Chapter 1: Vasilias Sylva Kingston

“Why, Vas?” The king asked hanging on the wall with a silver blade piercing his chest. A drop of blood slowly found its way down his chin from the side of his mouth.

“You know why. You killed her, and I will never forgive that.”

"Killed? No, I made her stronger! She's very much alive! You should be thanking me!" The king coughed up a large amount of blood. He was approaching death's door step.

"No, you changed her. She's no longer the woman I knew. You've only taught her to hate the world, and now I have to stop her!" Vas spat at the king.

"Ha... haha... like y-you can stop her now." The king feebly responded, now on death's doorstep.  

Loud bangs reverberated around the throne room as the King’s guards desperately and futilely attempted to break down the thick wooden throne room doors. The bangs symbolized the king's ending life.

"I will stop and bring her back, and you'll burn in hell for all the people that have died because of you."

The king was about to respond when the throne room door broke up and creaked horrendously. However, the soldiers didn't enter the room for what they saw before them could only be called death incarnate.

The king's eyes grew wide as he knew what fate awaited him. Finally the last dagger made purchase directly between the king's eyes.

Vas looked up at the king whom he had pierced with a blade, pinning him to the stone back wall. Obsidian daggers were stuck in his head, wrists, and ankles in a crucifix like manner. Vas wasn’t trying to make a holy symbol though. No, he was declaring war on those that corrupted his woman. This was his first step. This man and many more would pay for hurting the ones that he loved most.

***

“Vas.” No response.

“Vas!” Still no response from the boy.

“Vasilias!” The teacher smacked Vas’s head with a paper fan like you’d see in an anime.

“Hmmuuuh? Whaaat?” Vas raised his head from the desk, his silver hair messily falling down his forehead slightly covering both eyes.

“Hey, teach. What’s up?” Vas groggily responded.

“Don’t ask me what’s up and don’t call me teach. It’s Mr. Muschi!” The teacher angrily responded as he walked back to the front of the room.

Vas quietly laughed to himself every time he heard Mr. Muschi’s name. Vas was half German and half British, but he lived in Japan. His parents moved to Japan for business reasons. In German, Muschi means… well if you’re interested, you can look it up. Vas used to try and call him by his name, but every time he did, he started cracking up. Because of this, he avoided calling the teacher by his last name and stuck with Teach. Subsequently, this led him to being looked at as a delinquent by his peers and teachers. It didn’t help either that he slept in almost every class and the fact that he had an almost luminescent silver hair.

Vas looked up through his hair and saw Jess looking back at him with concern on her face. Jess has dark brown hair in a pixie cut with her bangs covering one side of her face. She was the class representative and also happened to be the best looking girl in the class according to a recent pole held by the guys in secret. She also was his neighbor since he moved to Japan two years ago.

Vas meekly smiled back to her assuring her he was okay, but then noticed Kousuke shooting daggers at him. Of course, just like in every anime and every other story out there, Kousuke liked Jess and in turn disliked Vas for getting attention from her.  Kousuke happened to be his other neighbor. He was a big guy and was pretty popular with the ladies. He had dark grey eyes, a strong angled jaw, and black messy hair in a wild hairstyle.

Vas sighed to himself while settling into a more comfortable position.

He didn’t like confrontation, thus he avoided talking to most people in the classroom because all of them thought of him as a delinquent; all but Jess… kind of. Jess still thought he was a person with delinquent tendencies, but she was determined to turn him into a model citizen. She also understood what it was like being a foreigner in Japan as she was half Japanese and half Caucasian American.

Just leave me be, Jess. I know you mean well, but seriously… you’re making it worse. Vas was thinking about how much easier his life would be when his body started telling him he was thirsty.

Vas raised his hand and said, “Hey teach! I’m going to grab some water.”

Mr. Muschi just nodded his head in affirmation and continued lecturing about the different types of chemical bonds.

Jess gave him a scolding look. Vas just shrugged his shoulders and left.

Vas continued the rest of the day half paying attention to lessons and half sleeping. As a sophomore in high school, you’d expect him to put a little more value in paying attention, but for one, he only needed to pay a little attention to understand the material. This was mainly due to his ability to learn things after going over them once. The second reason being that he was rich and didn’t really need a good education as he was going to take over his dad’s business as the next president.

His dad owned a hazardous chemical company that he had started over 30 years ago when he was still in college. Though he was now spending most of his time managing the company, he still researched and experimented on his own time.

Ding, Ding, Ding.

The bell indicated class was over roused Vas from his thoughts as people began shuffling to pack their stuff away for the weekend. It was in the middle of testing season, so no one had club activities going on right now. Instead everyone spent their Friday’s relaxing with one another and their weekends studying for college entrance exams.

Vas picked up his bag and was walking out of the classroom when he heard Jess calling him.

Vas turned around and smiled. Though he was sometimes pessimistic and thought Jess made things worse, in reality, she was the only reason he came to school. She’s the only one he could consider a friend. The question as to whether he thought of her as more than a friend was… well a bit more complicated. She was cute and nice, but despite Vas’s looks, he had never had a girlfriend before because he was always moving around. In fact, his stint in Japan for the last 2 years was the longest he’d ever stayed in one place before.  Besides, just seeing her as a friend brought enough complications with it without adding the possibility of more. The main complication was Kousuke and his buddies, Youhei and Yousuke (twin brothers).

“Hey, Jess. What’s up?” Vas said smiling, trying to ignore the presence of the other 3 guys. He could tell this irked them and that made him smile inwardly.

“Do you wanna go hang out with us? We’re going to try out a new dance game at my house! Mai is also coming.”

Mai? Oh yeah… the girl that’s always sitting in the corner not talking to anyone. I didn’t know her and Jess were friends.  Jess must have a mysterious person fetish… hehe. Vas thought to himself laughing at his own poor taste of a joke.

Mai was a full Japanese person with sleek black hair that she normally kept in a bun. She seemed pretty quiet normally and anti-social so it was a little weird hearing she was going to hang-out with Jess even if you consider Jess’s outgoing and sociable personality.

“I think I’m going to have to pass today. Sorry Jess.” Vas really didn’t want to hang out with Kousuke and his goons, and he didn’t really know Mai all that well; though he did feel a bit of comradery with her because of their similarities in only having Mai as a friend and both being anti-social.

“Don’t say that, Vas. You should come instead of staying holed up and playing video games by yourself all day,” Jess insisted.

“Really though. My parents are coming in tomorrow, so I need to clean up that house and that’s going to take forever.”

Jess looked like she wasn’t about to back down when Kousuke interrupted. “You heard him Jess. He’s obviously busy. Let’s hang out with just us.” He smiled the winning smile that had made countless girls fall before him clutching their chests (Literally, just happened this morning).

Jess appeared as if she was deliberating, but with some reluctance she shook her head and smiled at Vas. “Okay, Vas. Have a good weekend then! You should come by if you change your mind!”

Vas smiled at her and walked away letting out a sigh of relief. I suck at dancing. Dodged a bullet there. Thanks Kousuke. First and probably only time I’ll ever admit you helped me. Though I’m guessing you have different intentions. Smirking to himself, he walked down the hall to the front doors and made his way home.

Vas made his way through the narrow streets of suburban Japan and came upon his house. He had told his private driver to take the week off. His parents wanted him to be driven to and from school, and he acquiesced after their insistence. However, they were both overseas in America so he chose to walk like a normal student instead of gathering unwanted attention.

He arrived at his front gates after a pleasant 20 minute walk. He could feel the air getting colder. After inputting his 7 digit combo into the pad on the stone pillar, the dark iron gates swung open welcoming him in. Did I mention he was rich? What stood before him was a house rivaling the size of his private school which hosted close to 1000 students daily.  It could be compared to the most luxurious, spacious houses in the world. His neighbors, Mai and Kousuke, had nice houses as well, but not nearly the size of his. Just his front lawn was about 3 acres in size. And for those of you that don’t know, that’s crazy big considering land prices Tokyo, Japan.

Vas made his way to his house following along the long drive. A line of cherry blossom trees led the way.

He breathed in the fresh air and smiled. It was his favorite time of the year. He had always loved snow and cold temperatures in general. He was looking forward to seeing at least a little this year though Tokyo doesn’t get much normally.

“Tadaima…” Vas mumbled as he entered his house. Of course no one would hear him say the traditional ‘I’m home’ as his parents were in America, and he was an only child now for the last 4 years. Thus you can imagine his surprise when he heard a crashing sound coming from upstairs in response. The Kingston family has a state of the art security system on top of the already safe neighborhood they lived in whilst also living in a safe country in general.  All these things meant that it’d be unbelievably weird to come across a robber in his house.

’Robber? No… I shouldn’t be. Did I leave my window open? I don’t think that’s it either. It would be cold in here otherwise. I know it’s not Mom and Dad because I just called spoke with them this morning. What’

Vas’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shattering glass upstairs. Most people would leave and call the cops, but Vas was drawn to the noise. Perhaps it was because it was the source of the first sense of excitement he’s felt in a couple years or perhaps he just didn’t have the basic instincts any normal human should have but he walked up the stairs following the sounds. As he walked down the hallway, he approached his bedroom. It took a good minute of walking despite his brisk pace (Big House).

Vas placed his hand on the brass doorknob leading into his room. He hesitated for the first time after hearing a hissing sound on the other side of the door. A bead of sweat found its way down his cheek.

Steeling himself, he pushed down on the doorknob and opened the door slightly. He peaked into his room and saw a snake the size of which could only be compared to those of those you find in the Amazon.

What Vas saw was a snake that reached 20 feet in length and was about the size of his thigh in width. It was pure black with a dark red line running along the length of its body starting from the top of the head just in front of the snake’s snout and ending at the tip. The blood red line was pulsing faintly. It looked like the snake had fallen asleep on Vas’s bed. It was coiled up appreciating the bed’s warmth.

Vas stood at the door dumbfounded for a good minute before trying to piece together what was going on. Having a superb memory, he knew most types of animals as he was interested in working in a zoo one day, but this one wasn’t present in his memory.

’How did a snake get in my room? No more importantly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of a snake like that before. What species is that? Anaconda? No… what’s going on? What should I do?’

While he was pondering over the surprising turn of events, he failed to notice that the gigantic snake had lifted its massive head and was now looking at Vas who had opened the door a bit more unconsciously to get a better look at the thing. . He often had this bad tick where he would go off into his own world when trying to solve difficult problems or when something interested him. This was one of those times and also one of the worst times for that tick to show up.

Rousing him from his thoughts, the snake hissed and made a blood curdling high pitched vibrating sound which seemed to be emitting from its whole body. It started slithering towards him at an incredible pace and despite the door only being slightly open, Vas had almost no time to react to close the door. Luckily for him, he closed it enough that the snake slid into it closing it in the process with a thunderous sound that would have taken normal doors off their hinges.

’Holy shit. Holy shit! I have to get out of here! I have to’

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Vas again heard crashing sounds in his room as the otherworldly sized snake started breaking things in its frenzy. Vas is normally pretty calm in most situations, but there is one situation that will cause him to lose his normally calm state of mind and that has to do with his dead younger sister. She had passed away 4 years ago and the only memento Vas had of her was a glass globe piece that had a picture of him and his sister laser etched into its center.

Vas quickly recalled his memories to determine if it was still intact before he closed the door. It was still in one piece and sitting on his desk in the corner, but judging from the sounds coming from the room, it might not still be that way in a few minutes. Coming up with a plan within seconds, Vas ran down the stairs into his father’s lab. There he grabbed 2 containers filled with liquid nitrogen and also grabbed a cryo-suit. Then he ran to the main lounge and grabbed the decorative, but very sharp spear hung on the wall. Running a few rooms down, he picked up a couple straps used for tying down items on trailers and a few old futons from the garage. With all this in hand, he made his way upstairs back to his room.

While catching his breath, Vas put on the cryo-suit. Then he wrapped 3 futons around his body after cutting holes in them for his arms and making slits down the side so he could move a bit easier. He tied them on using the straps. Finally, he tied one liquid nitrogen container to a strap, threw the strap over one of the overhead lights, and pulled it up so that it was above the ground a few feet. He held onto the strap, careful not to let it go. The other container was sitting a few feet away along with the spear.

’Now or nothing’ Vas thought to himself.

Vas took a few breathes readying himself. Checking the straps around his body one more time, Vas opened the door.

The massive snake that had just begun to calm down, eyed Vas hungrily. Without waiting for the snake to move, Vas moved away from the doorway over which the liquid nitrogen hung precariously.

The snake, moving at blinding speeds, was about to pass through the door before Vas reacted. He let go of the strap he was holding and in turn the liquid nitrogen poured over the snake. The snake froze solid a couple feet from its head within a few seconds. The snake lay there looking at Vas until Vas noticed the pulsing streak of red on its back began to pulse rapidly.  Without so much as a hint as to its intention, it shot extremely corrosive blood-colored acid at Vas.

The futons he was wearing were melting as the highly corrosive acid found its way onto the straps making the futons fall onto the marble floor. It wasn’t the acid that surprised Vas the most however. Though that did surprise Vas, and he was thanking the heavens he had put some much protective ware on though he had originally put it on in case the snake reached him and he needed to cover himself in liquid nitrogen. No, what surprised him the most was moments after the snake shot the highly corrosive acid at him it broke away from the rest of its body. It was now only 4 feet long, but it was still just as terrifying, and it looked like it was regenerating its body.

Without a second to lose, Vas dove for the spear purely on instinct and reflex as the snake lunged forward with its mouth agape. It could probably fit Vas’s whole body if its body wasn’t only 4 feet in length now. In that moment, Vas pulled the spear around as the snake bit onto the handle. Vas was pinned to the ground by a snake that had now regenerated to 6 feet in length.

’What the fuck kind of snake is this thing!

Vas isn’t one to panic, but he was beginning to panic. He had his left arm stuck grasping the hilt of the spear inside the snake’s enormous jaw while he blindly reached around hoping to find something to help him in the situation but couldn’t seem to find anything. Acid began seeping out of a hole in the snake’s tongue melting Vas’s left arm’s protection, but surprisingly it didn’t hurt his arm. The snake, still biting on the spear, now also started wrapping its body around Vas’s left arm. Vas was now in complete panic mode.

As he continued to search for something, images started floating into his brain of his parents, friends, and sister. The image of his sister entering his mind helped him regain his senses temporarily as his right hand made contact with the 2nd container of liquid nitrogen. In blind desperation, he threw the liquid nitrogen at the head of the snake. The liquid entered the massive snake’s mouth and drenched its body. In the process, Vas’s left arm which had lost its protection also got covered in liquid nitrogen. Before Vas passed out from the pain, the snake in one last desperate move or perhaps just a natural reflex, flexed all its muscles shattering Vas’s arm leaving only a stump. All that remained was for Vas was blackness as his world and everyone’s world changed for the worst.

Vas woke up to extreme pain in his left arm or at least what should have been his left arm. His left arm was gone from the tips of his fingers up to his shoulder. Attempting to ignore the pain, he focused in on his surroundings as everything came washing back over him. He lay there as his vision slowly came into focus. Placing his right hand on the ground he sat himself up and looked to his left where the body of a snake lay frozen having not broken yet. He sat there staring at it as tears began falling down the side of his face without him realizing it. He began to laugh, cry, and scream. In his fit he slammed his hand down on the frozen snake and watched as it broke into thousands of pieces.  He began to cry more profusely at the implications of losing his arm and potentially the last memento he had of his dear sister.

1 full hour passed as his emotions kept flipping from happiness at having survived his encounter with the monstrous snake, to sadness from losing his arm and potentially the momento, to anger at the world for dealing him such an unfair fate.

Wiping away the tears with resolve to go see the damage in his room and to seek out the memento, he noticed a blinking blue box in the corner of his vision. As he reached out to it, he realized that he couldn’t touch it.

Is it in my eye? He rubbed his eyes again with his one hand.

“God Dammit! What the fuck is this!? What the fuck was that snake!? Why the fuck is this happening!?”

After stomping on the broken pieces of snake in fury, Vas regained some of his composure again.

He again tried touching it by reaching out his hand in grabbing at it. This time he noticed that they moved a little when he moved his hand. He moved his hand in front of him with the box and released his fist. The blue boxes opened into his field of vision revealing the information they had stored.

Vas looked at the information it had stored with wide eyes thinking about the implications.

’What is this? An information screen about damage? Health? This is kind of like that game Medieval Conqueror. Could it be? No… it couldn’t. But what is it then? Maybe I’m actually dead. That seems like the more logical answer… dammit, I’ll worry about it later.

Noticing that it looked like there were multiple tabs just behind the one open, Vas swiped at the air getting rid of the damage notifications he received while fighting the snake and looked at the bigger information screens.

Title GainedFor being the first Terran in the world to kill a monster of the world Lorain, you have been granted the skill “Wanderlust” based on actions taken in fight. Bonus effect will be given for killing a high leveled monster compared to you.Effect – Lorainians feel more comfortable around you as they feel you are familiar and trustworthy. They automatically assume you’re Lorainian as well. +100 FameRestrictions – Carelessness may reveal to Lorainians near you that you’re a Terran.

Bonus Effect – Skill Gained -PassiveFor killing a monster over 10 times higher level than you and for being the first Terran in the world to kill a monster of the world Lorain, you have been granted an additional skill “Basilisk’s Resistance”.Effect – Cannot be poisonedRestrictions - None

’Okay, so maybe it’d be best to just assume we’re in a game like world. Now that I’ve made that my base I need to dissect what I know so far. Let’s see. Wanderlust… it’s kind of a vague skill. Also who are these Lorainians? I don’t understand. Does this have to do with the Basilisk coming from the world of Lorain? Does that mean that Lorainians are the other world’s people?  I need answers, but I don’t know where to start… I guess it’d be nice to better understand this Wanderlust title. Can I check it in detail? Wanderlust description.’

A blue window popped into Vas’s vision.

Vas immersed himself in reading the Wanderlust skill description. He skimmed through the unimportant things he had already read and found what he wanted.

… Lorainians are unable to tell you’re a Terran unless revealed on purpose or with carelessness. When showing Lorainians your status, you have the option of it saying you’re Lorainian. A Lorainian may find out your real identity through a variety of methods.  The only way you will ever be revealed is if you make a mistake and reveal it, if someone you told reveals it or if you purposely reveal your identity to a Lorainian. Chose who you tell with care.

“Huh… that’s interesting. That confirms my suspicion though. I’m guessing that with how everything is going, I’m going to run into Lorainians eventually and this skill might be handy if they’re prejudicial. I need to know what fame does too. Fame!”

He waited but it didn't work.

"Fame!" He tried again and waited a few moments but still nothing showed up.

“It looks like not everything has an information window it seems. Well the description of Wanderlust said something about status and if I got damage notifications then I should be able to see my current health or something, right? Status?”

Vas waited a second but nothing happened.

“Status!”

This time a blue box with his current status came up.

“Okay, so I guess it works when I say it with conviction? Interesting…”

Vas looked at the status window before him with interest.

[tr]

StatusNameVasilias Sylva KingstonRaceTerranClassNoneTitleWanderlustRoyaltyNoneFame100Infamy0Level3Distributable Points10HP57/120Health Regen0.006 HP/SecMana100/100Mana Regen0.005 Mana/SecStamina71/130Stamina Regen0.0075 Stam/SecStrength11Agility11Vitality12Endurance13Intelligence11Wisdom10Luck12Aura17

“Okay, so it looks like I should seriously just consider this a game for now. I don’t know what happens when I die so I need to be careful. It takes about five and half hours to regen any of my stats back to 100% so I should go ahead and wait until my health’s back to normal. This is kind of awesome though. I’ve always wanted something like this so I can actually see myself grow stronger.  Definitely makes things interesting. I’d like to test these points, but that’ll have to wait. Also if this is like a game, I might be able to get my arm back! Maybe it’ll regrow once my HP reaches full again?”

Vas went through each part of the status and read all the information on them studying each one. He came to a few conclusions that seemed to be fairly accurate, but others he had no idea what they did like Aura and Luck. It looked like magic might be possible if he had mana but that was again something he’d have to try at another time because something appeared in the upper right corner of his vision again.

[table]World’s will fully converge in 1 hour. Please prepare for world cleaning and time-shift.Vas stared at the box for a few minutes as he watched the timer tick down slowly. Then he heard something that made him jump.

“Fucking cellphone… wait! What am I doing!?? I need to call Mom and Dad and the cops!! Dammit Vas.” He scolded himself. He picked up his cellphone and saw that Jess (his only friend in class) was calling.

“Vas? Can I come over?”