Chapter 3: The yer''s Chat Room
Chapter 3 The yer''s Chat Room
[Username: Swordsman]
Rayleigh didn''t remember setting that as his username, but he was fine with it overall. He was aser sword using ss and he already had a few ideas for his build based on Samurai Jack, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Rurouni Kenshin. Although it gave him the option to change his Username, he''d likely use a Sword in the future, so it was as good a Username as any and he could always change itter.
[Select a Chat Room.
General: 19 Users
MCU: 2 Users
Warrior: 4 Users
Wizard: 8 Users
Ninja: 7 Users
Hunter: 3 Users
Pirate: 5 Users
Jedi: 4 Users]
With that, at least, Rayleigh knew the names of the other sses. He wondered how so many people had already had their Orientation, but then realized that it must''ve been a few hours already. While on Autopilot, he had likely gone back to sleep, so when he got up just now, it was after sleeping for a while.
He could only choose the Chat for the World he was in or General Chat, so he selected the General Chat.
[Swordsman has signed in.]
[Hi_I''m_Paul: Ah, hopefully, we don''t have another Lurker. Hurry up and say something.]
[Wonder_Woman: No one was asking for your opinion.]
[Hi_I''m_Paul: Pot, meet Kettle.]
[Lord_of_Madness: Yes, keep arguing. Entertain me. Where can I find some popcorn?]
[Ninja_Lord: Paul''s got a point. More than half the yers are silent Lurkers.]
[Demon_Hunter has signed in.]
[Demon_Hunter: Hi guys. Where are you at? I''m in the Hunter World, but the Hunter Chat is dead.]
[Ninja_Lord: Do you know anything about the Hunter ss? Do you use a Bow or something?]
[Demon_Hunter: Doubt it. My Parents here are both Hunters but they won''t tell me anything. The city I live in is very modern though, so it''s not like I''m in a forest or something.]
Rayleigh read the dialogue boxes as they appeared and rolled upwards like an online Chat Room. He could not see the dialogue of the room before he entered it, but he could just leave the Chat Room dialogue box open in his field of vision.
[Ninja_Lord: I''m in the Ninja World''s Leaf Vige. Any other Ninjas out there?]
[Hi_I''m_Paul: Would a proper Ninja admit to being a Ninja?]
[Lord_of_Madness: Ninja spotted!]
[Wonder_Woman: I bet his name is not even Paul.]
[Bone_Wizard: I''m also in the Leaf Vige, though I''m in the orphanage.]
[Ninja_Lord: I''m an Uchiha. Any other Uchihas out there?]
[Alchemist: Oh? More Uchihas? I''m an Uchiha.]
[Doctor: Any other Hyga yers in the Leaf?]
Ray decided to participate. There was a shing dialogue box, and if he concentrated while thinking aloud, the box would fill out. Then he could edit the message or send it into the Chat Room.
[Swordsman: How''s the technology of that vige?]
[Hi_I''m_Paul: Why do you ask? You in the stone age or something, Mr. Swordsman?]
[Swordsman: Not really. I''m on an alien.]
[Wonder_Woman: You''re in space?]
[Lord_of_Madness: We''re all in space. Duh.]
[Ninja_Lord: Seen any Space ships yet?]
[Swordsman: A few in my new memories. Nothing cool though like from Star Trek.]
[Hi_I''m_Paul: If we gave you our coordinates, could you pick us up in a spaceship?]
[Swordsman: Why? Do you need a lift? Are you on a stone age or something Mr. Paul?]
[Wonder_Woman: Hahahaha!]
[Lord_of_Madness: You''re gonna need a Burn Heal for that one.]
[Dark_Lord_Skullcrusher has signed in.]
[Dark_Lord_Skullcrusher: Hahaha! After ten thousand years, I''m free! It''s time to conquer the Earth! Bow before me and tremble puny mortals!]
[Swordsman: ...]
[Wonder_Woman: ...]
[Ninja_Lord: ...]
[Lord_of_Madness: Kill it with Fire! It has Eighth Grader Syndrome! Kill it before itys eggs and spreads!]
[Dark_Lord_Skullcrusher: Fools! Nothing can stop the Dark Lord Skullcrusher! All who oppose me will have their broken skulls added to my collection!]
[Wonder_Woman: The Cringe! It hurts!]
[Bone_Wizard: Make it stop!]
Rayleigh had to cover his mouth to stop hisughter from waking his father in the other room. These guys were great.
[Miracle: So are any of you on Earth?]
[Hi_I''m_Paul: Are you?]
[Miracle: Yep. I''m in Britain, and it''s 1984. Does anyone know anything about stock trading?]
[Book_worm: Are you in the MCU World?]
[Miracle: No, I''m in the Wizard World.]
[Bone_Wizard: The Wizard World is in Britain? I need to go there! This orphanage sucks!]
[Swordsman: I heard during Orientation if you moved to another world without spending Mission Points, it would be terrible. So get stronger, do missions, and get points first.]
Although Rayleigh didn''t remember the Metaknowledge parts of his conversation with Red, the fact that he needed Mission Points to get a good transfer stuck with him.
[Ninja_Lord: I heard something simr. We''re both in the Leaf, so I''ll see if I can help. The Uchihas are the strongest n in the Leaf Vige.]
[Swordsman: I''m still on an alien. You guys are lucky to be in the same vige.]
[Lord_of_Madness: Don''t worry, Swordsman. I''m sure you''ll encounter a creepy old alien who will smile at you before he kidnaps you and takes you away from your family any day now.]
[Swordsman: haha. I was already told a Jedi would show up today.]
[Ninja_Lord: What kind of ss is Jedi?]
[Lord_of_Madness: It is a mental ss where you drive your opponents crazy and then steal their souls. Right, swordsman?]
[Swordsman: sure. what he said.]
Rayleigh couldn''t help but shake his head. Beneath the bridge that is social media, there are always trolls.
[Hercules has signed in.]
[Hercules: So is the Warrior World the only one with dinosaurs?]
[Demon_Hunter: I haven''t seen any yet, but I wouldn''t be surprised if the Hunter World has them too.]
[Ninja_Lord: Any Pirates out there?]
[Immortal_Beauty: Trying to learn our secrets ninja boy?]
[Wonder_Woman: Well, he is a ninja.]
From what Rayleigh could tell, the yers were trying to figure out the details of other worlds through the Chat Room but weren''t learning anything super useful. The Chat Room itself, though, was a crazy thing to give a hundred yers. The ss Chat Rooms could only be essed by yers in that World, so if Rayleigh went to the Jedi Chat Room, he wasmunicating with yers across the stars. And for that Ninja vige, this was a massive help as well. Ninjas were all about espionage, right? Being able tomunicate with each other even if captured was too powerful of an ability.
[Ninja_Lord: No point in hiding your ss. In the Tavern you wear whatever is the default uniform of your Primary ss.]
[Book_worm: Not if you started in the MCU.]
[Demon_Hunter: I wasn''t wearing anything special either.]
Rayleigh then recalled that he was wearing robes at the Tavern. He wondered if that was what Jedi wore and figured that the Ninja probably wore some kind of distinct Ninja uniform in the Tavern.
[Hi_I''m_Paul: What is the MCU anyways? Is it a normal Earth?]
[Book_worm: Notpletely. Seemsic book-y.]
[Wonder_Woman: OH! Like DC?!]
[Book_worm: Not DC, but something else. Probably DC''s rival or something. It doesn''t make sense that I can only remember one major brand ofics. So maybe this is something as big as DC, but different. Can''t remember.]
[Ninja_Lord: Oh damn. That''s big. MCU = Major Comic Universe?]
[Lord_of_Madness: That sounds like SO. MUCH. FUN!]
[Dark_Lord_Skullcrusher: A New World to Conquer! All shall bow before me!]
[Wonder_Woman: What makes the MCU seem like aic book?]
[Book_worm: The shield-wielding American superhero called "Captain America" and the red-faced Nazi superviin called "Red Skull" in the history textbooks were a dead giveaway.]
Time passed quickly with more yers joining the General Chat and making noise. Some other Jedi said the Jedi in the General Chat should go to the Jedi Chat for private discussions, but Rayleigh ignored them. Though his Metaknowledge was sealed, he had a vague impression that it would not be wise to closely converse with the other Jedi, at least for now. You could only keep one Chat Room open at a time, and he preferred the General Chat.
Plenty of yers tried to goad others into revealing their chosen Talents, Easy Masteries, and Items, but not a single yer was dumb enough to reveal any of those at the moment.
Even without revealing too much, plenty of information was still given and obtained. Though mentally adults, each yer was still biologically a small child, and a child''s brain chemistry would drive them to seek connections with others. The Chat Room gave them all a quick and simple way to connect to others with whom they could share their problems and possibly obtain help in the future. Even knowing that they might be giving away information that could be used against them in the future, most yers would eventually do so anyway, because to their four-year-old brains, making friends now was more important than protecting themselves decades in the future.
Morning came, and Ray''s father woke up. Ray moved the see-through screen of the General Chat to the side of his field of vision, and within his mind, he stopped essing his past life''s memories. Doing so made his conscious mind ignore the existence of the Chat Room Box in the corner of his vision.
Ray was already dressed and left his room to grab a breakfast bar. Though unloved, at least he wasn''t malnourished or physically harmed. Maray used Ray to make himself seem like a family man when picking up women and looking legitimate, so it would not work to have the child look anything but healthy. On an alien where the non-native species were the minority, most races were more serious aboutmitment, and Rayleigh was Maray''s evidence of howmitted he could be. To Maray, how something looked on the outside was what mattered the most.
As Ray finished his breakfast bar, he saw his father meander almost drunkenly into the living room in his half-awakened state. Maray''s gut extended sloppily from his pants, and his upper body had more hair than the top of his head. Though barely conscious, Maray''s seedy eyes darted back and forth every time he entered a room, and he''d re at anyone who dared to make eye contact rather than lower their heads in his presence.
"Boy. Move everything from the purple rack into a box. It''s time to take it to the office."
Though Ray could have heard him if the man whispered, Maray didn''t feel his presence was strong enough unless he spoke as loudly as he could any time he could get away with it. To him, the louder he could shout at you, the greater the difference in status between you and him. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say the walls shuddered when he ordered Ray around.
Ray didn''t argue or talk back. He just returned to his room and slid out a box and started carefully emptying the contents of the purple shelf of garbage into the box. Once it was full, he carefully lifted it and returned to the couch. To prevent Maray from giving him more orders, Ray just kept the heavy load on hisp and seemed to patiently wait until Maray was ready to leave.
Seeing all of this, Maray didn''t even nod to acknowledge it. It was natural for his words to be divinew in his home. Anything less and there would be hell to pay.
Ray hid his backpack under the box, gripping it by the strap with his fingers hidden beneath the box instead of wearing it on his back. He didn''t quite remember why, but he needed to get rid of it so he couldn''t be seen having it when they left and then not having itter. That would raise questions. After a few minutes, Maray was dressed in his imposing security attire that expertly hid his gut while prominently showing off the ster at his side.
Ray was already standing next to the door, so when Maray opened it, Ray walked out first to the garage where Maray kept his speeder. Even though this was a where it asionally rained acid, the speeder didn''t have a top, and Maray thought it a status symbol that he didn''t fear the''s weather. As long as he didn''t actually drive it when it rained, there wasn''t much of a difference to him.
Ray got in the back and held the box of junk like it was more valuable than his life. Maray got in the driver''s seat and started the speeder before pulling out of the garage and into the sky. The speeder craft was basically a flying car.
The city was built around the spaceport, which was some distance from the mines. Most buildings were not excessively tall since every inch had to be ted in corrosion-resistant minerals or metals. Even then, there were still numerous towering structures used as status symbols by the wealthy, and due to theck of tall buildings around them, those few structures stood out as monoliths no matter where you were in the city.
The Spaceport had a massive dome parking structure that closed when it rained, along with independent parking units with their own retractable roofs. There were some corrosion-resistant spaceships used when it rained for days on end, but most ships that came and went were not as durable. The high value of the metals and minerals excavated from this was the main reason the city was even built in such a hostile world. There were two other ports built on other parts of the and used for storage. Even if it rained for a while at the main port, it was unlikely to be raining at all the ports, so when it rained for too long, the arriving ships would be redirected to the other ports so iing cargo could be delivered without holding up the arriving ships.
Maray was not taking Rayleigh to school. Thepany he worked for had a free daycare for the children of upper-level employees. Since Maray was using Ray''s existence to justify a raise, he had to do as other parents did and drop him off at thepany daycare every workday.
As usual, upon arrival at theyered parking structure, Maray looked around for those weaker than himself, and one employee who had just arrived identally met his gaze before realizing who it was. Ray saw the man visibly gulp as Maray decided to park his speeder right next to the unlucky human.
"Hey, Cornwall." Maray got out of his speeder and said loudly enough for the entire parking lot to hear, "How''s life among the bugs?"
The man didn''t dare meet Mray''s eyes again, so he answered meekly with his head down, "It''s fine, Sir. Just fine."
Maray audibly sniffed the air before wafting his hand against his nose. "You should shower more, you stinky little prick. Hanging around those bugs all day has you smelling just like them."
The man tried to get out of his own speeder and get as far from Maray as possible. He didn''t even remember to lock his door.
Maray followed him, and Ray used the chance to quietly open the poor man''s speeder door and toss his backpack filled with stolen valuables inside before closing it. He originally intended to just drop it and kick it under a nearby vehicle, but this was so much better.
Rayleigh doubted he''d need any of the stolen goods after he was found by a Jedi and greatly doubted a Jedi would approve of him possessing such goods, so this was as good a ce as any to toss them. Ray then grabbed Maray''s box of junk and followed his father quietly to the employee entrance.
Maray kept on the poor man''s heels and said, "You''ll remember to shower more, right? Wouldn''t want to confuse you for one of those disgusting insects and shoot you by ident, right?"
Maray loudly tapped on the ster at his side to remind the man that he could shoot him whenever he wanted to.
Not having a better option, the man fought to not grit his teeth and nodded, "Yes, Sir, I''ll shower as often as I can."
Maray smiled cruelly and said, "See that you do," before heading inside and down a few halls.
Once they neared the daycare''s receptionist, Maray took the box of junk so that the beautiful young blue-skinned Twi''lek woman wouldn''t directly see him as a scumbag so he could pretend not to be one. The fact that her desk had security cameras in the hallway and she''d already seen Rayleigh carrying the box didn''t matter to him.
"Hello there, Rayleigh." As always, she greeted him first with a smile before begrudgingly acknowledging Maray''s presence. Ray didn''t know how she could get away with showing the Head of Security such disrespect but didn''t think too much about it. Everyone had their own secrets.
Maray set the box of junk down and said, with a smile, "Good morning, Ledana." She''d seen him do numerous terrible acts, but he always tried to act charming in front of her, as if he thought she was blind to everything he was.
The Twi''lek narrowed her eyes and gave a thin smile before passing over a sign-in sheet he could use to sign-in Rayleigh to her care. The moment he took it, she motioned for Ray to head on inside.
Not wanting to be around Maray for another moment, Ray ran over to the y area filled with children. Most were human, some were other races, but there were no young Scorpions, or as his father called them, ''stinking grubs.'' The upper management had no intention of allowing their offspring to mix with the lower lifeforms. Generational racism was normal here, and if Rayleigh had been Maray''s biological son, he would have made sure Ray properly inherited this mindset as well.
Despite it being the thing to do, Ray wasn''t going to y with any of the kids. Most were raised to be as bad as their parents, and none could provide a conversation worth having. Instead, he went over to a bookshelf and made it look like he was reading while he instead went back to paying attention to the Chat Room.
[Miracle: I need TV. Does anyone in the Wizard World''s Britain have a TV?]
[Ninja_Lord: Shouldn''t you be asking that in the Wizard Chat?]
[Immortal_Beauty: Be happy with what you got magical girl. I''m on a wooden ship in the ocean without any skin-care products, make-up, or shampoo!]
[Alchemist: Are you some age besides four? Why are youining about any of that now?]
[Bone_Wizard: If I transfer to the Wizard World, does anyone have a ce I can crash? Preferably with a TV.]
[Ninja_Lord: Actually, I found some TVs. There are evenptopputers in Ninja World.]
[Miracle: WTF? You said earlier there were no cars or vehicles! You said that the merchants used horse-drawn Wagons! How do you also have Laptop Computers?!]
[Lord_of_Madness: Lazy writing.]
[Book_worm: Agreed. It is 1984 in the MCU World. It''s the same year as the Wizard World. I think technology here is advancing faster than normal, but we still won''t haveptopputers for a while.]
[Demon_Hunter: The Hunter World has cars, cities, cellphones, the inte, and monsters. So far, it is pretty awesome.]
[Alchemist: So Ninja World, Jedi World, and Hunter World are more advanced than the two worlds with Earth''s approximation.]
[Hercules: Should probably count Warrior World in that as well. We got dinosaurs, but we also have flying cars and a lot of fancy technologies you wouldn''t believe if I told you.]
Rayleigh decided to add his two cents.
[Swordsman: Who has inte? The I''m on does not have anything like the inte as far as I can tell.]
[Ninja_Lord: That''s true. I don''t think there is any inte. The only ce I sawputers was in the hospital while visiting an injured ninja with my uncle. High-end tech might be regted here.]
[Lord_of_Madness: All work and no inte makes Jack a Crazy Boy.]
[Hi_I''m_Paul: hehe. During Orientation, I asked why they gave us a Chat Room. That skinny bastard said it was because our generation was addicted to Social Media and giving us our fix was cheaper than using their resources to heal our souls of the damage inte dependence has caused us.]
[Swordsman: Skinny? I got my Orientation from a lumberjack named Red.]
[Wonder_Woman: I too, spoke with this red-bearded lumberjack.]
[Ninja_Lord: Mine was with a woman.]
[Demon_Hunter: I got the skinny guy too. He wore a really expensive-looking suit.]
[Bone_Wizard: I guess they all work for the Tavern.]
[Ninja_Lord: So any theories on what the Tavern is?]
From there, the discussion devolved into random theories and convoluted plots. Several lurkers jumped out with glee to add their two cents to the snowballing conspiracy theory on the origin and purpose of the Tavern. Plenty with shallow religious views made up all sorts of absurd ims, but they were just trying to rile up the more nave yers.
Over the next few hours, Rayleigh and other yers exchanged tidbits of personal info to learn more about the worlds everyone lived in. The Warriors lived either in futuristic cities or in rural farnds. They had easy ess to many temples and martial arts dojos due to their various backstories. Their world had two main features which stood out more than anything else. The first was a technology called Capsules. It is basically an egg-sized pill with a button. Press and toss and the capsule turned into something much bigger. Capsules included vehicles, furniture, and even entire houses.
The second feature of the Warrior World was the presence of Furries. There were multiple races that were basically four or five-foot-tall bipedal animals walking around, speaking the samenguage as everyone else while wearing human clothes. The presence of the furries brought the wrong kind of attention to the Chat Room for some time when it was revealed.
The Wizard World was simr to Earth in 1984. Some yers were in the U.K. Some were in the U.S. or other countries. All of them had wizards for parents, either one or both, and they learned stuff from them that they shared over the Chat. The Wizardspletely hid from the rest of the world, and some Wizard houses didn''t even have electricity. What was interesting was that most Wizards didn''t learn magic until they were at least 11. Many of the Ninjas decided to move to the Wizard World right before they turned 11. That way, they would train as a Ninja for the next six years, move, and then train as a Wizard. Wizard education takes seven years.
The Ninja World was a single continent. None of the adults had any ideas about the presence of other continents, though they knew that they did exist. Ninjas were constantly at war, so things that made their countries easier to invade, like paved roads, were not asmon as they should have been. There was plenty of tech, but most of the rules around the vige were made to keep secrets, so tech that could transmit data and record data mainly seemed restricted. For example, TV and News Studios have cameras to record programs, but good luck finding a personal video camera for sale in any store. Only high-ranking ninjas were authorized to own small, handheld personal cameras. If one was found on someonecking authorization, they were probably a spy.
The Hunter World was confusing, ording to the yers who found a map. The Hunter World map actually had all the same continents as Earth, but they were all moved and rearranged differently on the Hunter World map. What was unusual was that yers from different continents were all in the same time zone no matter where they were. So either the Hunter world was t, or it was somehow very, very, veryrge. Larger even than the Gourmet World of Toriko, since the Human Continents there still take up 30% of the, which would include more than a single Time Zone. The cities of the Hunter World were very advanced, with all the amenities you''d want from a modern city. The Hunter yers all imed they had no idea what the Hunter Power System was, but many didn''t believe them.
The Pirate World was, by far, the least advanced. It seemed to be around the tech level of the Industrial Revolution, and ording to one of the yers, all long-distance transmissions were done via Snail, even TV. Everyone thought that yer was trolling them until a few other yers confirmed it. The only modem convenience the world had was a newspaper delivered by sea birds. Though primitive, the world has some of the strangest stories. No one knew what the Pirate Power System was yet, but plenty of Pirates knew about famous individuals with strange powers. yers thought these powers might havee from the Power System, but every power for every individual waspletely different and had the yers who were trying to work it out scratching their heads.
And of course, the Jedi World was the most massive of them all since it epassed a major Gxy and several surrounding dwarf Gxies. Most of the Jedi yers found themselves starting in Coruscant, a massive-sized city. They were raised in daycare after being taken from their parents when they were even younger and had been told their Jedi training would begin soon.
One advantage the Jedi had over the other yers was ess to early training. None of the Hunters, Warriors, Pirates, or Wizards were offered early training. And the Ninjas who asked were only offered physical and weapons training. None were offered training in the Ninja''s Power System as of yet. Or so they imed.
The Hunter Parents of Hunter yers refused to teach them the Hunter''s Power System until they obtained something called a Hunter''s License. Apparently, the likelihood of death when getting one was very high.
The Warrior yers started with either Martial Artist parents or were raised at a Martial Arts temple. No one there would teach them anything advanced until they fully mastered the basics and elevated their foundation. That would take years and years, of course.
Some of the Pirate yers had strong parents who were either Pirates or Marines. When they asked about superpowers, the parents who knew told them they were too weak for the training.
And Wizards were told they could not start practicing magic without a wand, which they would not get until they were eleven.
Rayleigh figured that a number of those yers who imed they couldn''t train were lying. Rayleigh got a lightsaber, so the Wizards may have already gotten a wand. That meant they could start practicing on their own.
While he continued to browse through the various interactions of the crazy and crafty yers, Rayleigh felt something odd. On instinct, Rayleigh stopped interacting with the memories of his past life and returned to a normal~ish four-year-old and even started reading the book in earnest.
One benefit given to yers was that every aspect of reading and writing in themonnguage was freely gifted to everyone when they entered a World. Thenguage they spoke in the Ninja Vige was certainly different from Gctic Basic, but everyone in every world perfectly knew the localmon dialect as if they were born to it.
A few momentster, a male alien Ray had never seen before entered the daycare from the hall. He wore loose brown robes and honestly looked like a devil, but his curved horns pointed down and forward rather than up, and he had tanned skin. There were thousands of alien species, and a four-year-old certainly could not be expected to remember them all.
Rayleigh felt the man''s presence and didn''t pretend to ignore it. He looked up from the book and met the alien''s interested gaze for a few moments. The man then gave a kind smile and left. A few secondster, he brought back the Twi''lek receptionist and pointed out Ray. They spoke in hushed words for a few moments before the Twi''lek left and the robe-wearing alien walked over.
In the deeper parts of his mind, Ray knew what wasing and put back the book. It was time to get off this. It was time to join the Jedi.