBKiller: Don’t be like that, you already know if I caught you in my kingdom you’ll be the first person i’ll kill
NeetLife, AngelxAngle, Coalman have left the chat.
StrawBKiller: Fuck you all too then!
StrawBKiller has left the chat.
‘A new game huh? I guess i’ll play this one, DVMO was getting boring anyways.’ The man thought to himself as he reached his hand over grabbing a cup filled with water. He looked out the window while he sipped the water. ‘It’s still early, I guess I can go get it.’
The man got up from his chair as he grabbed his black wallet from the desk and put it in his pocket. He looked around the room really quick. There was single bed - twin sized - a microwave, stove, and refrigerator in the kitchen. Lasty there was a capsule like machine in the corner of the room. The man walked out of the door.
He put his key in the keyhole and turned it until he heard a click. Taking his key out he turned around only to see his neighbor walking in her room. She was around the same age as him, but she was hard working. All he knew was that she attended some top university in the area, other than that she was mysterious to him.
She was wearing some shorts that clung tightly to her body - that showed off her bottom. She was wearing a loose fitting pink shirt, however her breast were still shown. Her hair was long and black, and on her hands were a few bracelets.
He had to say, no matter how many times he seen her, she always looked good. She closed the door behind her but her eyes looked at him. They were black but they gave this feeling as if you were being drawn in. After giving him a quick glance she closed the door.
The man sighed as he began to walk down the stairs. He stayed in an apartment complex that his parents helped him pay for. He was young enough to attend university but he chose to play games all day. This was how he made his living, he found gear and sold them to other players for real money. Finding legendary quest or certain bosses, was easy to him. Everything he thought that he could sell, he sold.
Making his way downstairs in the lobby, the clerk gave him a cheerful look. The clerk just so happened to be a female who was also in her mid-twenties. The man gave her a head nod with a slight smile as he first made his way to his mailbox. Putting his key in the keyhole and turning it, he opened the mailbox. Inside was three letters.
The first one was titled; “How are you honey?” The man opened it to give it a quick read before he put it in his back pocket. He glanced over the second letter which was title; “PlayNPay” He put it in the garbage can next to the mailbox. It was nothing but those gaming companies that wanted him to record his gameplay while he gets paid for them. He once thought about doing it, but if he did he would be bashed with fan mail. Thus he decided not to, even if it would help pay the rent. The last letter was titled; “Revival”
It happened to be from one of his gaming friends. He opened the letter and started to read it.
‘Hey Adam how’s it hanging? Well considering it’s you, you have to be doing well. You are probably still living in that cheap apartment complex too huh? Anyways, some of the old gang wants to get together for one last ride. DVMO was cool and all, but we’ve decided to play Azure. The company said that it has a 98% realism rate so we want to try it out for ourselves, when you get this message me. Hopefully your cheap ass will pick up the game too so we can revive the guild.”
Adam laughed, he was just thinking of going to pick the game up and he just so happened to get this mail. In DVMO he is known as one of the war gods, and his guild is one of the top. However after playing the game for awhile you get ‘those’ type of players who only join the guild for its prestige. All of the core members left a long time ago since their jobs started picking up leaving Adam to manage things alone. Now that Azure is out he can start anew with his old gang and test their skills against the other players.
Adam took out his phone - Which was a touchscreen but the skin on it was black. He went through his list of contacts while he started walking out of the lobby. His fingers stopped moving when it landed on Eric. He pressed his name and the phone started dialing Eric’s number.
Ring. Ring.
“Hello…?”
“Hey man.”
“Adam! It’s been what a year?”
“Yeah around that.”
“Guessing you’ve gotten my message then?”
“Yeah. I found it funny that as soon as I was going to pick it up your letter also arrived. You wouldn’t be stalking me… would you?”
“Ha-ha-ha, I guess it’s just fate man.”
“Yeah maybe. Why the letter anyways? You could have just messaged me.”
“Oh… well I don’t know. I thought it would be better that's all.” Eric started laughing over the phone.
“Right, i’m guessing everyone started playing then?” Adam asked.
“No, not yet. Most are picking it up today or tomorrow.” Eric replied.
“I see. So what faction should we join?” Adam asked.
“Well, there are three factions that have humans only. One with vampire another with elves. And the last one is female only. So out of the options, we can cross out the last one because most of us are not female. We’ve been humans for so long so we are not being that again. That only leaves us with elves and vampires.” Eric explained.
“Right, well if we were elves it would really help me out. You know I like being a mage so being an elf would really help from their racial trait.” Adam said.
“....”
“Besides, out of all our group more than half play a magic class. So it’s safe to say we should all be elves.”
“.......”
“I don’t like what i’m not hearing Eric. Don’t tell me you’ve already picked the other race.”
“R-right. The game was just too interesting so I got it before it’s release. The vampire race also seemed so mysterious and interesting I just had to pick it!”
“Ok, what’s there racial traits?” Adam asked.
“Hehehe, you’ll see once you become one. It’s better than the elven trait.”
“...”
“Oh, the wife’s back. I’ll caught you later.”
The call ended and Adam put the phone back in his pocket. ‘A Vampire huh?’ He thought to himself. Adam continued to walk for another twenty minutes until he reached a game shop. You would expect there to be a line because of Azure, but there wasn’t. It was mostly do to the game being released before it went online, so most people grabbed it then. Adam walked into the shop while he looked around, it was filled with posters promoting Azure.
He walked up to the desk and rang the bell. Ding!
“Coming!” A sweet voice called out as a teenaged girl came from a room. She had in her hand two boxes filled with games. She walked to the counter and placed them on it while dusting herself off.
She looked too young to work in a place like this, but Adam didn’t mind. To work in this store you have to be over age eighteen so she must have qualified. She looked at him with a smile on her face. “What can I do for you?”
“Yes, can I get a copy of Azure?” Adam asked.
“Ok. Which version would you like? Legendary or normal?” She asked.
“Huh? What’s the difference?” Adam said confused. During DVMO’s release there was only one version. He has never known a vrmmorpg to have two versions of the same game.
“The normal version is what almost everyone has paid for. You start out in one of the selected zones. It’s pretty normal and it’s the cheaper version. The legendary version you start out in one of the selected zones but you have a chance to win something special. Also during character creation you have the option to customize your avatar more compared to the normal version. Due to it not being much of a difference and you only have a chance to win, no one really picked this version. It’s also of much higher value.”
Adam nodded his head, he wouldn’t want to spend extra money on another version of the same game with only extra cosmetic’s and a chance to win something. That something could have been a title that did nothing for all he knew. Without even wasting a second thought Adam said, “Give me the normal version.”
“Ok! Give me one minute.” The woman said as she went into the back room.
It took her two minutes to come back, but in her hand was a cube that was blue and black. On it, it said Azure L. “I’m sorry, this is the only one we have left in stock. Do you still want it?”
Adam felt like smacking himself on the head. Of course if everyone brought the normal version it would easily be sold out leaving the legendary version left. He cursed in his heart, because he should have arrived sooner.
“How much is it?” Adam asked.
“Four hundred.” The clerk replied, but shortly after hung her head. It is no surprise, four hundred dollars for a game. You would have to be a huge fan if you were willing to pay that much. Normal vrmmorpgs only cost around one hundred and fifty dollars, but this one was more than that.
“I guess you don’t want it?” She asked him.
Adam took out his wallet and out came a black credit card. “Yeah, i’ll take it. Not like there are any other gaming stores around here.”
“Ok!” She replied as she rung up the game for Adam. She took his black credit card and swiped it. Adam signed his name and showed his ID before receiving the game. He walked out of the store and began to walk back home. ‘Damn, this game better be good.’
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Arriving back at his apartment Adam took a quick shower before trying to test the game out. It was around ten minutes or so before he came out with nothing but a towel on. He grabbed some underwear, shorts and a shirt. He hurriedly dressed himself before he went over to the cube. He unboxed it, and inside there was a smaller cube like object. It was golden in color showing just how legendary it really was. Inside was a manual on how to install it in the game capsule, but Adam already knew how to do that.
Adam walked over to his gaming capsule and pressed a white button on the side. Steam came out as a orange cube popped out from the front of the capsule. Adam replaced the orange cube with the new golden cube. He put the orange cube in the blue and black box, and put it in a corner.
Adam now finished with everything hopped into the capsule. The capsule closed and everything became pitch black. Inside the capsule Adam put a headband like object over his head while he also turned on the air vents. He closed his eyes as he drifted away.
Loading….
The game was loading and in the background there was a ton of fighting going on. Adam noticed the legendary figures from stories he's heard. ‘All in one game! Nice.’ King Arthur was wielding his sword Excalibur and dueling the legendary pirate Drake. They were both clashing swords but then Vlad Tepes came from the sky and shot a beam of red from his fingers at them. They both dodged it while Drake took out his sidearm and shot it at Vlad Tepes. The bullet went straight through him. Vlad’s body that was shot through disappeared, but the elven king Amos lleia appeared with his silver staff. He swung it until it hit the ground creating a bright light that blinded King Arthur and Drake. Vlad Tepes reappeared in the sky and covered his eyes. Shortly after the surroundings turned pure dark as a purple robed woman descended from the sky. She had black wings, but had the appearance of a noble.
‘A fallen angel?’ Adam thought while he continued to watch the scene.
All of the males turned their attention towards her, while their faces turned grim. They each used their strongest attack and once the attacks collided the screen turned white.
Welcome to Azure Online.
We’ve detected a new user, going to creation screen.
Adam was now born, he looked exactly the same as he did in real life. A male npc walked over towards him dressed like a butler. “Greetings, I am your personal guide.”
“Really? Never had one of those before in the other games.” Adam said.
“Correct, you only get this with the legendary version of the game. My name is Chen, and I’ll be your personal companion. However you can only find me once you reach the first town.”
“Right… so does it randomly give my companion a gender?” Adam asked.
“Indeed. Our genders are chosen randomly.”
“Alright.”
Chen had white hair along with a white beard. His clothing is just what you would expect from a butler. “First thing first, choose your character name.”
“Xzavon?” Adam asked checking to see if it was taken.
Chen replied, “I’m sorry, that name has been taken.”
‘Fuck, I should have known someone would copy my name.’ Adam thought to himself while thinking about the next name. “How about Four?”
Chen nodded, “That name is available. Is this the name you want?”
Adam nodded. The next moment Chen produced a white card - that looked exactly like an ID. It disappeared the next moment though.
“I would ask you to change your appearance however you need to choose a race first. Would you like me to explain the territories belonging to each race?” Chen asked.
“Nope. I want to be a vampire.”
Chen nodded while showing his teeth. Two fangs could be seen. “Good choice.”
The next moment Adam looked over his body, it was paler than before. He squeezed his hand a few times and he felt he had more strength than before.
“Now would you like to change your appearance?” Chen asked.
“Let’s see… I want dark purple eyes along with light purple hair. Add a little muscle mass to my body and that would be all.” Adam replied.
His hair changed from black to light purple while his eyes went from green to dark purple. The muscles on his body grew a little bigger. Adam glanced over himself while shaking his head.
“My hair should be a little spikier, and make my bangs come off to the side.”
“As you wish.” Chen replied.
Adam glanced himself over and nodded his head, this was perfect. “Ok, i’m ready.”
“Since you are a vampire you will go to the Kingdom of BlackMoon. Before that you must choose a class.”
“Oh… right. Mage.”
Chen produced a staff that was pure black and passed it to Adam. “I’ll see you once you’re level ten.”
Welcome to the Kingdom of BlackMoon.
Choosing starting village.
You have been placed in BlueBlood village number sixteen.
Adam who is now Four appeared in the middle of a village that looked deserted. He looked around and found nothing.
‘Inventory’ Four said inside his head.
His inventory appeared and inside he found a box with a bunch of ? marks on it along with a black staff. Adam took out the box and opened it.
Rolling for rewards…
Congratulations! You’ve won the special quest Magic Knight of the Dark Night.
Magic Knight of the Dark Night You are special and your blood is pure. Those who have the same blood as you invite you to join their cause. The Dark Nights are a vampire league who are few, but their strength causes others to fear them. This is a special quest in order to become a secret class relating to Mages. Once you reach level ten you will be able to complete this quest by talking to Reven.
‘Is this what was special? Doesn’t seem much of a reward, but let’s roll with it.’ Four has always played the mage type class so finding a secret class related to mages should excite him, but it didn’t. He was hoping for a legendary weapon that would help him one shot mobs until he reached higher level.
‘Let us check out these stats. Eric made it seem like they were so special.’
‘Status’ Four said to himself.
A blue window appeared in front of him.
Status Window Name:FourAge24 Race:VampireGender:Male Class:MageLevel:1 Honor/Infamy:-Nobility:None Title: - HP:100Mana:200Stamina:100 Strength:10Vitality:10 Dexterity:10Agility:10 Intelligence:10Wisdom:10 Luck:5Charisma:5 Attack:10-20Defense:10
Race Trait: Vampire- Because you belong to the noble race of Vampires you have strong urges. You strength, speed, and intelligent are above normal. Due to you being a creature that lurks at night you have a -10% stat decrease during the day.
As a Vampire you obtain the passive skill Vampire Urges.
Vampire Urges (Passive) Vampire Urges - You can't control it, it naturally happens. You have a need to suck the blood of your victims. You have an 8% chance to absorb 10% of your opponents hp.
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I'm going to add the status screen later. Actually had to run somewhere before I finished it, but wanted to give you guys this chapter before I left. Adam/Four will have another chapter to himself before we return to Zu. Since this is a battle over factions, I wonder who will end up the ruler. The title says Zu being the virtual god, but....