A skinny young man leaned his head against the window with a blank stare, looking at the highway that was once bustling with pedestrians passing by. But now, it was different. It felt like a nothingness and no sign of life at all. Just like a dead city.
"When will this thing be over?" He sighed.
"Hey Ethan, do you hear what I said?" The old man inside the laptop screen looked at him with a sharp gaze. “Ethan!”
"Uh, yes…yes Sir!" Ethan immediately released the pen in his hand with a trembling voice.
Seeing the expression on Ethan's face, his jaw hardened. "Focus and don't daydream in my class!"
Ethan simply nodded his head weakly, listening to this warning from his teacher. He had no idea how many times he had received such a reprimand, he had never counted them. But judging by the frown lines on his teacher's forehead that continued to appear, it was clear that one must have also been because of Ethan's doing.
As a consequence of his actions, the class had to stop for a moment and all the eyes of his classmates instantly made him the center of attention. The cold stares and headshakes from his friends made Ethan feel uncomfortable. He slowly lifted his collar, buried his red face up to the bridge of his nose, leaving only a pair of blue eyes, and chose to maintain his posture until the end of class.
"Oh my, finally! I'm going to be the bragging now." Ethan glanced at the cell phone beside him. "Mom never gave me any news back then. I only hope you're okay." He ruffled his hair, making him look like a madman. "This syndrome is driving me crazy!"
Since a mysterious pandemic called "Kleine-Levin Syndrome" spread across the globe over a year ago, the life order has changed in a single snap. Researchers have yet to find the source of the virus, but according to the results of the study, the syndrome is capable of affecting the human nervous system, which makes sufferers experience unexplained severe fatigue, coma, and worst of all, death.
To minimize the harmful effects, the government implemented a special rule that required everyone to stay at home as long as a cure have not be found by the authorities liked Alistair's company - a medical company that conducted research related to this virus which was where Ethan's mother worked.
"Argh, It's useless.It's useless. Waiting for Mom's call seems to be a waste of my time. I'd rather rest." Ethan pushed back his chair, walking back to his room.
However, his steps suddenly stopped when he saw a newspaper lying on the table. Ethan immediately furrowed his brow. Strange, as he remembered, he had never read the newspaper during the pandemic because he had no interest in reading anything that was printed there, but why was there a newspaper here all of a sudden?
He started moving closer to the table, trying to pick up the newspaper. His eyes were immediately caught by the newspaper headline, printed in bold with a fairly large font size that read "Game Fantasy Online System, saving the world." It sounded quite strange, considering that games could not possibly do such a thing, but the reality was different. The government itself also supports the development of this game as one of the anticipations to reduce human activities outdoors.
"Perhaps, I can try playing this game." Ethan looked around, making sure no one else had heard him. "Aunt Luna has not returned yet anyway, so here's my chance." He smiled widely, signaling a sign of satisfaction in his mind.
He walked into his room, slowly taking out a machine that looked like a helmet called a nerve gear, neatly stored in a drawer. It was still the same when his mother first gave it to him as a birthday present last year. Except this time there was a thick layer of dust stuck to the surface of the nerve gear.
By using the palm of his hand, slowly the layer of dust disappeared, At first glance, Ethan was silent for a moment. He did not expect at all that it turned out this object's grayish-white color had not faded at all and was still the same as before.
"Now, I just need to find the instruction manual. I remember it being inside this drawer, but where is it?"
Ethan's hands immediately searched for the whereabouts of the manual, until he finally managed to find it tucked away with a pile of other items in the cupboard. He immediately pulled out the manual and then began to read the instructions listed in the book carefully.
"Alright, it says here that I have to put this nerve gear on my head, then find the little button next to the nerve gear to activate this thing." Ethan nodded his head. "Hmm... sounds easy enough to me, well let's do it."
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
After making sure everything had been absorbed into his brain, he quickly put the nerve gear on his head and then began to turn on the nerve gear according to the instructions he had read. Within seconds, electricity was flowing all over Ethan's body and his vision went dark.
[Welcome to "FOS"]
[Synchronizing your brainwaves and biometrics with player data... please wait a moment!]
[Game successfully logged in, player account successful!]
"Wait, wait what's going on? Where is this?"
Not long after, the figure of a woman appeared before Ethan. Seeing the woman's face, he could only swallow his saliva. Her long yellow wavy hair, blue eyes, and white robe covered her beautiful body, making her look like a goddess in Ethan's eyes. The woman slowly moved her hand and instantly several options appeared in front of Ethan.
"New game"
"Continue the game"
"Exit"
Ethan was dumbfounded for a moment, looking at the three options that appeared before him. The manual stated that the auto-save system would activate immediately if the player had played the game at least once. However, in Ethan's case, it was different. He hadn't played this game at all, so "New game" was the right choice for him.
As soon as he pressed the button, Ethan's screen instantly changed, displaying a large map with several regions divided into sections. In each region, there was a crystal, but unfortunately, thick black smoke emerged from one of the regions, quickly spreading like a Kleine virus, dimming the crystals all over the place and darkness managed to dominate the entire region.
The screen instantly changed, showing several classes that could be used in this game: Magical Swordsman, Tank, White mage, Black mage, Monk, Assassin, Guardian, Dancer/Jester, and Mechanic along with explanations of each classes.
[Magic swordsman: Magic swordsman is a melee-type class and uses all types of swords to attack its enemies. This class relies on the STR status and deals quite strong damage to the opponent.]
[Special abilities: Dash (a skill that allows the user to move quickly without a cooldown); Warp (Skill to throw weapons and instantly teleport according to the direction of the weapon It can only be active when using other skills frequently, but can be used only for enemies inside the dungeon)]
[Tank: Tank is a defensive-type class and uses a large shield to protect himself and his teammates. This class relies on VIT status makes it have extraordinary endurance.]
[Special abilities: MediGuard (Guarding while gradually recovering HP.)]
[White mage: White mage is a support-type class and uses a magic staff that can use support skills to help teammates. This class relies on INT status and has great healing abilities.]
[Special abilities: Summon (able to summon special creatures called Guardian of Light (GF) to help in battle)]
[Black mage: Dark mage is a ranged type class and uses an ancient book/magic doll consisting of various kinds of horrible black magic and can kill opponents easily. This class relies on INT status.]
[Special abilities: Erythromancy (the ability to control an enemy's body using the blood from the enemy)]
[Monk: Monk is a melee-type class that uses energy from within itself and attacks enemies with heavy blows. This class relies on STR status and has a terrifying attack.]
[Special abilities: Martial art (ability to repeatedly attack opponents without cooldown)]
[Asssasin: Asssasin is a melee-type class that uses a small dagger to attack its enemies. This class relies on AGI status and it's capable of killing any monster quickly].
[Special abilities: Mimicry (the ability to blend in with the surrounding environment, allowing it to attack suddenly)]
[Ranger: The Ranger is a ranged-type class that uses guns or bows to attack its enemies. The class relies on AGI status and it's capable of killing enemies with a few shots.]
[Special abilities: Cold blood (fires several rounds of bullets quickly and enemies hit by its attacks are instantly put into freeze status for a few minutes.), the eye of an eagle (have a very sharp sense of sight that makes it easy for them to spot enemies.)]
[Dancer/Jester: Dancer/Jester is a support-type class and uses a scarf or a pile of cards to attack its enemies. This class relies on LUK status and it can increase the probability of winning among the team.]
[Special abilities: Gambling & stealing (an ability that can increase teammates' Luk status by stealing items from enemies)]
[Mechanic: Mechanic is a tank/support type class and uses strange robots to attack its enemies. This class relies on LUK and VIT and it also has strong endurance and attacking ability.]
[Special abilities: Go Mecha (ability to create small robots which have terrible attack power)]
"I like characters that use more magic energy, so I'll choose between Black Mage, White Mage, or Dancer. " Ethan stroked his chin, reading the passive skills of each class. "But, hey, I know what I'm going to choose now." Without a second thought, he chose the White mage class
A column of names instantly appeared not long after Ethan chose his class. He paused for a moment. At first, he was confused about determining his name in this game, but immediately he remembered the name "Asher". It was the name of a hero who came from one of Ethan's favorite movies since childhood.
"Alright, now for the character look." Ethan stroked his chin, looking at the array of hair colors in front of him. "I like the color black- simple and natural."
After all the standard procedures in this game had been carried out, Asher's entire body instantly turned into tiny pixels and instantly arrived among the wild grass around him. He slowly turned his gaze but he didn't see anything at all.
"Weird, where is it?"
Suddenly a message notification instantly appeared on Asher's screen, making him pause. He immediately opened the message, revealing the sender's name. Athena08. Seeing the text, Asher immediately furrowed his brow. Strange, he didn't recognize that strange name at all, but why was this message addressed to him?
"I'd better check this message." Ethan pressed the message button and instantly the contents of the message appeared before him "Huh? Wait. Is this real?" He rubbed his eyes repeatedly "This is location vaccine formula for the Kliene virus, but why is this possible?"