Return to Level 0

Chapter 2 Level 0: A New Age

“What? You're not going to your interview?” Chancy said, her eyes as wide as saucers.

After being given an impromptu health check after his stint of unabashed laughing and prideful declaration of becoming the “strongest”, Luck had told his family that he would be reconsidering his career choice.

He had opted to not go to the scheduled interview which is parent’s supported as they knew that Luck was old enough to be his own man in his life. He was already 20 years old and he at least had an associates degree in business.

His sister, on the other hand, was befuddled by his choice.

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to work at that company ever since you were in school? Why are you giving up your dream?!”

All Luck could do was laugh wryly as he witnessed his little step sister look so confused and flustered. His decision was sudden and being as close as they were, they knew each other’s aspirations.

“You are misinterpreting me Chancy. I’m not giving up on my dream to be a top player in the VRMMORPG community. I did want to join that company but I’ve chosen to go solo.”

“Solo?! But why?! It’ll be so much work to do it alone. Don’t you want to be in a professional online party?”

At the mention of parties, Luck recalled what his “important” role was in the past. The VRMMORPG he intended to play was called I.V.L.0. or pronounced as Level 0, which stood Immersive Virtual Life Online.

In his past memories, he was forced to take on the “unique” class of [Supporter] who aided the party in situations that were both on and off the field. He functioned as the rearguard who supplied and created items with his [Blacksmith] and [Apothecary] production skills. 

While in combat he could provide limited covering fire with [Support Mage] and [Archer] combat skills.

A core mechanic of Level 0 was that a player can have numerous classes but obtaining the more powerful and useful ones was challenging. Since Luck was more concerned with making money for his sister’s medical bills, these higher classes eluded him as his job as a [Supporter] was his main source of income from the company known as RATHION.

But while he was unable to obtain these stronger classes he did, in fact, know how to obtain them.

On top of that, knowing the prerequisites was not the only thing he carried over from the future. 10 years of experience had imbued him with immense knowledge of future events in the games. Things such as hidden events, special monsters, and unique items.

At this very moment, he was an enormous accumulation of information and details of the game's mechanics which he could use to his advantage for lucrative means.

One such example are production recipes, these were not given but discovered and only the greatest equipment or potions were created from the efficient use of knowledge from past mistakes which Luck had an ample supply of. 

Luck was similar to that of a minor jack of all trades but a master of none. He could fight, cast magic, brew potions, blacksmith, and more but lacked any capability to survive in the end game due to a lack of more advanced tiered skills.

This was the shortcoming of the [Supporter] class but the reason why Luck had to keep the class was due to how RATHION had him forcefully take the class to better “support” the top players of the company.

Never wanting to be the pack mule for those so called “top” players again, Luck made up a white lie to placate his sister’s worry.

“Don’t worry, I’m only going to be solo for a little while. Think of it like a trial run and if it doesn’t work out I can always apply again.”

Fortunately, this was enough reassurance for his sister but she made him swear a pinky promise to one day let him join his party if he became famous. Luck accepted but in the back of his mind he made another promise to her.

‘I’m going to save you Chancy. You, mom, and dad. I’ll save you from that future.”

Giving his step sister a sudden hug of farewell, he playfully shooed Chancy out of his. After rummaging through his drawers and closet, he assembled his VRMMORPG rig which consisted of a large helmet that covered his entire head except for his nose and mouth.

He then put on a large vest that clung closely to his body after he pushed a button on his helmet which was wirelessly connected to all the other parts of his gear. 

After then putting on boots and gloves that worked the same way as his now tightly clinging vest, Luck laid on his bed and began the process of logging in to Level 0.

As the games menu came up on his hud, he opted to make a new account as he wanted to truly start again. Level 0 created a player's character based on the appearance data found by his rig’s sensors.

They measured every possible data point to make the most accurate and immersive experience possible to make the player experience a level of realism that would knock their socks off.

It was also known that the sensors were able to pick up on muscle mass and other traits of the human body to allocate the most accurate interpretation of stats.

After making a few adjustments to his character's outer appearance, he was still left with a relatively average looking avatar but the distinctive ponytail he gave his character helped to add a bit of flair.

Pressing the login button, Luck was subjected to a bout of sleepiness as the rig began to overwrite his senses to allow for his dive in the game world.

*****

It was an average day in the game of Level 0 in the starting kingdom of Primera. The Queen of the Kingdom, Lady Hildegard Von Flamerath, was tending her duties as an imperial. 

Lady Flamerath was one of the initial players of Level 0 and had risen up from the bottom. After the most recent expansion to the game which got the community of players out of the Age of Iron and into the Age of Kingdoms, Lady Flamerath took the new chances she was given and seized power for herself. 

Now the ruler of the starting kingdom for the game, nothing escaped from her sight. While satisfying to hold so much information and power for so long, this soon caused a waning in her enthusiasm as much of her days were now filled with the monotonous task of aiding hapless beginners.

She let out a sigh while sitting atop her throne and wondered when something interesting would happen. 

“*Sigh* It looks like the morning batch of players are logging in. I’ll have to get ready as I’ll be busy with…?”

Lady Flamerath paused her words as she noticed a flashing gold notification at the top right corner of her view.

[New Quest Options Are Available]

As she was about to touch the icon to see what this new quest option was, as if on cue the world announcement function engaged just before she touched it.

[World Announcement: Congratulations player Luck for meeting the hidden and special requirements to obtain the hidden unique tiered class, [Creationist].]

The queen blinked in surprise at this announcement because a hidden unique tiered class was a new concept to her. Wanting as much information as possible, she commanded the attending servant NPCs and nearby players under her authority.

“Begin discreet investigations and monitoring of the new players. You are to not interfere with whatever they do! BUT! You are to prevent our rivals from doing anything with these players! We must not let this potential opportunity out of our sight!”

A resounding “Yes, My Queen!” echoed through the throne room’s chambers but was quickly followed by the rushed steps of people exiting at their Queen’s behest.

After reading over what the New Quest Option entailed, Lady Flamerath enacted it without hesitation.

[World Announcement: The Queen of the Kingdom of Primera has issued a royal command to player Luck.]

In Queen Flamerath’s personal notifications, a shocking quest was shown with an even more surprising objective. 

(Expansion Quest Unlocked - Main Goal: Progress to the Age of Gods)