After reading the message on the scroll, Noctis at first had doubts.
Then his stomach lurched when he saw the attached video recording of the last moments of his brother.
"That's it. I'm joining the fray. Don't worry brother. Your death won't be in vain."
Then he packed up all the weapons and badges his father and brother sent over in his backpack.
He went to his room and chose to wear black pants and a black shirt that is perfectly accented by his slim yet tall and fit body.
Then he put on a black mask which is also a legendary item that could change his voice and cover his face.
He combed his unruly silver hair, put on his mountain climbing sneakers, placed the backpack on his back, and grabbed the sheathed daggers with a dragon emblem engraved into the handles, the twin weapon of the katana his brother used, and placed them on his wrist.
He also picked up his dragon fire enchanted spear.
"Satsuki has been eliminated. You have been chosen as his replacement. Do you agree?"
He clicked yes.
"Real name, age, game username."
He typed " Lelouch, 23, Zero"
Then the screen changed again
"Player Name: Zero
Age: 23
Race: Human
Mana: 99 99
Strength:89.99
Agility: 99.99
Health:99.99
Knowledge:100 %
Class: Assassin
Rank: Novice (Nobility)
Money: Error. Infinity"
So, someone somewhere must be skilled enough to make a game dimension appear in this world through both technology and magic.
Noctis thought.
He’s grateful for the fact that he can already use those weapons that his father and brother sent over to him.
He also knew in an instant that it is his father who discreetly changed his money stats
A portal with a wooden door appeared right in front of him.
A sign was placed at the door, in the black and dripping shade, and written in capital letters:
"Beware, player, of the dangers that lie inside. Play at your own risk. Win the game, and you can return. Lose, and you shall forfeit your life."
Noctis took a deep breath, then entered the portal without even looking back.
It will be a one-way trip with only two possible endings.
Either he’ll win, or he’ll lose.
Armed with information on the trendy but dangerous RPG Fantasia, he is determined to do whatever it takes to survive, climb up to the last floor, and win.
Noctis' father noticed him entering from the Administrator Panel screen, and looked on with approval.
He wished it was that easy to just suddenly appear in front of Noctis, hug him, explain what happened, why he had to do what he did and eject him back from the game dimension into the real world.
But even he knows that if he overrode the main game creator, he would be put at risk.
"Don't fail me, Noctis. When we see each other again, I'll explain why I had to do what I needed to do. Don't repeat the same mistakes your brother did in this game. I'm counting on you to do your part, son."
He sent a quick message to his son.
Then he went and attended to his duties as a game administrator.
Noctis read the message that flashed on the screen.
He couldn’t help but smile.
Then he pulled himself together and continued walking in the empty entrance until he saw a well-dressed female elf wearing a sexy hunter's attire that accented her tall and slim yet sexy body.
"Hello, Player Zero. I have been expecting you. You're quite a bit late in coming here. It should not be a problem, yes?"
"I'm Galadriel, one of the Game Guardians."
She said in a cute girly voice.
The cute and good-looking elf reached out her hand to offer a handshake. Noctis shook her hand but said nothing.
"Let's see what tests we have in store for you. Ah, yes, an obstacle course where you're supposed to dodge spikes, Arrows, shuriken, spells, and other weapons and life-threatening objects that come at you."
He yawned.
He’s bored by the super long introduction.
" You know, you look similar to the deceased elite gamer. Same silver hair, same height, same garments. The only difference is he's talkative and a warmer person. His main weapon is a katana."
He continued to walk on and straight up ignored the elf.
Then when they are already in the testing area,
Noctis nimbly dodged, parried, and counterattacked everything that came at him without even a scratch.
When he came out unscathed the elf clapped.
"Bravo, Zero. I sense you're not someone simple. Let's proceed to the last test, shall we?"
Then he found himself on a battlefield.
It seemed his side is losing.
So, he ordered a retreat and regroup.
He switched from attacking the massive enemy army head-on to luring them into an ambush.
It is so effective that the enemy turned back and fled to where they came from.
I sure hope that taught them a lesson.
Noctis thought.
He turned what would have been an imminent defeat into a lopsided victory.
The head of the major clan involved in the battle walked to me, shook Noctis’ hand, and offered him a permanent position as a strategist in his army.
Then the simulation faded away.
"Perfect. I didn't know you are that cunning. Using your wits to turn the tide of the battle. If you failed both tests, you would have ended up back at the entrance, or worse, dead."
Galadriel said, satisfied.
"I'd have liked to accompany you to the Lobby, but I still have a lot of tasks to do. See you when I see you, then."
Galadriel winked at Noctis, then vanished into thin air.
Noctis scanned the lobby. There are a lot of players from various races scattered all over the waiting area. Each of them was busy minding their own business. He noticed that he didn't have any potions to replenish his hp, elixirs to refill his mana, and All-cure Panacea that heals all status effects. All he has, for now, are his God-class weapons, a mysterious dark dragon badge that made the others wary when approaching him, and an unlimited amount of money and gemstones. This dragon badge must be a symbol of high status. In short, a symbol of nobility. His garments also made him stand out, as he perfectly resembled his deceased older brother in the game. He looked at the whole Lobby again. It's his good luck to spot shops that cater to players. He walked straight to the shops, mingled with the other players, and took a quick look at the wares offered. Meh. Those sold in the VIP section in the lobby have better quality. He bought some sashimi and ramen instead. Noctis mad
Noctis could sense the inquisitive eyes of the onlookers behind his back. He can obviously picture their envious looks, and hear hushed murmurs all over the Lobby. He understood their viewpoint, as they don't often get to rescue a player in a dire situation, and a beautiful girl at that. Takara Erich remained seated on the ground not far from where Noctis just dueled her former Guild Master and won. She is too stunned to react at the sudden turn of events she just witnessed right in front of her. Noctis approached her, extended her a hand, then helped her get up. Then he noticed that she trembled while standing. So, he helped her get into a chair and sit down. He also ordered a fresh hot porridge to replace the one that Joe spit on. Noctis sat on a chair next to her and put an arm protectively over her while she hungrily ate the meal I bought. He waited for her to finish her meal while gazing at her. He couldn't help but look at her cute, good-looking face, with her flawless
Noctis did what he did not just because he pitied Takara, but also because it is practical to take advantage of what he knew about RPG Fantasia. He needed to gain and nurture potential allies who'll be major power players in the future. His years of experience in playing online games taught him to play smart, and plan two steps ahead of the enemy. He thought about the Scraper Guild. Will he use or discard them and give them a hard time when he encounters them again? He considered contacting his father so he can remove the Guild from those shortlisted for the Nobility Badge, and get the Scraper Guild back to square one. Perhaps Noctis can even have them eliminated. There must be a reason behind their Guild Leader being a bully. He also needs to approach his deceased brother's allies and get them on his side. He went to the next floor to challenge the first floor of the Novice Stage. There are 5 Stages in RPG Fantasia, namely Novice, Intermediate, Legendary, God Mode, and Creat
Hashioki at the main hideout of Orochi the eight-headed dragon, located on the 40th floor of RPG Fantasia. The house of Orochi reminded him of countless traditional houses scattered all over Japan. He chose to forego his usual clothing of suit and tie. He opted to wear the traditional black kimono with the words Orochi the Black Dragon on the back of the kimono with white ink, written in shodo. He also wore traditional Japanese slippers. White and yellow chrysanthemums dotted the open grounds outside the red gate going into the house, alongside Sakura blossom flowers and cherry blossom trees. A large sculpture of a black 8-headed dragon is placed right outside the gate. It’s been a long time since he last visited Orochi. Nothing has changed since he last visited the minor god. He noted that many people are busy meditating on mats or practicing tai chi n the courtyard garden right in front of Orochi’s house. In the back of the house is a pond garden where koi fish and carp a
After Hashioki left the house, Orochi sat in his study, drinking shochu alone. He appreciated the silence and peace for a change. A cold and silent ambiance filled the study, which he liked. As a Game Administrator, he rarely gets to slow down, reflect, and unwind. He also has his hands full keeping the other faction in check. While he is drinking shochu alone, he noticed the door opening, and the familiar figure of his daughter came into view. “Hinata, come in and take a seat. Let’s eat and drink. There is something I’d like to talk to you about.” Hinata came in, and took a seat on the pillow, with her front facing her father. The low study table automatically got filled with traditional Japanese dishes, complete with a Japanese dining set. Seeing her father’s serious expression and intimidating stare, Hinata spoke up. “Is something the matter, Oto-San? I know that the other faction can be a handful most of the time. I’ve had to deal with them in your absence. Tell me, if I
The entire Scraper Guild headed straight for the Necromancer Guild’s headquarters in a state of panic right after Joe Franco got humiliated in a duel. The fact that someone much more powerful than them, and a complete newbie at that, beat up their Guild Master and gave them a taste of their own medicine is a hard pill they are forced to swallow. “What the fucking hell on earth happened, eh? Did someone else beat up your Guild Master again?” Leica Hattori, the healer of the Necromancer Guild grinned wickedly at Joe Franco, then looked at the panicked faces of the other Guild members. “Looks like your guild lost your punching bag to a total newbie, huh?” Leica noticed that Takara isn’t tagging along with them. “God damn it, Leica. We’ve already suffered enough. Just heal our damn guild leader, and be done with it.” Sadako Minamoto, the assassin of the Scraper Guild, cut in. She couldn’t stand to hear Leica’s words. “What’s the matter, Sadako? Can’t stand to hear me speaking?” Sa
“All right, enough playing around. Let’s end this battle already.” Takara said in a loud, clear, and confident tone. The beast she’s facing is the Nemean Lion, the tenth Mini-boss in the Novice stage. What it lacks in magical prowess, it makes up for in its extremely sturdy fur, immense strength, and fast speed. It let out a loud and deafening roar. It bared its fangs at Takara, then ran at a very fast speed before pouncing with its mouth open, with the intent to kill. Takara immediately chanted a poison spell, aimed for the lion’s open mouth, then she activated the accuracy boost and speed boost she bought from the system with her unlimited gems. Then she activated the special poison shadow clone skill she also bought from the system. She managed to switch places with one of the special poison shadow clones before the Nemean lion bit nothing but poisonous air in the space where she used to stand. After the lion bit one of the shadow clones, it dissipated into thin air, leavi
Morrigan watched from a safe distance, with a crow perched on her fair-skinned shoulder, as her soldiers bravely defended their castle from a sudden raid by the Elven-Dwarves alliance. “Well, well. A sudden raid at a time I’m supposed to be resting. What a pleasant surprise.” The attractive goddess looks like an eighteen-year-old girl with fair skin and a flawless face wearing an elegant black body-hugging dress that showed off her sexy body said sarcastically with a smirk plastered upon her lips. “Let’s ramp things up a bit. Brave of those elves and dwarves to come without knocking. Stay here and defend this place. This shouldn’t fall to the invaders.” She said to her new male and handsome assistant, who wore a black robe with a hood that normally covered his handsome yet punk and gothic face, along with his punk hairstyle. The crow perched on her shoulder flew outside the window. Its size grew to that of a dragon, and Morrigan jumped right on its back. The crow hovered right
The news of Circe's death, and the defeat of both Morrigan and Anubis quickly spread all over RPG Fantasia, sending shockwaves felt by everyone in RPG Fantasia, starting from the Game Administrators down to the ordinary players.The Witches and Warlocks Guild got heavily demoralized by the loss of one of the most influential leaders of the witches. The Guild Leader of the Witches and Warlocks Guild eventually disbanded the Guild after an unanimous majority vote from the elite players who happened to be the main members of the Witches and Warlocks Guild, and every one from the Witches and Warlocks Guild, starting from the Main Guild down to the subsidiary second-rate and third-rate guilds bid their good-byes to each other, and eventually parted ways. The arch-demon Beleth switched sides to that of the Minority Faction after news spread that it was Hashioki who caused the showdown that recently happened, and it was Hashioki who directly killed Circe with his high-tech and state of the
On the 17th floor of the Intermediate Stage of RPG Fantasia, players quickly left the 15th floor, as they heard that forces of 3 Game Administrators will battle it out on the 15th floor anytime today, and they didn't want to get involved, or else get caught in the aftermath. The players knew that without the Nobility Badge, they stood no chance of intervening in the upcoming battle, and if they attempted to do so with their average stats, they'd get eliminated from the game right away, forever. In the dangerous world of RPG Fantasia, where alliances and balance of power might shift at any time by any means possible, it was like walking on a thin wire that might snap with one single mistake. You have to tread carefully and try not to anger Game Guardians, Game Administrators and elite players, for elite players with a Nobility Badge treat ordinary players as just mere cannon fodder at their disposal. Anger a Game Administrator, Game Guardian or even an elite player as an ordinary,
Morrigan is at her castle, inspecting the quality of the new shipment of modified Egyptian weapons sent over by Anubis, th, witchy brews sent by witches under Hecate's orders, and a witch's spell-book containing witchy spells sent over by witches under Hecate, accompanied by her male assistant named Ryuma Ochima. "What's up with the other two Game Administrators lately? I can sense that today's batch of shipments aren't high quality, and can only be used by the non-elite soldiers at best. Something is fishy right here, Morrigan. The three of them are up to something funny. "Ryuma held out a witchy tome for Morrigan to inspect.Morrigan accepted the witch tome, opened it, and read a sample spell written in the demonic tome out loud. " Oh Hecate, the one in command of the witches, I invoke you to grant the sword of an ordinary soldier the magic of darkness to smite down the soldiers of the light." " That's a basic spell used by the ordinary witches. What was Hecate thinking when sh
Methis sat at the table in the VIP area of an Inn somewhere in the Legendary Stage, with Hades and a young female hybrid vampire player named Etsu Yahiro. Etsu noted that there was an awkward air of silence and unease as the two Game Administrators from the Minority Faction didn't see eye to eye with each other. "Ahem. Now that the three of us are here, let's sort out the misunderstanding between the two of you, alright? This can't be allowed to go on, or else it will develop into a civil war, and the Majority Faction will take advantage of this." The young and sexy vampire cleared her throat, and began to speak. " Hmph. "Both Hades and Methis said together in unison, looking down their noses at the attire that Etsu wore. " I don't see anything wrong with what I'm currently wearing, you ancient, outdated oldies." Etsu sharply remarked, annoyed by the way the two Game Administrators looked at her attire, as if they were judging her because of that. "Now that I got your attentio
After the auction officially ended, Iona,Kaori and Noctis met up in the Inn of the 10th floor at the Novice Stage,while Yuusei went back to his spot in the VIP Corner of the Blacksmith shop to reconsider . They sat at a VIP table in the Inn, busy eating a meal of oven roasted chicken, while drinking expensive cider. "I believe you didn't invite us to this meal for nothing, and for free, Lelouch. You even took extra precautions to place a shield barrier around us that prevents the others in the VIP section from overhearing what we're talking about. Who are you? What do you want? Why did you help me and my sister earlier? "Iona asked Noctis while she was slicing a piece of chicken with her fork and knife." Just call me Zero instead. As for who I am, well, both of you will know when the time is right. Straight to the point. I see. What if I told you that I know exactly who the entire Assassin Guild is planning to face off against right now, and I got better quality items and weapons
"The Last Item to be auctioned off today is the Nemean Lion's Fur Coat. The starting bid is 30 million gems." Yurika announced from the stage of the Auction House. "I bid 40 million gems for this fur coat." Noctis looked around to see an elite orc player bid for the fur coat. Let's see how this develops. The Orc Guild belongs to the Majority Faction, and his brother used to clash with, and often kill Orc players from the Majority Faction for trying to get into his way. The Orcs are strong, muscular and tanky, with great defense, attack power and strength, but they are slow due to their size, so the speed stats of the fur coat will be just a minor boost. Noctis thought to himself. "I bid 100 million gems"An elite goblin player from the Goblins Guild countered. The goblins also belong to the Majority faction. They are said to be extremely rich, hoarding a lot of gold and jewels in their headquarters. They specialize in sneak attacks and setting up ambushes, making the most use
With Esumi out of the picture, and having successfully rescued Kaori, the half-sister of the elite. player Iona, Noctis outsmarted the Necromancer Guild Leader. "Thanks for helping me obtain the mace, and helping to look out for my sister, Lelouch." Iona chatted with Noctis. "It's not a problem, Iona. I have a question, though. Why did you bid for that mace, when you're not even a fighter class? The weapon isn't compatible with you. And why did you let your sister fend for herself, with zero support, when you could have at least backed her behind the scenes since you got a Nobility Badge? "Awkward silence filled the air for a few minutes before Iona managed to reply back through the message function of the game system. " I wanted to get back at Esumi for disrespecting my sister upfront. So I decided that I might as well spoil his plan for the 100th time again. And as for why I let her fend for herself with zero support, it's because I want her to get stronger. How? She has to get
A few hours passed inside the Auction House. Noctis observed the situation inside the Auction House getting more tense and awkward, with the excited players bidding at absurdly high prices in an attempt to obtain semi-legendary class items. It's a wonder they can hike the value of so-so items that high. I'm not surprised. Dogs always fight for scraps, not the whole meal. Noctis thought to himself, totally unimpressed by the items being auctioned off. "It's a wonder that fights don't break out inside the Auction House. I can already sense that the tension is about to break the fragile peace inside from here." Noctis remarked while observing the whole scene. "Simple. If a player attempts a fight inside the Auction House, he'll be an open target to the other players inside the Auction House. If a player attempts to start a fight, they immediately get ejected out of the Auction House if they aren't attacked first. "Oshe replied to Noctis. " Now that all the auxiliary items have no
Yuusei and Noctis went inside the Auction House together, wearing their disguises. They went to the counter of the Auction House, and presented the three legendary class items to the sexy and attractive girl wearing a tight fitted adventurer's clothes that exposed her flawless skin and sexy body who is seated behind the counter. The girl's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the three items. "The mace, pendant, and coat are normally items dropped by minibosses after they die. To think someone managed to change the class from Rare to Legend class. This will definitely cause an uproar among the elite players. Are these the items that you want auctioned off? "The girl asked with a questioning glance at the two. " Yes it is. I'm Tabito, the one who changed the class of these items, and the person here beside me is Lelouch. Here is the initial payment of gems. "Yuusei introduced both himself and Noctis to the girl, while he placed a pouch full of gems at the counter right in fro