"Finally..." Wesley sighed with relief as his sky blue eyes glimmer with excitement.
"After waiting in this stupid line for over 6 hours, it's finally my turn!"
He stood at the entrance of a large skyscraper with a big "T-Shaped" sing. This building belonged to the world's number 1 gaming company which has revolutionized virtual reality multimedia online role playing games (MMORPG.)
Today, Tetrax is going to launch their newest project: Valhallah and Wesley was one of the players who received an invitation to participate in the beta test.
However, Wesley didn't expect to meet a huge line given it’s a beta test. After waiting for hours, it was finally his turn.
Wesley entered the building only to be met with a horrific site. "What?!" He exclaimed with dropping jaws. Inside the building's courtyard was another line.
"This is crazy," Wesley said. "At this rate, I'll be testing the game by moonlight."
Suddenly, there was a bright light and a loud noise. Wesley felt a sharp pain in his head and fell to his knees, feeling confused.
When the noise stopped, he opened his eyes and saw everything blurry. Panicking, he wondered if there had been an explosion nearby.
As his vision cleared, Wesley realized he was alone. The line and the company staff had disappeared. Confused, he listened for any signs of life and heard faint noises from inside the building.
Determined to find answers, he hurried inside, only to stumble over a black chest at the entrance.
"Who would leave this here?" Wesley grumbled, rubbing his sore head as he tried to move the chest, a robotic voice asked for his nickname.
Confused, Wesley complied, choosing the name "Tempest." The chest then showed him three sets of items, each representing a different class in a game.
"Is this some kind of game?"
Wesley wondered aloud as he tried to pick his class, only to find he couldn't touch the items. "Pick only one class," scolded the robotic voice.
Wesley reached out his right hand and grabbed the sword easily.
"Wow, this is really high-tech," he said, surprised by the level of human technological advancement. Choosing what he knew best, he picked the sword and armor from the chest.
As a VR RPG fan, he usually played as a warrior, so it made sense. Before he could fully understand his decision, the chest disappeared, and the armor appeared on his body, with the sword at his waist.
"You have picked the Fighter class. You get 1 free point for attributes and skills. You can use these points in your status window whenever you want."
"Status window…?" Wesley muttered, confused.
A blue hologram popped up, showing letters and numbers.
As Wesley looked at the different indicators, he saw a red bar that was two-thirds full at the top of his vision, and a nearly empty yellow bar below it. After studying the numbers, he figured out they showed his HP and stamina bars. In another corner, there was a radar-like display with some red dots moving towards the center.
Thinking about what all this meant, he heard some noises getting closer. When he saw more zombies coming, he compared the positions of the red dots on his radar with the new zombies. He realized the dots meant the undead, and more were coming from inside the building.
"I can't fight them all!" Wesley thought, deciding to run away. But before he could, his escape was stopped by the monocle making pinging sounds and showing a bright purple hue around an object on the ground—the round item dropped by the dead man. Words appeared above it.
"Second Soul Remnant (legendary consumable)"
"Legendary!" Wesley said, remembering Valhallah's grading system. If this world followed the game's rules, this item was top-tier.
Trying to put it in his bag, he got a message saying he couldn't.
"Object is unable to be stored."
Confused but not giving up, Wesley kept running toward the exit, holding the ball. Even though the street seemed empty, his radar showed red dots, with the closest one on his left—a zombie.
"These things are everywhere!" he muttered, before the monocle identified the creature.
"Zombie (Basic monster, Undead)
Level 1
HP: 150"
Thankful for the monocle's help, Wesley moved away, following his radar until he found a place without red dots. He went into a nearby bakery and locked the door, trying to collect his thoughts.
Taking out his cell phone, he tried to make a call, but it didn't work. The monocle explained why.
"Handphone (junk item)
Can sell to merchant for a small amount of coins"
"Junk?! Are you kidding me?" Wesley said, frustrated by the device's uselessness.
Looking back at the ball, he focused on its scanning process. The text showed its amazing properties.
"Second soul Remnant (legendary consumable)
Cannot be stored
Grant user with a second class
Grant user with innate ability: Immortal soul
Require 10 minutes activation time to use
Disappear upon use"
Thinking about what this meant, Wesley wondered about other players and what was really going on. Despite not knowing for sure, he decided to use the item to survive.
"Use," he told the ball.
"Okay. Activation starts. Soul linking."
Enduring the painful process, Wesley waited for the ten-minute activation to finish. As the light from the ball went into his body, he gritted his teeth, not able to move until it was done.
When it finally finished, Wesley took a moment to recover, amazed by the change. He then looked at the holographic chest that appeared in front of him.
"Time to get my reward," Wesley thought, thinking about what class to choose. When he tried to pick the Fighter class again, he couldn't.
"You can't choose the same class. Please choose a different one. Or you can wait until you have a better class. Do you want to wait?"
Wesley thought about waiting but decided not to, wanting strength right away to face whatever was coming.
"No," he said.
Now he had to choose between the Ranger or the Magician. The Ranger was fast, while the Magician was smart. Even though he knew both classes, he was used to being a strong fighter. After thinking about it, he picked up the short staff and cloth. The Ranger class could change into a ranged class later, while still being strong. Choosing the Magician class, with its magic powers, seemed like a better choice.
"You have chosen the magician class. You have a total of 2 free attribute and 2 free skill points, you can open your status window to allocate this point at any time."
Seeing he still had points left, Wesley felt better. With all the chaos, he hadn't checked his status window. He also felt lighter, maybe because of his second class choice.
"Status," he said, bringing up the holographic window in his mind.
The blue hologram showed his updated stats:
Tempest
Class: Fighter / magician
Level 1 / Level 1
Attributes:
- HP = 185/230
- Stamina = 110/110
- MP = 110/110
- Strength = 23
- Dexterity = 21
- Intelligence = 23
- Endurance = 23
- Reflex = 22
- Wisdom = 23
- Luck = 2
- Free attribute point = 2
- Free skill point = 1/1
Experience = 4/100 (fighter), 0/100 (magician). Setting 50:50
During the Beta phase, Wesley learned that the staff's energy was like ammo. A Magician could still use the staff for ranged attacks even without spells. However, once the energy ran out, he could only resort to melee or spells.Before he dashed out, he saw several green circles through his monocle surrounding certain objects. Approaching, he found bread and picked them up."Why only four glowing?" He wondered aloud, picking up the non-glowing bread to inspect.After thinking it over, he figured the glowing ones were useful items, while the non-glowing were just regular. Grateful for the God-eye monocle, he stashed three glowing bread in his storage bag and ate the fourth. His HP had dropped from 185/230 after the fight in the Tetrax building. It stayed 45 points lower, showing no natural healing mechanics. He'd need consumables or items for healing.This game demanded more; he'd need to stock up on supplies. If he ran out, he'd be in trouble. Keeping this in mind, he made a mental no
"What's this? Apprentice grade?" Wesley pondered aloud, eyeing the unfamiliar classification. It was different from the usual items he'd come across. No matter, he thought, let's enjoy a good meal first. Having survived on bread since yesterday, a well-cooked meal was a welcome change. After expressing gratitude to his host, he savored the fried rice. It was delicious; the man truly lived up to his alias!"This is very good," Wesley complimented Iron between bites. "I'd love to cook something like this myself.""Well, young man, this is my simplest dish. If you're interested, I can share the recipe with you. Here, take this. I used to always write down my recipes, but I don't need it anymore. I can make this fried rice with my eyes closed."Accepting the offered piece of paper, Wesley saw scribbled words on it. After a quick review, he realized it was the recipe for the fried rice.Suddenly, he heard the mechanical notification again, "you have learned Cooking recipe: Simple Fried Ric
The Skeleton Captain let out a battle cry as it charged towards Wesley and Iron.Wesley feared the monster might leap through their window. Instead, it crashed through the front door, causing a commotion downstairs. Fortunately, the stairs were not near the entrance, giving them some time.Struggling to open the window, Wesley realized it was stuck. "Can't open your window!" he told Iron.Iron, still pale and bewildered, remained seated. "Hey! We need to go out the window or we're in trouble!" Wesley urged."It's stuck," Iron stammered. "Has been for years. Can't be opened."Summoning his sword, Wesley shattered the window. "Come on, let's jump," he said to Iron.As the crashing noises grew louder, Wesley grabbed Iron's shoulders. "Listen, this might be a game or real. You might die, or you might respawn. But do you want to risk it?" Wesley snapped.Awareness returned to Iron's eyes. Gasping, he nodded.A loud thump sounded outside. Wesley pulled Iron up, and they headed to the broken
He was overwhelmed by the notifications, especially the abundance of Experience points. Fighting zombies alone would have required him to defeat over fifty of them to gain that much experience. This single battle had propelled him past the level of both his classes.Approaching cautiously, he noticed several items on the ground where the Skeleton Captain had fallen. Squatting down, he inspected them—a ring and 5 copper coins. Picking them up, he examined the ring closely. It was a Ring of Luck, an uncommon accessory that boosted Luck by 1. It marked the first time he had obtained an item from defeating monsters. Despite days of battling zombies and Skeleton Thugs, he had only managed to collect 3 copper coins. The drop rate in this game world seemed disappointingly low. However, receiving an uncommon item like the Ring of Luck, especially one that enhanced the rare Luck stat, was a stroke of fortune.He wasted no time equipping the ring and storing the coins in his bag. Summoning his
"Tempest," Ogre commented, "That's a cool name, also from the way you fight, I assume you are a Fighter?"Wesley nodded, asking in return, "and you?""Same," Ogre replied, summoning a small hand axe into his grip. "Mouse here is a ranger," he added.Both of them seemed familiar with the game mechanics, unlike Wesley's previous acquaintance."So, why didn't you guys lend me a hand with that monster just now?" Wesley inquired."Why should we?" Mouse retorted provocatively.Ogre laughed and clapped Wesley's shoulder. "We just want to see what you are made of," he said. "And it looks like you were able to handle that little monster anyway. So what level are you? We are both level 3 here."Wesley used his God-eye monocle to scan the pair. Ogre was a level 5 Fighter, while Mouse was a level 4 Ranger. The monocle also detected the armors they wore. Ogre sported five armors on his body, while Mouse had four."I'm level 4," Wesley replied, reciprocating their dishonesty."That looks like a nic
Inside Darwin's workshop, the door to one of the rooms opened, allowing two shadowy figures to slip inside. They crept towards the sleeping figure covered by a blanket.Silently, they approached the bedside. One of them signaled a countdown with his hand. When his fingers curled into a fist, they both swung their weapons, striking the figure under the blanket repeatedly.Worried their target might retaliate, they kept attacking. But after several blows, they noticed no damage numbers appearing. One of them gestured to stop, pulling the blanket away to reveal only a pillow and bolster.Both attackers were puzzled and disappointed. The one with the axe had a sudden realization but was too late to react. A powerful force slammed into his back, sending him flying. A red number, 42, marked his impact against the wall, followed by another, 6.His partner, startled but quick, dodged a swing and rolled to a nearby table to turn on the light.As the room brightened, three individuals found the
After sorting out the loot, Wesley looked around the room. He had avoided searching for hidden items revealed by his God-eye monocle before, to not raise suspicion. Now, he could explore freely.His monocle indicated three green glowing spots in the room, one of which was the dress that initially aroused his suspicions about his treacherous hosts. He made a mental note to retrieve it later, perhaps for potential sale. With coins present, a nearby shop likely existed. Additionally, with ample storage space thanks to his extra bag, he needn't worry about accumulating too many items.Approaching the nearest green marker, he discovered a work table. The marker directed him to a drawer within, filled with disorganized papers. Among them, one paper emitted a green glow—undoubtedly overlooked by Ogre and Mouse amidst the clutter. Retrieving the glowing paper, he discovered it contained a valuable recipe:Whetstone Recipe (Blacksmith recipe)Create Whetstone, a consumable increasing a weapon'
Wesley sat, mulling over recent events, the Valhalla game's beta test being the starting point. He couldn't shake off the connection to the Tetrax Groups, even if not everyone there was affected.Suddenly a loud ringing started. Wesley and Iron winced in pain as they both covered their ears."What on earth is that?""Could be proximity to the epicenter," Iron speculated, his eyes reflecting curiosity."Yeah, maybe that's why not everyone was affected," Wesley nodded, considering the possibility.Determined to delve deeper, Wesley set his sights on returning to the Tetrax Groups once he hit level 10."I'll investigate further once I reach level 10," he announced, determination evident in his tone.With newfound resolve, Wesley threw himself into leveling up, achieving his goal after two more days of grinding."Now that I'm level 10, I've got a new skill," Wesley remarked, a sense of accomplishment in his voice."What is it?" Iron asked, genuinely interested."It's called Natural Body R