《Age of Swordsmen Online》


 Prologue

    After the constant progress of technology, on the 22nd of February 2022, hardware- and game-developer ''New Life Technologies'' released the first-ever Virtual Reality device with Full-Dive-Technology ¨C Called: The VR-Force.


    But only two and a half years later many people started to complain about health-issues, which seemed to be caused by the high-density microwaves that the VR-Force created in order to simulate senses.


    One of the major Anti-VR-Force-activists was Matoba Etsuya, which reportedly lost his daughter through the VR-Force. After he joined the Anti-VR-Force movement, everything went more than quick, because the people were afraid of dying, like Matoba Etsuya''s daughter did.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Now it''s the 5th of March 2025, the last day of the first, and last remaining, VR-Force-Game; Age of Swordsmen.


    The other two available VR-Force-Games games, ''Rapid Fire'', an online shooter and ''New Life Online'', a world-building simulator, were both shut down earlier this year.


    Kyazuto Mochizuki, or how everyone calls him: Kyaga, was a passionate VR-Force player since Day 1. He was highly talented in AOS and grew to one of the best Players really quick, despite his young age.


    His high Skill brought him to a lot of Fame in the AOS Community, and he quickly started to neglect society, and escape in the VR-World.


    He played hours upon hours daily and lost himself completely in AOS. But not only to get better at the Game or get better Items. He played it because it was a better reality for him.

 1.1 Games or Friends?

    [Friday afternoon, A school in a small town, somewhere in Japan]


    ''Quest Completed!'' Showed up on the display in Kyaga''s Hands.


    "Phew!" He sighed "That was really hard!"


    "Wow, well done!" Kyaga was startled because he didn''t know someone was watching him.


    He turned around and saw his friend Satoko.


    "You''re amazingly fast with your fingers, you know?" She made some random movements with her hands in order to imitate the movements of Kyaga''s hands.


    "Thanks¡­ I guess?"


    "You know what?" Said Satoko somewhat excited.


    "Huh?"


    "Why don''t you come over to me and sleep at my house tonight, like you used to in the old days?"


    Kyaga was friends with Satoko since he and his family moved in a few houses next to hers when they were around 4 years old. But since he was playing AOS all day long he didn''t really have the time to do anything with her anymore, and just played his game, because he liked the virtual world more than the real world. When he first started playing with the VR-Force he tried to get Satoko to buy one as well, so they could play together. But she just wasn''t really into all that VR and gaming stuff, so they kinda went separate ways.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Despite all that, she seemed to try to do more stuff with Kyaga since the announcement that the VR-Force is getting shut downed. And it worked for her because Kyaga knew that he wouldn''t have anything once AOS gets shut down. So he didn''t keep rejecting all of Satokos attempts to get in contact with him again now. Even though he tried to play as much AOS as possible as long as it was still running on the Japanese server.


    "Nah, thank you. I have some plans for tonight. But how about tomorrow?"


    Satoko looked at him sad. "Oh Okay¡­ I understand. Today is the last day of the VR-Force, am I right?"


    "Yeah, I''m sorry but I kinda wanna be there when the servers shut down at 0 A.M."


    "Don''t worry, I understand that."


    The school bell ringed and Kyaga got up from his chair.


    "Wanna go home together Satoko?" Kyaga smiled at her.


    "Sure!" Answered Satoko cheerfully.


    He took his backpack over his shoulders and they started to walk towards the school''s exit


    "Do you already know what you want to do with all your new free time after the shutdown of AOS?"


    "Since you''re pretty much my only friend, spending more time with you."


    "I heard there will be a PC-Version of AOS, which-"


    "I don''t know if I will play it" Interrupted her Kyaga. "I don''t really like the looks and stuff."


    "Oh, I see." There was a short moment of silence until Satoko began to talk again. "And all your online friends?"


    "I heard that most of them will meet up again in the PC-Version, and wanna restart out guild there."


    "And you really don''t want to-"


    "I''m still thinking." Interrupted Kyaga her again. This time a bit annoyed. "But like I said, I don''t think so."


    "Okay¡­" Satoko lowered her head. "I''m sorry for being so pushy about it."


    "No, don''t be sorry." He smiled at her. "It''s okay. I''m just pretty frustrated about it."


    She smiled back.

 1.2 A bad day

    After they arrived at Satoko''s home Kyaga and Satoko said goodbye to each other and he continued to walk because his house was just a couple meters behind Satoko''s.


    He entered the house and started to walk up the stairs to his room when he heard his mother yelling from the kitchen. "Kyazuto Mochizuki!"


    He knew that something bad must''ve happened when her mom calls him by his full name. "Yes, Mom?" He answered in an annoyed, but not rude way.


    His mom walked in the corridor, so she could talk to him face to face. "The school called me today, do you have any idea why?"


    "Because of my exceptional good grades?" Asked Kyaga ironically.


    "Don''t be so cocky, you know I don''t like that!"


    "Sorry, mom."


    "They called me because one of your teachers reported that you were sleeping in his class."


    "Really?"


    "Yes, really!"


    "I really don''t know when this should''ve happened."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    His mom looked at him skeptically, because she knew that exactly this is something that he would do.


    "Oh, I can remember now!" Said Kyaga suddenly. "In the class of Mr. Yoshio, I rested my head on the table a bit and he thought I was sleeping. Very funny story."


    She just continued to look at him skeptically for a few seconds and gave a big sigh. "Just go upstairs already."


    Kyaga smiled and started to walk upstairs again. While he was going towards his room his mom yelled behind him: "But watch out what you''re doing, or I''ll have to remove all of the electronics out of this house."


    "Okay, mom!"


    He arrived at his room, threw his backpack in the corner, and sat down in front of his computer. He sighed and opened his browser for some video game news. The first link that popped up was one to a live stream of an interview with one of the Leaders in the ''Anti-VR-Force'' movement, Matoba Etsuya.


    [ Interviewer: "And now to our last question: What do you think about the final triumph that your movement accomplished, the ultimate shut down of all the VR-Force games plus the VR-Force itself."


    Etsuya: "I really can''t emphasize too much how dangerous this device is, and I''m more than happy with what we''ve achieved."


    I: "Okay. Thank you Matoba Etsuya for your time and this interview, have a good day.


    E: I''ll have to thank you. Have a good day.


    ''And now to our next report: Age of Swordsmen, one of the most popular MMORPG''s and VR-Games of all time will become a new PC-Versio-'' ]


    He turned off the monitor and looked over to his bed, where his VR-Force was laying.


    He sighed, stood up, and walked over to it. He lay down and took the VR-Force in his hands. It looked like very big and heavy sunglasses with two cables sticking out of it. He set it up on his head and plugged in the red power cable. Once the ''Power Light'' turned on he plugged in the green LAN-cable. He sighed. The ''Connection Light'' turned green and Kyaga said: "Start!"

 1.3 AOSs best Guild

    The ceiling above shrank and everything around him turned black. For him, it looked like falling but just felt like he''s still laying on his bed. After maybe two seconds of ''falling'', he saw everything around him get built up, pixel by pixel and very fast.


    And just a few moments later he found himself laying in a big, wooden, silk bed with glamorous looking red and gold ornamentations on the bedframe. There was one wooden pillar on each edge of the bed which protruded towards the ceiling and held a silk curtain, which should aggravate the sight inside of it. And this worked pretty splendid, as Kyaga couldn''t see that good himself ''inside his bed''.


    He pushed the curtains to the side, so he could see better. The light-flooded his face, and he had to squint his eyes, to even see anything. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked around him. Everything in his room looked like it was very noble, old, or important.


    His Ingame appearance looked very much like him. A thin body, not very big nor small, just his usually neck long, black hair was white. He stood up, straightened himself and walked towards the door. The door was made out of wood and steel and looked like it was already in use for several years. It opened easily, with just one small push and Kyaga now found himself in a big hallway, with a lot of doors, and armor and swords as decoration between each of them.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    He walked down the hallway to get to the big door at the end of it. Everything was quiet and all that you could hear were the footsteps from Kyaga.


    Once he arrived at the door he pushed it open, and now was inside of a big, round room, which was tapered towards the ceiling. In the middle of it was a round stone table with 11 seats. This was the conference room. The room where every Guild matter was discussed with the 11 most important members of the Guild.


    There were times when all seats were occupied, but since the first health complaints started, many players left. and the meeting almost never consisted of all 11 players.


    All around the globe AOS used to have over 200 Million Players per day, on over 100 different servers ¨C The most popular VRMMORPG and MMORPG in the history of the entire world. Now there''s only one server left, the japan server with approximately 10 thousand players still playing the game.


    He looked over to the table and saw Itaka, the Strategist of ''The Royal Playground''. He had dark brown, short hair, glasses and was just as thin as Kyaga but at least 20 centimeters taller. Kyaga walked over to him and sat down on his chair. It was the Guild master''s chair, the biggest of them all, almost looking like a throne rather than a chair.


    "Hey, Kyaga."


    "Hey Itaka."


    "You really look exactly how I feel right now." Itaka said jokingly.


    Kyaga gave a slight laughter. "So, you feel just like me, huh?"


    "Who doesn''t in here?" Asked Itaka rhetorical.


    Kyaga sighed. "You are right¡­ Who doesn''t?"


    "You wanna go through the castle a bit?" Asked Itaka.


    "Sure, why not." Said Kyaga complying. "Getting a bit of a last view on what we achieved here isn''t a bad thing to do I guess."

 1.4 The Past

    Both of them stood up again and walked towards one of the big doors, which led to one of the hallways. And again, they found themselves in a seemingly endless corridor with magnificent looking armor and swords to their left and right.


    "We''ve done so much and worked so hard for all of this A- and S-Tier equipment, it''s so sad that this has to come to an end like this." Said Itaka a bit dejected.


    "You''re right." Agreed Kyaga in the same tone. "In the PC-Version, they will be just virtual items that you can''t even touch."


    Itaka wheezed. "Well, you''re right."


    The two stopped in front of a purple and black armor. You could make out that it was worn by a woman, due to an enlargement of the steel in the chest area.


    "And that''s what it all started with."


    Unlike all the other Armors that were standing all along the hallways, this one looked like it was exhibited, because there seemed to be a sign under it.


    ''The armor of Miyoshi. ¨C Founder of The Royal Playground''


    "I really hoped to see her again" Said Kyaga glum.


    "Me too." Answered Itaka. "It''s a shame that she was one of the people who believed these lies of the media."This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "And it''s even more of a shame that so many people left with her."


    "But you were an equally good leader for the last six months Kyaga."


    Kyaga laughed slightly. "Thanks, Itaka, but if I would''ve been good, then there wouldn''t be so many people who left our guild."


    They started to walk down the hallway again.


    "Don''t let yourself get dragged down by these numbers. You are AOS''s Number One Player. There were just a few people who didn''t agree all that well with you."


    He laughed again. "Thanks, Itaka. But I think a Member downfall to 47 people, when we used to be over 300 says enough."


    "You really should start to think higher of yourself. You are amazing at this game."


    Kyaga stopped and looked down on the ground. "Even if I would accept that I''m good, what would it use me now?" He Sighed. "Imma lose everything when this game is over."


    "We could maybe meet up IRL with Kanagaki and some of the others, you know? Maybe it would be fun."


    Kyaga smiled and started to walk again. "I appreciate the offer, but aren''t you like 3 years older than me and have a Job?"


    "You are almost 18, I think age shouldn''t be anything that matters, even if your mom is strict in things like that. And as game programmers, me and Kanagaki have plenty of free time."


    "Why don''t you guys just build and program a new VR-Force?" Asked Kyaga ironically.


    Itaka laughed. "That''s our dream Kyaga. But with two people that''s a bit hard."


    "I have quite a talent in Hardware, I could help." Said Kyaga still ironically.


    "I think the Engine of a Full-Dive device is more of a problem than the hardware."


    They now stood in front of a door that looked just like every other in the hallway.


    The sign on the left of it read: ''Chikao ¨C The wise''


    Kyaga pulled on the doorknob, and it opened very easy, just like the one to his room.

 1.5 Chikao the Wise

    The room itself was very big, but due to all the book shelves, which were filled up by books to the last centimeter of available space, it shrank to about half the space of the actual room.


    In the middle of the room, there was a wooden table with even more books on it, behind which a man sat on a wooden chair.


    The man had a long, white beard, long, white hair, glasses, and wore a long, blue and white garment.


    "I haven''t talked to him for a long time." Said Kyaga to Itaka


    Kyaga walked a few steps forward and sat down on another wooden chair in front of the table.


    "Hey, Chikao."


    "Hello, Master!" Answered Chikao in a monotonous voice.


    Chikao was an NPC, which was created by Kyaga about 2 years ago. He is a fortune-teller NPC. He knows pretty much everything about AOS and can give forecasts on certain events and actions that may happen.


    "You''ve got something to tell me?" Kyaga couldn''t come up with something else that he could ask him.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Today is the last day of AOS, Master!"


    "Yeah, I''ve figured that out myself¡­" Said Kyaga a bit sad.


    "Okay, Master."


    "Is there something else?" Asked Kyaga curiously.


    "My mind tells me that you are in danger, Master."


    Kyaga frightened a bit. "Wh-Why that?"


    "I don''t know myself, Master."


    Kyaga turned to Itaka, who just shrugged. "He probably just means the shutdown."


    "Yeah, probably." Answered Kyaga, still a bit frightened.


    Kyaga stood up and pushed his chair over to the table again.


    "Goodbye forever, Chikao."


    "Master?" Chikao looked at him quizzically.


    "The shut down of AOS? We can''t see ourselves after it."


    "There''s always a reunion, Master."


    "He''s an NPC, he probably just doesn''t understand." Said Itaka to the slightly confused Kyaga.


    The two left the room again, to go further down the hallway.


    Suddenly a display appeared in front of Kyaga. "I think I got a notification, lemme'' check really quick." He made two swift touches on the display and was inside his notification box.


    ''Food will be done in 10 minutes'' ¨C Mom


    Kyaga sighed. "I''ll have to log out soon."


    "Okay." Answered Itaka. "Are you coming back when you''re done?"


    "Probably not, my mom wants to drag me to a family fest or something like this." Answered Kyaga a bit annoyed.


    "Oh, Okay¡­ But you''re here at 0 A.M.?"


    "Imma defiantly be!"


    "Okay, that''s nice!" Itaka smiled at him. "Okay, bye then I guess?"


    "Yep, bye!" Kyaga used his right index finger to swipe down and open the Player-Menu. He pushed the ''Log-Out'' Button and everything around him started to slowly ''build itself away'' like it''s dissolving.

 2.1 Miyoshi...?

    Kyaga removed the VR-Force from his head and placed it next to him, on his mattress and slid over to the edge of his bed. He stood up, yawned and stretched himself one time before he started to walk out of his room, and down the stairs.


    "I''m here mom!" Called Kyaga over to his mom, who was still cooking. The food smelt very delicious. "What are you doing?"


    "Your favorite Ramen!" Answered his mom with a smile on her face.


    Kyaga was already sitting at the dining table and waited hungrily for his food.


    "You remember that we wanted to go to your step-brother''s sword-fighting tournament, don''t you?" Asked him his mother.


    "Yes, I do." Said Kyaga a bit annoyed. "As long as we are home at 23:30, I''m fine with that."


    "We should make it in time." There were a few seconds of silence between them. "Why do you have to say your friends goodbye that late, though? Why can''t you just say bye now?"


    Kyaga looked over to her with disappointment written all over his face. "Seriously mom?"


    "I''m sorry, but I don''t understand that." She turned over to the stove again.


    "I think that I said more than enough to this topic already. It just means a lot to me."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    His mom sighed. "Teenagers¡­"She whispered to herself.


    A few moments later his mom was done cooking and walked over to Kyaga with two bowls of ramen in her hands.


    "Thank you for the meal mom."


    The two practically devoured their meal and were finished pretty fast. "Ahhhh." Kyaga sighed. "So good¡­"


    "Thanks." Smiled his mom over to him.


    "When do we have to go?" Asked Kyaga.


    "In about half an hour I would say."


    "Okay! Imma be ready then:" Kyaga walked upstairs again, and inside of his room.


    He threw himself on his bed and sighed. "When I won''t be at home tonight Imma be so furious."


    He stood up again and walked over to his PC. He turned the monitor on again and saw another news stream about AOS.


    [ Show host 1: "Yeah, we also tried to get contact with some of the last VR-Force Players, but unfortunately all of them declined our offer to come to our show."


    Show host 2: "That''s really too bad, I would''ve loved to speak to Kyaga, Yakumu or some of the other elite players again, they are all pretty cool people."


    One: "But we''ve got someone else for you here!" He hit his table, fast and excited like a little kid.


    Two: "Who could it be?"


    One: "Miyoshi Yayoi!" ]


    "Miyoshi!?" Kyaga was kind of shook.


    [ A small, young woman joined the two at their table.


    M: "Hey guys!"


    Two: "Hey!"


    One: "Hey Miyoshi, nice to see you again!"


    M: "Nice to see you, too!"]


    ''It was really Miyoshi!'' Thought Kyaga to himself. ''I didn''t think that I would see her again.''


    [ One: "That''s right guys, we got Miyoshi for you! Former Rank 1 player in AOS and founder of the arguably most influential guild in the whole game: ''The Royal Playground''!"


    Miyoshi looked at him a bit embarrassed.


    M: "You are flattering me"


    She giggled.


    Two: "We will ask you some things about some AOS stuff, that we are pretty interested in, and you will answer them, okay?"


    M: "Okay!"


    Two: "First Question: Will you-" ]


    Kyaga was interrupted by the voice of his mother and lay down his headset. "Kyaga, are you coming!?"


    "Yeah!"

 2.2 Brother love

    Kyaga and his mom sat down in his mom''s car and started to drive to the sword fighting tournament in which his step-brother participated.


    Kyaga never met his biological father, but his mom got a new man on her side when Kyaga was about 4 years old. Just two years ago he and her mom divorced, but the two stayed friends, so they still met sometimes.


    Not at all for the pleasure of Kyaga. He hated his step-brother because in his eyes he was just a spoiled, cocky brat. He made fun of Kyaga''s gaming prominence because he thought that it isn''t worth anything being good at a game.


    Once he calmed down a bit over the thoughts about his brother, he thought about Miyoshi again. He really didn''t think at all that he would ever see her again, and almost teared up about the thought that this now was probably the last time he would probably ever see her. Not to mention that after 0 A.M. he would never see all his online friends again.


    His mother looked over to him. "Are you okay Kyaga?"


    "Y-Yeah I''m fine, thanks."


    She looked at him concerned. "I don''t think so. What''s on your mind?"


    "It''s just that I will miss all of my friends, and the game in general." Said Kyaga, almost tearing up again.


    His mom had to bite back a comment about the fact that she still thinks it''s stupid to be this sad about a game because she was afraid of Kyaga crying. "Why don''t you just meet up with your online friends, huh?"Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "I don''t know." Answered Kyaga. "It''s just not the same, I wouldn''t even know what to say."


    His mom sighed. "I''m sorry, but I really don''t know how to help you Kyaga."


    "No problem, I don''t even know myself, so it isn''t that bad I guess."


    They arrived at the hall, where the tournament was hosted. It was a normal gym with a few banners outside of it that wrote ''Sword fighting tournament 2022''.


    They went inside and Kyaga almost immediately spotted his step-father, and his step-brother, who already walked towards them.


    "Hey! Good to see you!" Greeted Kyaga''s mom the two of them, who greeted her back friendly.


    Kyaga was just standing beside them, not saying a word.


    "Hey, Kyaga!" The boy in Kyaga''s age walked over to him and patted him on the back. He got short, blond hair and wore a fighting suit.


    "Hey, Okawa¡­" Answered Kyaga a bit forced.


    "How is my favorite pro-gamer doing?"He asked ironically.


    Kyaga sighed. "At least I achieved anything in my life."


    Kyaga''s mom and his step-father looked at him mad, but Okawa just started to laugh. "I think you know that what you''ve achieved never was worth anything, and in particular now when your game shuts down." He started to laugh again.


    Now their parents looked mad at Okawa. "Why can''t you two just tolerate each other?" Asked Kyaga''s mom.


    "Hey, Kyaga!" Said Okawa all of the sudden. "I have a great idea!"


    "What is it?"


    "Why don''t we have a little practicing fight? I mean you are a Swordsman, aren''t you?" He smiled at him provocative.


    "You aren''t funny Okawa." Said Kyaga dismissing.


    "Nah, I''m serious."


    "Dude, this is something completely different."


    "So you admit that you''ve archived nothing?"


    Kyaga looked at him angry. "Fine!"


    Okawa smiled. "Well, then let''s fight."

 2.3 Fighting

    "Hey Kyaga, you don''t have to do this!" Said his mom a bit worried.


    "It''s okay mom, imma just show him that he shouldn''t always be so cocky." Said Kyaga with confidence in his eyes."


    "You just said yourself that real-life fighting is something completely different for yourself."


    "I''m not one of the best swordsmen for no reason." Kyaga and Okawa walked off to the changing room.


    "Are you sure about this?" Asked Okawa. He still had a smile on his face. "Without all your Combos and OP Levels, it''s going to be hard." He laughed


    "Stop being so cocky Okawa." Kyaga knew that his brother was right. Without all his Combos and items, and ''Fight Help'' it would be much harder for him.


    They entered the changing room and Okawa handed him Kendo armor, and a wooden Kendo sword, so they got dressed.


    When they left the changing room, Kyaga saw how some other teenagers were already practice fighting.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    He and Okawa walked towards a free space where they could fight and took in their positions.


    "Hey Guys! Look!" A kid next to them started to shout. "Okawa and his brother are fighting!"


    Okawa was popular in his Kendo club, due to his fighting skill. Most of the others in the club probably didn''t even know what AOS was, so Kyaga didn''t hope for support from anyone.


    Kyaga was surprised by the low weight of the sword. He already fought as a kid and remembered the sword to be heavier.


    "No rules and first body hit wins. Okay?" Asked Okawa.


    "Sure!" Answered Kyaga. He didn''t know the rules anyway, so he didn''t really care.


    "Well then," Said Okawa. "Let''s go!"


    They both bowed and walked towards a mark on the ground. Once they reached the mark, they lifted up their swords and crouched down. They stood up again and Okawa immediately struck upon Kyaga.


    Kyaga was surprised but could block the hit. He tried to push as hard as possible against the blade of Okawa, so he wouldn''t get hit, and he succeeded.


    Okawa took a step backward and took in his position again.


    He smiled at Kyaga. "Not bad¡­ For a Nerd like you."


    Kyaga had anger in his face again. With a short battle cry, he sprinted towards Okawa, lifted his sword and struck from above.


    Okawa expected that and just took a quick step to the side.


    Kyaga, whose full power strike hit nothing, had to catch a breath for a second before he went back in his ready position.


    Okawa laughed. "Being an E-Sports pro means nothing here, you know?"


    Kyaga built up more anger with every word out of Okawa''s mouth.


    Okawa now also went in his position. "Let''s see how you can ''fend off my attacks."

 2.4 Family first

    Okawa sprinted towards Kyaga and struck upon him. Kyaga, who managed to defend the attack just in time now pressed his blade against the one of Okawa, who defiantly had the upper hand.


    Just when Kyaga could only barely hold up against Okawa, he slid to the right and tried to hit Okawa from the right in his torso.


    But then¡­ ''tuck''


    The crowd around them started to cheer, but Kyaga just froze.


    He felt a strike on his left side and looked down on his body. Okawa managed to strike him before he could¡­ He now looked up to Okawa, who had an arrogant smile on his face.


    "That was fast." He said, trying to disrespect Kyaga. And it worked perfectly on the now angered and still disbelieving Kyaga.


    ''How?'' Is the only thing he thought.


    "What''s up Kyaga? You didn''t think I would beat you that easy, huh?"


    "Shut up Okawa!" Said Kyaga. "You want a rematch? I just got warmed up."


    "Nah thanks, I''m fine!" Said Okawa laughing. "I need to warm up for the real opponents, and you aren''t a good fighter to practice with."


    He just turned around and walked towards the other practice fields.


    ''What a jerk!'' Thought Kyaga.


    The still cheering crowed followed Okawa. The only one who was still standing on her place was Kyaga''s mother. Kyaga started to walk towards her.


    "I said you shouldn''t do this." She said in a caring voice.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Yeah, I know." Said Kyaga defeated. "I''m just a loser in the real world."


    "Don''t say that!" Said his mom indignantly. "You''re not a loser by any means!"


    "Mhh¡­" He didn''t say anything, because he didn''t want to argue with his mother, even though he was sure that even his mother knew that he was just a loser outside of AOS.


    Kyaga sighed. "Let''s just look at his games."


    His mother smiled at him. "Yeah, let''s just do this."


    The tournament consisted of 5 rounds: sixteenth final to final.


    Okawa easily managed to get to the semi-final, when Kyaga noticed that it was already past 23 o''clock.


    "Mom?" His mother looked over to him. "You know that it''s almost 0 A.M., don''t you?"


    "Yeah, Kyaga." She answered him a bit absent because she looked at Okawa, who was fighting his semi-final opponent.


    "You said we will be home by then so I hope you keep that."


    She looked over to him. "When this will take longer than expected, then we will stay for that time."


    "But mom! You sai-"


    "It doesn''t matter what I said Kyaga. Family goes first!" She turned over to the game again.


    ''Family first?'' Thought Kyaga to himself and almost laughed. ''Everyone in AOS is more family to me than my step-dad and step-brother.''


    "Then Imma go by myself."


    "Sure thing." She said, again absent.


    Kyaga already walked out of the door when his mom realized what he just said, and did.


    She immediately stood up and walked towards the door through that Kyaga just left. "Hey Kyaga, wait!"


    Meanwhile, Kyaga already was on the street, thinking of a plan how he could reach his house without needing longer than an hour.


    He turned around a corner when his mom sprinted out of the door. "Kyaga!" She couldn''t see him, nor could he hear her voice anymore. She sighed "I''m such a bad mother."


    Kyaga remembered that one of his school friends lived nearby. He thought that he could maybe lend a bike from him, so he did just that.


    His friend was a bit confused but agreed under the condition that he would return his bike tomorrow. ''No problem'' Thought Kyaga. Tomorrow was no school anyways, so he had time for that.


    He rode the bicycle home and was just in time. 23:47


    He grabbed himself a bottle of water and drank a bit on his way upstairs. The bicycle ride made him a bit exhausted.


    He got out his phone to text his mom that he was home. His mom already sent him about 30 messages, asking if he''s fine.


    He threw his phone on his bed and lay down. He grabbed over himself to take his VR-Force.


    ''The last time, huh?''


    He sighed and even had to hold back a tear.


    "Why¡­"


    He put the ''glasses'' on his head and plugged in the Power- and LAN-cable.


    "Start!"

 3.1 Im Home

    Again, Kyaga found himself laying in his virtual bed.


    He looked at the ingame clock. 23:51 He sighed in relief. ''There was still time.''


    He pushed the curtains by side and walked towards the door. He pushed the old wooden door open and was inside the Guild Castle''s hallway.


    He started to walk towards the conference room because most of the Guild members that wanted to wait till the end wanted to meet up there.


    Once he arrived at the big door on the end of the hallway he pushed it open.


    There were 3 people around the round table in the middle of the room, speaking friendly.


    Itaka, the Guild''s Strategist, Kanagaki, the Guild''s Combat leader, a big and buffed up man with short and shaggy brown hair, and Sakubara, the Guild''s Trading Master, a man with glasses, black hair and a haircut which almost looked identical to Kyaga''s.


    "Hey, Guys!"


    All three stopped speaking. "Hey, Kyaga!" Everybody greeted him friendly.


    "Sorry I''m so late, had to do something."


    "It''s okay, you''re here after all." Said Itaka understanding.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "Is there no one else here?" Asked Kyaga curiously, because he couldn''t believe that only 4 people would come.


    "Shizu was here just a few seconds ago, most of the rest isn''t even logged in." Said Kangaki a bit saddened.


    Kyaga nodded towards him and walked towards his Guild Master Chair.


    Kyaga at down and sighed.


    "I will miss this world, and especially you guys." Said Kyaga, saddened and defeated.


    All three looked over to Kyaga.


    "I''ll miss my life here, the better reality I could escape to." He continued.


    "Of course, you will. It was hard to build all this up and I understand why you don''t want to give up on all this, but sometimes it''s just the best to let go." Said Itaka surprisingly calm.


    "Yeah, he''s right Kyaga", said Sakubara, "We thought about playing the new AOS computer version when it''s coming out. We will all just use the names we''re using here and start there again."


    Kyaga sighed. "Maybe you guys just aren''t like me¡­"


    All three looked at him questioningly.


    "I''m just a loser in the real world, but here I''m popular and everyone likes me¡­ I don''t want this to end, I don''t want to be the boring kid with no friends anymore."


    Sakubara smiled at him.


    "When we work hard, we can achieve everything again."


    "But a PC game could never be my second reality. No matter how much I would achieve in a computer game or how popular I might be¡­ I would never feel like it''s me. In this VR full dive game, it''s something different, it''s just like me. When I eat I can taste, when I see something I can see it, and not just some stupid animation on a monitor¡­ I want to stay here¡­ in my reality."


    For a few seconds, everybody on the table just looked down and said nothing. Until Sakubara stood up.


    "I will log out now guys, I don''t want to stay until the end¡­ It was an honor to fight together with you!" Said Sakubara while he made a medieval ''goodbye gesture''.


    Kyazuto, Itaka, and Kanagaki said goodbye, and with two movements of his right hand Sakubara logged out.


    Suddenly one of the four doors opened and Shizuka came in

 3.2 Where are we?

    The moment she spotted Kyaga standing next to Itaka and Kanagaki her light blue eyes sparked, and she started to run towards him with open arms, her light blue hair flying behind her. "Kyaga!" She hugged him deeply.


    "Whoa!" He had to take a step backward because of the speed that she had.


    She was a bit smaller than Kyaga and now looked up to his red blushing face.


    "Hey, Shizuka." He gave her a smile.


    "You know, I was pretty worried you wouldn''t come here anymore." She said a bit saddened.


    "Yeah, I was worried too, but no I''m here." He scratched his head.


    "Well you two are certainly cute together, but it''s almost 0 A.M. now." Interrupted them Itaka.


    Shizuka pushed herself a bit embarrassed away from Kyaga.


    They both checked their ingame clocks and indeed, it was 23:58.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    They all sat down again and waited for the last few seconds in silence.


    Five, four, three, two, one¡­


    "Bye guys¡­" Said Kyaga defeated.


    ¡­


    But that was strange, normally when you log out the world around you starts dissolving and you wake up in your bed¡­ But he was falling¡­ Just like,¡­ like he was entering the game.


    And from one moment to another he was standing again.


    [Day 1, Somewhere on Stage 1]


    "W-Where am I?" Kyaga opened his eyes and tried to coordinate himself. He was standing on a street and there were several old buildings around him, "This defiantly isn''t our castle guys."


    There were a few seconds of silence. "Guys?" He realized that there were several people surrounding him that looked just as confused as he felt, but not his friends. ''I gotta find them!''


    "Itaka! Kanagaki! Shizuka! Where are you!?"


    A few seconds later everything around him started to get louder and louder, and it felt like panic was rising.


    "Itaka! Kanaga-"


    "Over here Kyaga!" He heard a familiar voice crying out for him.


    He started to look around him as he couldn''t make out from where the voice was coming. He searched a few seconds until he saw a rather big man waving his hands. It was Itaka.


    They walked towards each other.


    "Do you have any clue what''s going on Itaka?" Kyaga said, still confused.


    "I have no clue at all." Even though Itaka always was the calm guy, who never lost his mind, he seemed to be a bit confused by everything that was happening.


    "I think we should find the others before anything happens to them." Said Kyaga determined.


    "Yeah, you''re right."

 3.3 Shelter and Search

    They both started to look around them, but only saw people confused, just as them, or running around with seemingly no aim at all.


    "Hey Itaka."


    "Huh?" He looked at him questioningly.


    "Did you notice that everyone, including us, has almost the exact same clothes."


    Kyaga was right, almost everyone around them wore the exact same outfit: black leather boots, brown pants, a white t-shirt, and a brown, medieval-looking vest.


    "Yeah." Said Itaka, almost as if it was the most normal thing ever.


    ''What could all of this mean!?'' Asked Kyaga himself. ''Is this a dream, or what?''


    Kyaga pinched himself to make sure he wasn''t just to be sure. "Ouch!"


    Itaka looked over to him. "What are you doing?"


    "Oh, Uhh¡­ Nothing." Kyaga said while scratching his head. "You''ve got any plans Itaka?"


    Itaka looked away skeptical and thought for a few seconds.


    "Maybe we can find out a bit more where exactly we are and how big this place is, because standing here will most certainly not achieve anything."


    "Good idea, we should maybe seek out a high building to get a good view."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Yeah, we should have quite a good view from up there." Itaka pointed to the only high building that stood out from all the others, a church nearby. "Let''s go fast."


    They both ran towards it, trying to avoid any people. You could hear some cry and some screaming out names, seemingly searching for people. Some were standing together in groups, while others just stood there alone, or ran in any direction.


    After the quick, but tough run they both took a breath, and entered the medieval, and magnificent church. The doors were heavy but still pushed open easily. With a loud bang from the doors a big, wide room, with at least 50 benches, a majestic altar, and countless, impressive and beautiful painting on the walls and on the ceiling opened for them.


    Itaka and Kanagaki marveled but quickly regained their consciousness.


    "No time to waste Kyaga, we got to go."


    "Yeah, you''re right."


    They quickly spotted the staircase which let up to the clock tower. They were just about to take the first step when they heard a loud noise behind them and twitched.


    It was the door that opened and revealed a silhouette. They couldn''t really make out the outlines of whoever just entered the church, because the light-flooded in from behind the person.


    But once it closed, they could make it out very fast. "Shizuka!" Screamed Kyaga as he and Itaka ran towards her.


    "Kyaga, Itaka. Is it you guys!?" She said more than happy.


    Kyaga and her hugged deep and they didn''t let go for at least ten seconds.


    "What a relief that we found you." Said Kyaga worried.


    "Yeah, I''m so happy." Shizuka was almost crying now.


    "Are you okay?" Asked Itaka. "Did anything happen?"


    "No, not really. I was just really scared." To see Shizuka, who never was a very emotional person, but rather a brave and happy person, or at least not in the game, almost crying was a shock for both Itaka and Kyaga. "Do you have any idea what''s going on?"


    "No, not really, we wanted to check on the tower to get a better view and maybe find out something." Said Itaka.


    "That''s why I got here too, at least we are smart, huh?" She said a bit ironic and they all had a small laugh.


    "Is it okay if we leave you here for a few moments, in case Kanagaki has the same idea as us? Me and Itaka will go up real quick."


    "Yeah, that''s okay, I will be fine."

 3.4 An unhoped-for encounter

    "Okay!"


    Kyaga and Itaka sprinted up the staircase, which was going up in a big spiral. And after what felt like a small eternity, they almost reached the top.


    Suddenly Itaka, who was maybe 4 stairs ahead of Kyaga, stopped. "Psshh!" He put his index finger over his lips while he turned over to Kyaga.


    Kyaga stopped immediately and hold is breath in order to be as quite as possible.


    "Can you hear that too?" Whispered Itaka over to him.


    Kyaga tried to concentrate if he could hear anything. "I-I don''t think so."


    "I can hear voices." Itaka pointed upwards.


    Kyaga concentrated again, but this time to hear any voices from above him. And there they were, a male and a female voice. He couldn''t make out what they were saying, but it was for sure that they were standing on top of the tower.


    "Now I can hear them too."


    "Seems like some other people want to figure out what''s happening as well¡­ But none of these peoples sound like Kanagaki, so we should be careful." Said Itaka.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "Yeah, you''re right!"


    They took step after step, trying to make asfew sounds as possible until they were just at the end of the staircase.


    Kyaga and Itaka peeked just over the edge to see the man and woman chatting while lending over the railing. But they couldn''t really make out their faces.


    "A-Are you sure that we are here?" Said the woman shocked. They could hear their voices now very clear.


    "Yeah." Said the man with a surprisingly deep voice. "There''s no doubt of it, I recognize a lot of things."


    "What does all of this mean?" The woman sounded frustrated.


    "I have no idea ¡­ We will have to gather some more information."


    Kyaga looked over to Itaka. "You hear that!" He whispered surprised but happy. "They know where we are."


    "Yeah, but we don''t." Said Itaka rather concerned.


    Kyaga straightened himself a bit, in order to maybe see a bit more of the outside world. But as he did the woman glanced over to him and saw him.


    "Hey!"


    Kyaga and Itaka went down instantly, but that didn''t help them anymore.


    "Who is there!?" The woman started to walk over to the stairs.


    "What''s up Toya?" The man didn''t saw them, so he was quite confused.


    "I think I just saw someone there."


    Itaka looked over to Kyaga. "Man, you''re so stupid sometimes."


    Kyaga scratched his head. "Hehe, sorry."


    Kyaga and Itaka stood up and looked over the stairs, just to see the woman, right in front of them. She had pale skin, was quite large, opened up, long and purple hair and the standard clothes that everyone seemed to wear.


    "H-Hey." Said Kyaga.


    "What are you doing here, spying at us!?" She said a bit furious, stepping backward and reaching for her weapon at her belt.


    Kyaga and Itaka startled, but also looked down on their bodies to confirm just what they thought. They didn''t have any weapons at all.

 3.5 Welcome to Zeiwit

    "Hey, Hey." Said the man in the background calming. "No need to act like that in times like these Toya." He was large as well, and a bit buffed up. Not as much as Kanagaki but still impressive. He looked a bit old like he''s in his late 30''s and had brown and short, but very neat hair.


    He walked forward while the woman, or Toya, went behind him.


    "Who are you guys?" He said friendly.


    "We are Kyaga and Itaka." Said Kyaga determined.


    "Oh, I see. I think I heard your name before. Aren''t you like a pro player or something?"A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Uhh." He was a bit abashed. "Yeah. Or more like I used to be one."


    "Well, it''s never bad to know someone who''s good at something useful."


    "And who are you?" Asked Itaka curious. "And why are you here?"


    "I am Rex, and this" He took a step sideways and pointed his index finger on the woman behind him, "this is Toya. Nice to meet you."


    "Nice to meet you too." Kyaga and Itaka were still a bit suspicious.


    "And we were here because of the same reason as you are." He turned around and started to walk towards the railing. "Come here."


    They walked up the rest of the stairs and followed him. Slowly everything around them became clearer and clearer. All the familiar buildings, the familiar townhall, just next to the church and the very familiar colosseum.


    "Is this...?" Mumbled Kyaga.


    "Yes!" Interrupted him Rex. "Welcome to Zeiwit!"

 4.1 Making friends

    [Day 1, Zweiwit]


    The two were flabbergasted. "Zeiwit?" Asked Itaka incredulous.


    "Yup." Answered Rex. "Zeiwit in all it''s beauty."


    Even though it was a bit of weird to call a city in which one was obviously trapped, and where thousands of people were running around with no aim while crying, beautiful, Rex definitely had a point.


    The orange roofs, big, marvelous buildings and the sun shining from above bringing a slight glimmer to almost everything.


    "Yeah." Mumbled Kyaga who was a bit amazed by the sight of all of it. But he quickly snapped out of it again. "We have to tell Shizu. A-And we have to find Kanagaki. I bet he''s somewhere down there." He stuttered hectically while moving to the stairs.


    "Hey, Kyaga." Itaka clapped him on the shoulders. "Calm down, calm down. We shouldn''t rush anything, okay?"


    Kyaga took a deep breath. "Yeah, you''re right." He looked over the city again. "Zeiwit, huh?" He thought to himself. "What does all that mean?"If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Rex walked over to the stairs as well. "Let''s go down then. You have someone waiting, right?" Kyaga and Itaka nodded. "Well then. Let''s not waste any more time."


    He took his first step down and everyone else followed him shortly after.


    Kyaga and Itaka were visibly in thought about what was happening. ''Zeiwit? All these people? What does that mean?'' You could clearly see the confusion in their eyes as they were walking down the stair. Maybe Kyaga was a bit too much in thought and paid too little attention because as he was walking over a step which was a bit cracked, he almost tripped and was caught by Itaka in last second.


    "Hey, Kyaga. Pay a bit more attention. We can talk and think later."


    Kyaga was obviously embarrassed. "Uhh, yeah." He said while his cheeks got red.


    Rex and Toya, on the other hand, were calm and didn''t seem to be bothered by anything.


    "So." Said Rex to finally break the silence. "Do you only know each other and the girl in the church? Or are there some other people you know?"


    "Well." Said Kyaga. "I guess we know a lot of the ex top players of AOS, but we have no clue who got here with us and who logged out. There is one guy who''s definitely here, and that''s our good friend Kanagaki."


    "But we didn''t find him when we got here and he wasn''t in the church either." Added Itaka. "So we let our friend Shizuka stay down in hope that he would show up eventually."


    Rex nodded. "Knowing as many people as possible is very important in situations like this." He paused for a short thinking break. "Or rather people who are willing to team up and follow you."


    Kyaga and Itaka nodded back to him.

 4.2 Unusual Tags

    Kyaga and Itaka opened the door to the main part of the church and headed through first. They instantly saw Shizu still standing, or now rather kneeling, at the door. There was someone else sitting beside her and they seemed to talk.


    "Hey, Shizu!" Yelled Kyaga from the other side of the room while walking over to her. The others still behind him.


    "He-..." She cut off and glanced behind Itaka, where Rex and Toya were walking. "Who are these people?" She asked, obviously curious.


    Kyaga turned his head while walking and pointed at them with his thumb. "Oh, these guys? They are Rex and Toya, we met them at the top." While talking Kyaga and the others finally reached the door and Kyaga threw himself on the ground. "Phew, since when is walking in this game is so goddamn exhausting..."


    Itaka, who sat down as well, but not as abruptly as Kyaga, nodded. "Yeah, I''ve noticed that too. Maybe this isn''t the AOS we are used to after all."


    The still very confused Shizu seemed to ignore their conversation, as she still looked at Rex and Toya dumbfounded. "And you met these guys... On top of the church? Or what?"


    Rex and Toya sat down on the nearest bench, which was only a few meters away from the door. "Yeah, we had the same idea as you guys and wanted to get a better look at the current situation." Said Rex and pointed at the stranger. "And who is this?" He asked. "Your friends didn''t talk about two people down here. Is this the Kanagaki guy?"Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Kyaga shook his head. "No, this isn''t him." He looked over to Shizu expectant.


    "This is Duncan. Duncan Asheton." Said Shizu, while gesturing in his way.


    Everybody looked at him with different expressions, but mostly confusion. He just waved back and smiled.


    "Duncan?" Asked Kyaga unbelieving. "Duncan Asheton? That''s a weird name for sure..."


    He scratched his head in embarrassment and just smiled. "Yeah, it''s my Gamer Tag..."


    In AOS it was pretty unusual to have a real Gamer Tag. Most people used their real first name, or some kind of variation or nickname because in highly realistic VR many people were way more comfortable with that. Gamer Tags were mostly used by older players, who were playing other PC games before AOS and already had their Gamer Tag as an own internet personality. But these people were only a few.


    "What''s so weird about that?" Asked Rex, who didn''t warp a single muscle in his face. "My Gamer Tag is Rex, that isn''t typically Japanese as well."


    "Yeah, but with ''Rex'' it''s clear that it''s a Gamer Tag. Duncan on the other hand just sounds like he''s coming from West and that''s weird." Answered Itaka, whereupon Rex nodded in comprehension.


    "Well, could we maybe change the topic?" Asked Duncan a bit awkward while smiling. He was seemingly still very embarrassed by his own name.


    They nodded before Kyaga started to talk again. "Just one last question. You are not a pro player, right? With such a strange name I would''ve remembered you for sure."


    It seemed like everybody sighed in unison as Duncan got out an unsure "No... I''m not a pro player..."

 4.3 Wait, we still have our Interface...

    "Well, what did you see up there now?" Asked Shizu curious. "You know what is going on?"


    "We at least know where we are..." Answered Kyaga.


    "And?"


    "We are definitely still in AOS."


    Shizu didn''t look surprised at all, as she could expect as much as that.


    Kyaga wanted to continue but Itaka cut him off. "We are in Zeiwit." He looked over a bit harsh to Kyaga. "No need to make it mysterious or something right now. We have better things to do."


    Kyaga just looked at him blankly and said nothing.


    "Zeiwit?!" Said Shizu finally, very incredulous and with wide eyes. "How did we get here?" She looked around herself. "A-And why?"


    Kyaga slid over to her and took her hand. "No worries, all fine. We don''t know it ourselves yet, but we are most likely the first ones to find out that much. So we should stay calm, make the best out of this situation and help others."


    Rex stood up from the bench and walked over to them and opened the church''s door slightly to peek through. The people seemed to calm down a bit and Zeiwit main market place, where everyone got spawned, was a lot emptier. "The people seem to calm down. Didn''t you want to search your friend... what was his name again? Ka-... Kanaki?"Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "His name his Kanagaki." Answered Itaka. "And yeah, we wanted to search him."


    "Then I''d say that the best opportunity to do so is now. People are calm and aren''t far away from the market place. You should do it now." Rex made a gesture towards Toya whereupon she stood up and walked towards him.


    "And what are you doing?" Asked Kyaga a bit sad, sounding like he wanted Rex and Toya to stay with them for now.


    "We will try to find out what is happening here and get some information. As long as we don''t know what exactly is happening there is no point in doing something specific. So we will also prepare ourselves for whatever is coming next."


    "And how do we stay in contact?" Asked Itaka. "We should at least trade some information about what is going on, I''d say that''s better for all of us."


    "We are still in AOS, right?" Said Rex with a smile on his face. "Just open the menu."


    "Open the..." They all were kind of dumbfounded that they didn''t realize that earlier... But of course! They were still in AOS, so everything was basically like it was before.


    Kyaga but out his index and middle finger, and there it was. The menu bar with all the functions. Just the Log Out Button seemed to be gone.


    "How didn''t we think about that." Said Kyaga as excited, and happy as the others seemed to be as well. "Man, we are retarded."


    Rex laughed. "Okay, just add me to your friend list then. My Tag is just Rex."


    Kyaga, Itaka, Shizuka, and Duncan all added him and Toya to their list and said goodbye to each other. As the church door closed again.


    Kyaga sighed. "Did one of you know these guys? I didn''t want to ask them... But they seemed familiar."


    Itaka and Shizu shrugged, as well as Duncan. "I asked myself the same though." Said Itaka. "They can''t be from the high pro scene, we would''ve known them then. But they were definitely no noobs or something either."

 4.4 Weird name, weird persona

    "So, we go on our way as well?" Asked Itaka determined. He wanted to find Kanagaki as quick as possible, so they could get started exploring as well. He was thrilled to find out what was happening.


    Shizu, on the other hand, couldn''t do anything but think of the worst. She just wanted to get out of whatever sick dream she was in right now and rest. But for getting out, they had to know what was going on in the first place. "I-I don''t know..." Despite that, she was still too confused and scared to go out right away and go on some kind of journey or adventure.


    Kyaga stood up and held out a hand for her to get up. "No worries, we got this. We are TRP, you forgot that?" He said, with a big smile on his face.


    Shizu had to laugh for a moment and then took his hand to get up. "Ok, you''re right. We got this!" She said, now also determined. Maybe not as determined as Itaka, who was still fired up for an adventure, but definitely not as scared as before.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Suddenly they heard someone clearing their throat, and everybody startled for a second before they realized where it was coming from. Duncan.


    "Oh, you are still here, right." Said Kyaga. He tried to sound apologetic.


    "It''s all fine." He put on a fake smile and scratched his head. "I guess I''m just a third wheel who''s keeping you from what you want to do anyway, so." He stood up and without another word he was gone behind the door.


    Everybody just looked at each other in confusion. "Did you guys understand what just happened?" Asked Itaka finally after a short break of silence.


    "I have no idea..." Answered Shizu, who hesitated to go after him and explain to him that he could stay, but she decided against it."


    "Well..." Said Kyaga. "Weird name, weird person, huh?" Again a short silence, before everybody started to laugh a bit.


    "Yeah, 100 percent true." Said Itaka.

 4.5 The black Potion!

    Now the 3 new Adventurers headed out on their first Mission: Finding Kanagaki. As confident as ever.


    But they quickly realized that screaming his name in the middle of the marketplace wasn''t going to work as good as they thought.


    "It may be calmer than before, but that doesn''t mean that he''s still around here. He could be anywhere, to be honest." Said Itaka. You could literally see him thinking about what to do next.


    "Aren''t you his best friend Itaka, you should know what he''s doing in a situation like that." Said Kyaga back.


    "In a situation like that?" Asked Itaka ironically. "As if I know what he would do when he would get trapped in Zeiwit with thousands of other people..."


    Kyaga was silent for a moment. "Yeah, maybe you''re right."


    "Let''s just use our interface and try to search for something useful that may help us." Suggested Shizu. She already swept down her fingers to open the menu and started to search for something that may help.


    "Yeah, now that we know that we got one!" Said Kyaga and opened his as well.


    Now the three were searching through every little corner for any useful information. Log Out Button? - Not there; Settings? - Nothing useful either; Skill? - No Skill Points, so nothing; Inventory? - ...


    "Hey, guys! Look in the inventory!" Said Shizu somewhat excited.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The other two quickly pulled up the inventory... And there it was in one of the many blue boxes, next to what seemed like beginner potions, there was a sword. It was a super basic and weak D-Tier sword, with no enhancements at all. But what do you expect from a beginner sword? It was still better, and stronger than beating with fists.


    "Nice! Now we know where Rex and Toya got their swords from." Said Kyaga excited over their newfound weapon.


    All three quickly equipped the weapon. It slowly appeared inside a brown leather sheath on their belts. They drew it out and quickly examined it. It was really as basic as a sword could get. A handle and a blade. Nothing fancy at all.


    They put it back in and went on with the search.


    "You know what these potions are?" Asked Kyaga curious about if they were just normal HP and STA Potions, or if they were special.


    "No idea. Let''s look." Suggested Itaka, who was just as curious as him.


    They, again, pulled up the inventory and examined the potions. First, the generic, red Potion: An obvious HP Potion, meant to recover some of the lost Health Points. Next up the STA Potion: A light blue potion, meant to recover STA. And lastly, a black potion, having a certain shine to it, as if it is an S-Class item. There was also a red triangle in the corner of its icon, signalizing there is a trade ban on that item.


    "That''s strange, what is the black one meant to do?"


    They clicked on it and got a description.


    -----


    Item: Potion of Appearance


    Quantity: 1


    Value: UNTRADEABLE


    Description:


    A potion for everyone that enters AOS a second time. As your old character model was transferred here, you may change your appearance to make yourself comfortable. You may have to stay longer.


    -----


    There was a moment of shock and silence in the air. Even their surroundings seemed to be completely silent for a moment before they snapped out of it again.


    "You may have to stay longer." Repeated Itaka, still in shock.


    "Well." Said Kyaga slowly. "We shouldn''t worry about this right now. Maybe we can find something out later, but we should really concentrate on finding Kanagaki now."


    "Yeah, you are right." Agreed Shizu. "Let''s do one thing at a time now. We have a weapon, and couldn''t find more. So we have to do it all by ourselves for now. Let''s go!"

 5.1 A first Mission

    As it turns out, the trio quickly realized that their first Mission was harder than expected. Zeiwit wasn''t the hugest of cities, but searching through everything with no clue where to start was a hard quest nonetheless. So instead of just walking around and searching, they tried to figure out where Kanagaki was most likely to go.


    "You guys got any idea?" Asked Kyaga. Still overwhelmed by the situation and the surroundings they were put in, it was hard for him to think straight.


    "No, not really." Answered Shizu. Her facial expressions indicated that she had a similar opinion on the situation.


    Itaka, on the other hand, was too busy thinking. So busy, that he didn''t even notice them speaking. He was pondering with one hand on his chin, slowly rubbing it over and over again. He was determined to find his friend, not letting him behind and letting him figure things out alone.


    Kyaga and Shizu looked over to Itaka, waiting for his comment, but not wanting to ask again so his thought process wouldn''t get interrupted.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Suddenly his eyes sparked up with joy. "Hey!..." But it quickly faded again. "Okay, maybe the idea isn''t as good as I first thought it would be." Said Itaka "But... maybe he is around the Colosseum. If he realized that this is Zeiwit, without being on the church, he may have gone there, as it''s where you needed to go for first quests and stuff, when you first played the game."


    "Actually." Answered Kyaga excited. "That''s genius!"


    "Yeah!" Agreed Shizu. "Good thinking Itaka!"


    "Thanks." Said Itaka calm and seemingly not impressed by his own thinking. "And even if he''s not there, we could still find some things that may be useful for us later."


    "You''re right." Kyaga nodded. "It''s made for the beginners after all, so there''s a good chance."


    "But we should still keep our minds on where he could be." Said Shizu. She didn''t want them to get incautious.


    "Yep. And keep your eyes open for him as well. We don''t want to pass him or something." Itaka adjusted his glasses with his index finger and looked over to Kyaga and Shizu. "We really don''t want to waste too much time. We got things to do that need to be done."


    They both agreed and then went on their way over to the Colosseum. Next to the church, it was the biggest building standing in the city, so there wasn''t really a way of missing the stone walls, which protruded over all the other houses, in any way.

 5.2 Maybe this isnt the place we knew

    On their way, there was something that seemed odd. Everyone noticed it, but no one knew why.


    "You also have this feeling that something''s different?" Asked Kyaga. He was looking around for anything that could''ve triggered this sensation, but there seemingly was nothing.


    "Yeah." Agreed Itaka while Shizu was nodding.


    The houses? Normal; The sky? Normal; The NPCs walking around the streets? Nor-... Wait. NPCs... Walking around?


    As Kyaga realized that, he flipped a bit. "Guys! Oh my god!"


    The other two were startled for a second by the unexpected excitement from him. "Did you find out?" Asked Itaka curious after the shocking moment was over.


    "Yeah, yeah!" He said, still super excited. "Look around you! The people!"


    The others quickly realized what he meant, but weren''t so amazed by it. "They... walk around?"


    In AOS it was not so common that many NPCs walk around like real people. As the game was a first of it''s kind most of the resources went into the Full Dive technology rather than in special A.I. Of course, there were quests, were you had to follow around an NPC, or even have a not prefabricated dialogue with him, which could get pretty deep, but most of the time they just stood around, sold you weapons or had a question mark above their head to indicate that they are quest givers.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    But ambiance like this was not common. NPC''s, which were not important, walking, talking, laughing and doing other stuff? Unthinkable. But it was there. Right before their eyes.


    "Wait, let me try something." Said Itaka. He waited until an NPC crossed their way and talked to her. "Sorry, Miss?"


    "Yeah?" Answered the woman. She was dressed like a normal, medieval, lower-class woman. Common for AOS.


    "Where is the Colosseum?" Of course, Itaka could see it, but he wanted to test if the NPC could interact to spontaneous questions.


    "It right around the next corner." First she pointed in the direction which we were facing and then right. "Just go right then and you are there."


    "Thank you." Itaka smiled and they continued to walk. "Now Itaka was amazed as well. "Did you see that?"


    "Yeah!" Said Kyaga. "How? And Why?"


    "I have no idea, but it''s impressive." Itaka, as a programmer himself, was super amazed by the technology of them reacting within milliseconds and precise.


    Shizu, on the other hand, seemed rather worried. "What do you think is different here as well?"


    There was silence.


    "No idea." Said Kyaga


    You could now see the worry in Kyaga''s face as well, as they walked the last few meters to the Colosseum.

 5.3 On track

    But while going there they still marveled at the NPCs. They really couldn''t believe their eyes. It really seemed like they were living beings. Talking, laughing, walking and looking around.


    You could still differentiate real Players from them, though. Not only from the obvious part, the clothing, but also because real Players all either had an unnatural worried look on their face or would occasionally run around, seemingly searching for any kind of hint on what is happening.


    The NPCs seemed a bit more normal than them actually. The only calm Players around were still only the three, heading for answers in the Colosseum.


    Once they arrived they quickly realized that fining anything would be harder than thought. There were actually a lot of people who came up with the same idea, as it was quite full inside.


    "There are so many here?" Muttered Kyaga disappointed.


    "Yeah, I also thought my idea was smarter." Said Itaka just as disappointed as him. "There are at least 100 people here, how are going to find anything or anyone?"


    "Let''s just go and watch out for either Kanagaki or someone without the beginner''s equipment." Suggested Shizu.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The other two nodded and went on through the loud mass of people. You could still hear screams, crying and other things, but the trio tried to concentrate solely on the faces and clothing around them.


    They quickly spotted a person that wasn''t wearing the beginner''s clothing so they approached him.


    "Hello?" Asked Kyaga cautious, not having any kind of confirmation if he really was an NPC or not.


    The man looked at him confused. "Hello, sir?"


    Kyaga thought for a moment, not knowing what exactly to ask now or how to confirm that he really was an NPC. "NPC?" He muttered after the pause.


    He quickly realized that what he just said didn''t make any sense at all and the confusion on the man''s face confirmed just that. "NP-what?"


    "Are you an NPC?" Asked Kyaga, trying to save himself. He knew that either he would say no, or don''t know what an NPC is, so: win, win!


    "NPC?" You could see him getting even more confused. "You know, just a few minutes ago there were a man and woman here, asking me the exact same question... And now you three? Isn''t that strange? And I still don''t know what it means... Are you gonna tell me at least tha-"


    "A man and a woman?" Shizu cut him off. "How did they look?"


    The man was surprised by getting cut off, but it didn''t seem to bother him too much and quickly inspect the trio from head to toe. "They had the same outfit as you. The man was a bit bulkier and had brown hair and the woman was slim and had purple hair."


    They all looked at each other excited and knew they were thinking the same. Even though brown hair for men and purple hair for women weren''t so uncommon for players in AOS, they still were sure that Rex and Toya were speaking with him just a few minutes okay.

 5.4 Problems

    They at least knew that they were on some kind of track, as they thought that Rex and Toya were definitively on the right track.


    "Okay, and what did you tell them?" Asked Kyaga excited


    "I think they weren''t from here, like a lot of people today." Said the man in a lecturing voice. "First they asked for information on the City, so I told them that we were in Zeiwit and neighboring cities are Geefield and Conistion."


    "Wait. Geefield and Conistion." Asked Itaka confused, as he never heard these names before, and he was sure they weren''t in original AOS.


    "Yes, they asked that as well."


    "You guys heard these names before?" Asked Itaka the other two. They just shook their heads in confusion as well.


    "Well, anyway." The man continued. "You aren''t from here either, huh?"


    They shook their heads. They knew Zeiwit, but Geefield and Conistion? Maybe this wasn''t the AOS they thought it was.


    "Okay." The man cleared his throat and it looked like he wanted to get ready for some kind of lecture. "Our land consists of 3 Cities. Zeiwit; The city we are in right now and you seem to know. Geefield; A City a bit smaller than Zeiwit located in the North." The man pointed somewhere towards the exit of the Colosseum. "And Conistion; A small village located in the North-West" He again pointed somewhere towards the exit, but now just a bit more to the left."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Itaka nodded. "Thank you. And what else did they ask for?"


    "Uhh, let me think for a moment." The man rubbed his chin. "I''m already old, you know?"


    Itaka laughed a bit awkwardly. "All fine."


    "Ah!" The man said suddenly. "I know! they asked me if I had any knowledge of what was happening here right now." They waited for him to answer the question himself, but he didn''t continue.


    "Aaand?" Said Shizu slow and in a suggestive tone.


    "Uhm, I told them I had no idea." The man seemed to think even more. "You all just came so quickly, but we had no idea."


    "And that was it?" Asked Kyaga unbelieving. He was sure that Rex and Toya would''ve asked him much more.


    "Yeah, I think so." He still seemed to think, but he also seemed a bit hopeless so Kyaga just wanted to let it be.


    "We should ask more questions." Said Shizu to him. She didn''t want to go already, as they weren''t sure if he had some kind of meaning here.


    "Are you sure?" Whispered Kyaga over to here and made some hand movements indicating that he seems to be a bit crazy.


    "Yeah Kyaga, she''s right. Maybe he got a quest for us or something. I don''t think that he stands in here for no reason." Said Itaka, agreeing with Shizu.


    Kyaga sighed and gave in. "Okay, you are probably right."

 5.5 A first Quest

    Itaka turned to the man again. "Could you please wait a second?"


    "Sure!"


    And turned back to Kyaga and Shizu. "Maybe we just have to trigger a dialogue somehow. I mean, normally they had a question mark above their heads. But if this world here is meant to be more realistic than we should try that." He whispered.


    "Good idea." Agreed Kyaga. They looked over to Shizu and she nodded as well. "Any suggestions for what to ask?"


    "Maybe we will just flat out ask him if there are any quests he has for us.." Suggested Itaka, whereupon the other two nodded. Itaka faced the man again. "Do you have any quests for us?"


    He got his confused look again. "Quests? You guys are exactly like the other two, you know that?"


    Itaka lowered his head in despair. "They asked that as well?" He sighed and turned to his friends.


    "Yeah, and I still don''t know what it mea-"


    Kyaga stepped forward and cut him off. "Is there anything that we could do for you?"


    "Anything you could do for me?" Asked the man surprised.


    "Yeah, we could do something." Said Kyaga.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Uhm, let me think again." There was a short pause again as the man was ruminating again. "I think there''s just the same thing that I already told the other two."


    "You told the other two?" Asked Itaka incredulous and still in despair while turning to the man again. "Why didn''t you tell us?"


    "I don''t know, I didn''t want to ask you for anything right away, you know?"


    Itaka sighed. "Yeah, sure." He said before turning away, yet again, and muttering to himself. "Maybe this improved AI is more useless for us than I thought.


    "Okay." Continued Kyaga calm. "And what did you ask them for?"


    "I asked them to help me find berries. I really like the red berries that grow in front of Zeiwit''s gates, but it''s too dangerous for me to go alone, so it would be nice if you could go and get me some." Said the man.


    Kyaga, Itaka, and Shizu gave each other an excited look.


    "Okay, and how many do you want to have?" Asked Kyaga impatient, but excited.


    "I asked the other two for about twenty." He had a short thinking break again. "Just get me another twenty then. The more, the better!" He laughed.


    "Okay!" Said Kyaga determined to fulfill this maybe a bit too easy, but still first real Quest they got.


    His little spree of happiness got interrupted when suddenly a pop up appeared in front of his eyes.


    ''New Quest!'' It read. ''Find twenty Berries and return them.''


    "You guys got that too?" Asked Kyaga, now excited again after the short shock. He already forgot that the interface existed again. Wherever they were, it felt scarily real.


    "Yes!" Said Shizu. She seemed to be really excited for the first time since they got here as well.


    "Yeah, we will be here again as fast as possible!" Said Itaka, who already walked a few steps towards the exit again.


    "Wait, wait!" The man called out behind the three, who already set out to the new quest. "Don''t bring them here, please. Bring them to my wife! We live right next to the armorsmith! House number 67!"


    "Okay!" Yelled Kyaga back at him, before they finally exited the Colosseum. They didn''t finish their first Mission, but they at least found a first Quest."

 6.1 Sacrifices?

    As soon as the trio left the Colosseum they noticed how much cleaner the air outside was. Standing in there with all these people, one couldn''t really notice the lack of oxygen, but once they were standing outside again, they took a few deep breaths, enjoying the clean air.


    "So." Said Kyaga. "We gonna start right away?" He wanted to get going as fast as possible now, after losing a bit of time to Rex and Toya.


    "Yeah, I guess." Said Shizu unsure. "But what is up with finding Kanagaki now?"


    "To be honest," Answered Itaka. "we shouldn''t waste any more time. We couldn''t find him in the obvious spots, so we should just progress now. There are about ten thousand people in this one city right now. I''m sure we will meet him at one point."


    "Yeah, you are probably right." She mumbled. She was pretty worried about his well beings but could understand that there were more important things right now.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "Kanagaki is a big guy, you know?" Said Kyaga, trying to calm her a bit and throwing his arm around her neck in a friendly gesture. "He will know what''s right and wrong, or rather what to do and not to do. You know him!" Kyaga had one hundred percent of his trust in Kanagaki, he knew that there was no way he would go into reckless dangers.


    "Yeah, he will probably be either searching for us or trying to progress in his world knowledge, he''s a smart guy!" Said Itaka before mumbling: "But not as smart as me." Under his breath before starting to obviously fake cough.


    The other two looked at him questioningly but just ignored it.


    "He said in front of the town, right?" Asked Kyaga to ensure himself again on where to go.


    "Yup, I''d say so. There aren''t that many locations where berries could be otherwise anyways, so." Answered Shizu


    "Yeah, that''s right as well..."


    "Then let''s go!" She said, now also fired up a bit for their first quest, even though it might be the most boring quest ever. But, hey. You gotta take what''s available in order to progress to higher things, or not?

 6.2 Death

    "Okay then, let''s go!" Agreed Kyaga before starting to walk away from the Colosseum.


    "Uhm, Kyaga?" Asked Itaka unsure.


    Kyaga stopped walking and turned around. "Yeah?"


    "How do you know that the North gate is the right one?"


    Kyaga looked at him questioning before he realized it. "Oh, you''re right. There are three entrances."


    In the hurry, he forgot that Zeiwit was closed in its giant town walls, where you could only get in from the North, South or West entrance. In the East, there was a big Citadel which was as sealed off as possible, so it could serve as a last retreat place. Or at least that is how it was, before... you know...


    The gates itself were not guarded, but in case of an attack, you could close them and use them as a defensive tool. Not that there were any attacks on cities in AOS in the normals sense, but sometimes there were boss raids in which players had to gather in a city and defend it for rewards. There were also surprise raids. These were Raids without any notice and would trap people who were currently in a city to fight the enemies. Then you could either log off and get a 24-hour ban for quitting while being in a fight or commit to it and defend the city.


    As a low-Level Player in such a high-Level surprise Raid, logging off wouldn''t have made such a big difference either though. Because if you died ingame, your Respawntimer was exactly 24 hours; just like the ban. Items, Levels and other valuables would, of course, stay with the player and he wouldn''t lose them after dying.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    That left Kyaga wondering though and he stopped abruptly from walking again, to the surprise of Shizu who was walking right behind him and bumped in top him.


    "Hey! What are you doing Kyaga!" She said annoyed because she almost tripped.


    "Sorry, I was just wondering..." He said, still in thought before he stopped talking again.


    "Wondering what?" Asked Shizu still annoyed. She tried to straighten out her outfit, which was a bit drawn from the bump.


    "What happens if we die in here?"


    Shizu and Itaka got quiet.


    "I... don''t know..." Itaka said a bit hesitant. "But I don''t want to find out either.


    "I''m sure you just get logged out or something. Why should it be scary or something?" Asked Shizu, whereupon Kyaga and Itaka looked at her baffled.


    "You really think that something ''X-Out'' our Logout button, but if you die ingame, you just get logged out normally?" Asked Itaka, still no knowing if she was just sarcastic or really, in his eyes, that ignorant.


    "Look Shizu, we don''t want to think negatively now, or be pessimistic and just cry or whatever." Kyaga said explanatory, "but you have to see it realistically. This doesn''t seem to be a game anymore, okay?"


    Shizu looked terrified but quickly nodded towards him. "Okay, okay." She sighed, trying to cool down again. "You are right, I''m sorry. I should stay cooled and focused." And you could see that she tried just that. She tried to be as determined and focused as always, but she failed miserably. But there was also nothing that Kyaga and Itaka could do, other than just letting her be. They were both not the best with words in cases like that.

 6.3 Doubts

    Realized that they already wasted a bunch of time doing basically nothing, the three of them quickly walked towards the North gate in search for the berries.


    People all around them still were panicking sometimes, others found themselves some groups and tried to start getting some plans for themselves. The surrealism of the situation put them in what felt like a psychological horror film. A film where no one knew what was going on and everybody tried to find their way at first.


    The walk to get to the gate was shorter than expected and they started to search instantly. A few bushes there. A few bushes here. But not really anything looking like berries.


    "I think this may be the wrong gate." Complained Shizu, who was headfirst inside a bush, pushing everything to left and right so that she could see anything.


    "Yeah, I think you''re right!" Yelled Itaka over to her. He was a few meters away and just fell inside one of the bushes, getting his whole clothes full of small green leaves.


    "Didn''t he say something about that it was too dangerous for him to go alone?" Said Kyaga all of the sudden. He was the only one not covered in leaves now, as Shizu, who pulled her head out of the bush now had more green than blue hair, which made Kyaga burst out laughing.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Hey! Why are you laughing at me? Wha-" She touched her own hair, feeling the hundred of small little leaves inside of it and her face instantly turned red from embarrassment. "Hey, don''t laugh! At least I''m doing my job!"


    Kyaga finally calmed down and had to take a few breaths. "No, no it''s cute. It wasn''t meant to be rude." He said, still out of breath and smiling.


    Itaka, who just spectated the two also had a wide grin on his face. "Guys, guys." He said calming. "Kyaga please say what you wanted to say. We shouldn''t waste to much time now."


    "Yeah. You''re right sorry. So, what I wanted to say was that this old guy said that it was too dangerous for him, right?" Asked Kyag whereupon Shizuka and Itaka nodded. "Yeah, so that means it probably isn''t right in front of the gates. maybe we have to walk a bit away from the city first." He suggested.


    "That may be right, yeah." Agreed Itaka and Shizu nodded again.


    "Alright, but are we sure that we can do it?" Doubted Shizu.


    "Don''t Question it Shizu!" Kyaga threw his arm around her shoulders like she was some kind of buddy. "First, it''s a beginner quest, so easy peasy, and if we won''t do an easy quest like this, we will never advance."


    "... You''re probably right. Maybe I''m just a bit too scared of beginning because I got helped at my AOS start and after that, I always helped other beginners as a beginner recruiter." She admitted.


    "That may be, but what do you think the very first players did?" Asked Itaka ironically. "And it really wasn''t that hard starting out, trust me!"

 6.4 A first Fight?

    They quickly tried to clean themselves from all the leaves at least a bit and headed out a bit further away from gates in hopes of getting a few berries and a good amount of EXP.


    "So, we for how long do we plan to walk?" Asked Shizu after only 2 minutes, but already bored.


    "Until we see more bushes than just two or three on the side of the streets. Then we can crawl inside these again." Kyaga pointed on the bushes that were obviously the same as the ones earlier. "Or until we see the berries obviously."


    Shizu sighed with a grumpy look on her face and looked in the distance. "Hey, guys!" She suddenly said excitedly. "Do you see that?" She pointed on something in the distance on top of what you could only describe as a small mound of earth. The only one in their whole field of vision. It was greenish and when you squint it could really well be mistaken as a berry bush. "I bet it''s a bush!" She followed up.


    "Uhh, Shizu I thi-" Itaka tried to correct her but she was already running.


    Kyaga sighed. "Just let her see herself."


    "Ok, ok." Itaka looked over to her again. "Why is she like this today?"Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Like what?" Asked Kyaga.


    "So doubtful and scared or whatever of everything."


    "Seems like we''re trapped here I guess." Kyaga now looked over to her again, as she came to an abrupt stop. "I really don''t know how I can stay so relatively calm either, to be honest. I have the feeling I should be much more scared."


    Shizu, who now stood only a few meters away from the small hill turned around again. "Okay, guys. It''s only one of these stupid bushes from ear-" Shizu got cut off by the ground suddenly shaking and crumbling right behind her. "Whoa!" She stumbled a bit from left to right before falling and turning around to see what was happening.


    Some kind of ground monster seemed to slowly appear behind her and slowly crawl out of the hill. Or more like... It was actually was the hill! With the bush right on top of its head!


    "Oh shit! We''re coming Shizu!" Yelled Kyaga before placing his right hand on the grip of his sword, hanging on the left side of his belt and running over to her together with Itaka.


    "What the hell is this!?" Asked Itaka. "So close to the gates? This really can''t be!"


    "Well, at least we know now why the old didn''t want to go here on his own." Responded Kyaga.


    The two were still a few meters away from Shizuka and the monster when it finally was completely out of the ground, leaving a giant hole, where there was the hill just a few seconds ago. It looked like a giant, 4 meter high, root braided together to a humanoid looking something. It had two arms, two legs, a face, some green, red and orange leaves basically everywhere and, of course, the bush on his head.

 6.5 Fight!

    A new Pop-Up appeared on the left side of their interface. "It''s just like in the original, huh?" Mumbled Kyaga to himself.


    The Pop-Up depicted the face of the earth monster, it''s name, Level and an HP-Counter.


    Oris the Hill Giant. (Lvl. 3)


    HP: 307/307


    As soon as it was out of the ground with his whole body he threw his arms up in a swift, but very slow, motion and let out a scream.


    "SHIZU!" Screamed Kyaga as the Giant thrusted his big arms down on her, making contact with something and throwing around basically everything around them everywhere, making it hard to see anything.


    Kyaga and Itaka stopped in shock, just meters away from them and surrounded by earth and sand that was swirling all around them and fearing that the worst happened to Shizu.


    But after maybe 2 or 3 seconds, that felt like a small eternity to them, they could see clearly again and saw Shizu holding against the hand of the giant with her sword.


    "Shizu!" Said Kyaga and Itaka happily and almost in perfect sync.


    She looked over to them briefly, the struggle of holding him off was more than visible in her eyes. "Stop standing around and help me!" She yelled over to them whereupon they instantly started to sprint again.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    AOS, as an RPG game, was, of course, not the most realistic game out there. Seeing a dainty girl like Shizu holding off a giant with just a small sword was really baffling over and over again in an otherwise so realistic game like AOS.


    "It seems like a normal beginner monster." Commented Itaka. "Maybe the HP is a bit high, but the rest..."


    "Yeah! But I swear I never saw it before." Said Kyaga confused. He fought so many years in this game and knew everything practically from memory without a second thought. But a Hill Giant that''s disguised as a Hill and that in a beginner area?... He would''ve remembered that! And that''s especially nothing that the Devs would''ve allowed. It was just way to sneaky for Beginners to handle.


    Once the two finally arrived at the giant they instantly attacked his arm that still held strong against the blade of Shizu''s sword, causing him to bump back a bit and finally relieving the whole pressure of Shizu.


    She took two deep breaths and was visibly out of stamina. "Thanks, guys." She said with a smile. "But next time a bit quicker please."


    The HP of the Monster quickly went down to about 250 from just two hits. It still seemed to be a low-Level Monster after all.


    "Sorry, but good job Shizu. I almost forgot that you are one of the best players here on the Server as well." Kyaga said with a smug smile on his face, before jumping in for another attack.


    He knew that Shizu was at least on one Level with most of the top ten in the World before being transferred to this World. She defiantly earned the badge for best female Player and 3rd best Fencer. That was how she could easily block such an attack with nothing but a beginner sword. AOS is not only based on in-game, but also many real-life attributes, which are transferred here too. Like for example reaction time for Shizu.


    But he also knew that she was still a scaredy-cat when it came to unfamiliar situations like these, and he also liked to tease her with that.

 7.1 Boss Fight!

    Boss Monsters in AOS are Monsters that are able to transform themselves into different Stages. These Stages could range anywhere from only 2 to up to 10, which was the highest and most difficult.


    Even though there was only ever one Monster that had Stage 10. The Supreme Emporer. The ultimate Boss Fight held exactly 2 years after the release of the game and approximately 1 year ago from now.


    Low-Level Bosses like this one were never going above Stage 2, but after their literal first encounter with a Monster was a Boss, they didn''t know what to think anymore.


    The Giant let out a high pitch shriek and threw his arm, which he tied together, in the direction of the group, forcing them to split up. Itaka and Shizu jumped to the left of the Giant and Kyaga to the right.


    "What the hell is going on!?" Yelled Kyaga again. "How is a Boss Monster so close to the city even possible? Isn''t there something like a Safe-Zone?"


    "I don''t know!" Yelled Itaka, before being forced to jump together with Shizu once again to dodge another attack. "Normally these are in Dungeons or Raids. But just here next to the city!?"If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The giant, who was now turning to Itaka and Shizu again, left open a big spot for Kyaga to attack, who instantly saw his chance and ran up behind him.


    He was just about to yell out one of his Ability names in order to use it before he realized that this wasn''t his old character. "Then with pure strength, I guess."


    He jumped high up in the air, higher than he could''ve ever jumped in real life, landed on his shoulder, took both his hands on the handle of his sword and rammed it inside of the Giant''s neck with full force.


    A few rainbow-colored particles flew around, signalizing that he critically hitted, so he instantly glazed over to the left of his interface to see the damage that he dealt.


    Oris the Hill Giant. Stage 2. (Lvl. 9)


    HP: 607/965


    "What!? That was like 90 damage! With a critical hit!? No way he''s so tanky!" He yelled out confused, turning his attention away from what was happening and not paying any attention to the giant''s arm, which was quickly coming for him.


    "Watch out!" Yelled Shizu, causing him to turn his attention back to the fight so that he tried to dodge the arm in the last second. But it was too late. He was caught by the arm, his sword fell down to the ground and he tried to resist as much as possible by moving around, but the grip was too tight. He pressed Kyagas arms against his torso which was completely covered by the Giant''s arm.


    "Ahhh!" He let out a short shout caused by the pain.

 7.2 Boss Fight! 2

    "He doesn''t even take any damage. What is his!?" Mumbled Itaka. He tried to clear his mind and get out of his head that Kyaga just got beaten by the first Monster they encountered. "He probably was just underestimating the Giant and not paying attention. There''s no way he''s losing!" He thought to himself.


    "Hold on Kyaga! We are coming!" Shizu was just about to just mindlessly run onto the Monster when Itaka hold out his hand in front of her to block her.


    "No Shizu, we can''t make the same mistake as him. If we just run at him there''s no way we can win. He strong and fast so we have to outsmart him." Suggested Itaka. He tried to make every move as careful as possible now, still not knowing what exactly was going on and, of course, still not knowing what consequences an in-game death had.


    "Ahhh!" Kyaga let out a short scream again and Shizu had to restrain herself not just running up to him and fighting that Monster one versus one.


    "Okay..." She whispered and looked up to Kyaga who was struggling around in the hand of the giant. She had to accept that it was completely useless to just run in now and probably end up in his hand as well. "And what is your plan?"


    "Splitting up." Answered Itaka in an instant and pushed up his glasses with his index finger. "With only one hand free he will have a big problem fighting us both, so when we split up and just focus on dodging every time he attacks, the one who doesn''t get attacked can get some free hits."Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Shizu, who was amazed by the fact that Itaka came with a plan so quick, looked over to the giant again and nodded determinedly. "Sounds good to me!"


    "Then let''s go!" Itaka jumped to the right and Shizu to the left. Leaving the Giant confused as where to move. Making Shizu going into attack stance before Itaka yelled over to her. "No! Just wait until he attacks!"


    A short moment later he turned over to Shizu and lifted his arm again.


    "Get ready!" Shouted Itaka.


    Shizu focused on the arm and as soon as he started to thrust it down she counted down in her head. "Three, two, one.." She jumped in last second, dodging the powerful thrust that erupted the earth next to her, making several pieces of ground flying through the ground and whirled up dust everywhere.


    You could hear Kyaga, in the other hand, coughing from all the dust in his face.


    "Sorry, Kyaga!" Yelled Shizu, hoping that he could even hear her and grateful that he was at least still conscious.


    "I''m fine, I''m fine." He answered agonized. "His grip is not as tight anymore."


    As soon as the dust settled again she saw Itaka who was already behind the giant getting several not so powerful, but quick, critical hits on the neck, making the rainbow dust fly everywhere.


    As soon as it reached up again with his free hand Itaka jumped down again and went in position.


    Oris the Hill Giant. Stage 2. (Lvl. 9)


    HP: 493/965


    "Nice one Itaka!" Cheered Shizu.

 7.3 Boss Fight! 3

    They repeated that rotation until the Boss was finally down to low HP.


    Oris the Hill Giant. Stage 2. (Lvl. 9)


    HP: 261/965


    "Let''s just hope that there isn''t a Stage 3." Said Itaka ironically and a bit out of breath from all the jumping.


    "You really shouldn''t be so ironic about that." Said Shizu a lot more serious. "If there''s a Boss a Monster here next to the village, why shouldn''t there be a Stage 3 one?"


    Itaka nodded. "You''re right. Let''s concentrate!"


    The Giant turned over to Shizu and she gave Itaka a quick look. He nodded and Shizu got into her stance again.


    Suddenly the giant let out a long scream, confusing Shizu because he didn''t do that before attacking earlier. Itaka noticed her slight confusion and screamed over to her. "Concentrate Shizu! He''s attacking!"


    She looked up to the Giant''s punching arm again but quickly noticed that it wasn''t moving. In fact, he was attacking, but with the arm that was holding Kyaga.


    She panicking and not moving but she knew she had to do something. She could hear Itaka screaming and saw him running towards her, but with the speed that the giant was attacking, there was no way he would be fast enough. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    In the last second, she made up her mind and quickly jumped to the right. But instead of jumping away she just jumped a few meters, so that the giants arm was missing her by only a meter or two, only for her to jump another time, now back into the giants arm, and cutting it off in one swift motion, causing Kyaga to fly out of the giants hand and into the direction of the ground with rapid speed.


    As Shizu opened her eyes she saw him flying and was just about to start running to try catching him before he hit the ground, even though it was virtually impossible.


    But just at that moment Itaka sprinted past her and with one huge, impressively fast leap he landed right under Kyaga, catching him not light, but safely.


    Shizu sighed a sigh of relief, as Kyaga was finally out of the Giant''s grip.


    But maybe a bit too relieved, as she didn''t notice the Giant''s other arm thrusting into her direction.


    *Crack*


    Accompanied by a horrible sound his fist hit Shizu''s back, making her fly above the heads of Itaka and Kyaga.


    The two just looked above them, following Shizu''s supple body with their eyes as she hit the ground and rolled over and over, again and again, seemingly endlessly.


    "NOOOO!" Screamed Kyaga as he tried to jump up, but failed due to his several injuries.


    The Giant''s fist was thrusting in their direction again, faster than ever before, and unnoticed by Kyaga again. But this time Itaka quickly pushed him away, drew his sword and held it against the powerful punch of the Boss.


    "Kyaga... help..." He said strained by the force he had put in his blade in order to fight off the giant, who was pushing him away further and further with any passing second.


    He quickly glanced over to Shizu, who was seemingly lifeless laying on the ground and then back to Itaka who was struggling so hard that Kyaga thought he would pass out if he had to fight that Giant any longer.


    "What should I do?" He whispered.

 7.4 Boss Fight! 4/Guardians

    Suddenly he heard a loud roar. Or rather a deep battle scream. His eyes focused on Itaka again, even though his voice wasn''t that deep, but he was still holding on against the attack of the Monster anyways.


    Confused Kyaga began to scan area and quickly saw a big shadow flying in the direction of the Monster out of the air. It looked like a big man who was launching himself in the direction of it with his sword in his hands, charging up a powerful attack.


    "Kanagaki?" Kyaga whispered unbelievingly.


    As the man finally struck the arm of the Boss it let out a deafening, shrill scream.


    Itaka could finally breathe for a second and collapsed onto his knees gasping for air.


    The man finally turned over to Kyaga, revealing his face... "Rex!?" Thought Kyaga. "What is he doing here?"


    "Go and help Shizu," Yelled Rex. "We take this thing on!"


    Kyaga nodded and ran over to Shizu, who was still lifelessly laying on the ground.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    A second person was now running towards the Monsters back with high speed. The steps so quiet that it had no clue there was someone else emerging. The purple hair was somewhat unmistakeable so Kyaga knew it was Toya.


    With all that momentum caught into one dash, she pierced her sword through the torso of the Boss and came out of the other side.


    Oris the Hill Giant. Stage 2. (Lvl. 9)


    HP: 98/965


    "Wow" Mumbled Itaka, who was still on his knees on the ground and slowly started to get up on his feet again. "Almost 150 Damage in one hit That is huge!"


    In AOS there''s a game mechanic name "High Damage Stuns", and it basically stuns enemies that get damaged for more than 10% of their health in one blow. This game mechanic was always highly controversial since the beginning of the game, since it meant that burst classes could just stun you with one huge blow that almost kills, and finish you off while you can not even defend against them. In every class'' PvP Skilltree there was luckily a Passive Skill Called "High Damage Stun reduction", that was a must-have for everyone playing the game, because it nullified that effect. But it could still be used against almost every NPC.


    And this time window Rex and Toya used to strike him down once and for all. With another battle roar from Rex and a huge dash from Toya they both for its head and... *blonk*


    The Tree head fell down before it slowly started to disintegrate into millions of white pixels that flew up in the air, leaving nothing behind but the tree that was right on top of the giant''s head.

 7.5 Pain

    "Shizu!? Shizu!?" Kyaga tried to wake her up by shaking her body.


    She slowly opened her eye again locking her gaze onto Kyaga. "Kyaga?"


    "Yes, yes. It''s me!" He answered. Happiness is written across his face through the fact that his friend did not die as he thought.


    "We beat him?" She asked. Her voice was still shaken up by what just happened and she had to get her consciousness back together.


    "Yeah! You two almost had him but Rex and Toya came to help and finished him off."


    Shizu smiled. "Well, at least I''m not dead, huh?"


    Kyaga smiled back. "Yeah..." He said. A smile on his face, but a tear rolling down his cheek.


    Rex and Toya, who helped up Itaka first, were now coming towards Shizu and Kyaga.


    Kyaga quickly wiped his tears away and turned around. "Thank you, guys. You saved us there!"


    "No problem Kyaga. We can''t just let our friends die." He smiled back at him. "And I''m really glad that you are still fine Shizu. That looked painful."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "It sure is." She tried to laugh a bit but had to suppress it, because her body was still hurting too much. "I don''t remember the pain being so realistic, to be honest."


    In the last few weeks and months, especially as the top Players of AOS, all of them didn''t really have that much high-level fighting going on, so they couldn''t remember the pain simulation that good. But what they knew was that it wasn''t that bad.


    "Yeah, you''re right." Answered Itaka. "It''s almost like the Pain is 100% realistic. No, that it was like that ever before."


    Kyaga nodded as well. "I thought so too."


    "It might really not be the place we all thought it was." Said Rex, brushing his hand through his hair. His eyes went over to Kyaga again. "What were you guys doing here anyway?"


    "Doing a quest."


    "A quest?" Answered Rex unbelieving. "Where did you get that?"


    "In the Colosseum." Answered Kyaga whereupon Rex smiled at him.


    "So we really think just the same, huh?" He answered,


    "You really were the guys that did that quest too, huh?" Asked Itaka.


    "Yup, and without Boss Fight for some reason..." Rex said a bit sarcastic.


    "We don''t know what that was all about as well..." Kyaga was still confused. "A Boss Fight at Level 1? That''s just ridiculous."


    "You are right. It was lucky you survived that encounter."


    "We were lucky that you were near us." Mumbled Shizu down from the ground, still laying on Kyagas lap.


    "That still doesn''t explain why you were fighting with a Boss Monster, though." Rex looked at them skeptically. "We found 20 berries without risking our lives."


    "I just saw that bush," Shizu pointed to the bush that was on the head of the giant just a minute ago, but was now laying on the ground, uprooted and full of dirt, "and I had to check if some berries were in there because we couldn''t find some."


    Rex smiled and turned. "Well then, let''s check!"

 7.6 One Step closer

    Kyaga and Itaka helped Shizu up and supported her on the way over to the tree while Rex and Toya were already going upfront, not really making an effort to wait for the other three.


    "Toya doesn''t really like talking, huh?" Shizu was still more than just exhausted and you could hear that in every word that she was trying to bring over lips.


    "Yeah, she seemed very protective over Rex back in the church, but that''s about it." Itaka put his hand on his chin in a thinking gesture. "I think I didn''t hear her talk since."


    "Maybe she''s shy? I don''t know." Answered Kyaga.


    "To be honest." Itaka began to whisper. "I think she''s just cold..."


    As soon as Itaka spoke that sentence Toya, who was now maybe 5 meters ahead of Itaka, Kyaga and Shizu, turned around and looked Itaka in the eyes completely expressionless.


    Itaka, naturally, stopped instantly and looked at her just smiling awkwardly.


    "What''s wrong?" Asked Rex who continued to walk further away before turning.


    "Nothing..." Toyas voice was as expressionless as her face. She turned around again and began to walk.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Does she have a sixth sense or something?" Itaka tried to whisper while flipping out. "That was fucking scary!"


    Kyaga and Shizu just shook their heads. "Just walk and quit brabbling."


    When they finally reached the bush Shizu kneeled down.


    "Looks like the fight was worth it." Rex laughed at the still so absurd situation.


    There were way more than 20 berries in the bush, so enough to complete the Quest given to them. "Told you guys," said Shizu exhausted.


    Kyaga kneeled down to help her get all the berries off the bush. There were also enough spare to just take some with them. They didn''t know what kind of berries they got their hands on, so just taking some with them in the hope they would turn out useful, couldn''t be too dumb.


    ''Quest completed!'' The pop up appeared again. Almost giving the three a heart attack. ''Bring the berries to House 67 to recieve your reward.''


    "Oh my!... Pop-Ups are so scary all of a sudden. I always forget that I''m in a game," said Kyaga.


    Shizu nodded. "It feels like we are back at the first few days of the game, right? It''s so weird."


    "Let''s just complete that Quest as soon as possible and see what is up next. We should be as efficient as possible now." Rex was suddenly all serious again.


    Kyaga nodded. "I agree. Getting things done early is important. Information is the highest value good right now"


    Rex and Toya started to walk again instantly, while Kyaga and Shizu were still on ground.


    "But hey, Rex?" Kyaga called out, whereupon Rex turned around again. "Could you please stay with us this time?" He was visibly ashamed of himself. Asking for help from someone he barely knew, and was most likely not a pro player, as the best AOS Player in the game? That''s something that he himself would''ve laughed about just a few days, or even hours ago.


    But Rex just smiled at him. "Sure."

 8.1 A warm welcome

    *knock knock knock*


    "I''m coming!", a woman yelled.


    "You sure this is the right house?`", asked Itaka.


    "I''m 100% positive." Shizu, as the youth program leader of their guild, knew Zeiwit better than her own home city... Even though for now it looked like Zeiwit was their new Home City. And Zeiwit itself seemed to be pretty much exactly like before, which was pretty surprising to her, but at least useful. "House Number 67!"


    It was a house like pretty much every other house in Zeiwit. An old fashioned half-timbered house with dark wood and white infill. Almost all houses had orange roofs, including House Number 67. That''s why Zeiwit was also called Orange City.


    A middle-aged woman opened the door and looked surprised as soon as she saw 5 people standing in front of her house. "Uhh, hello?", she said hesitantly. "I''m sorry, I was expecting my husband."


    "It''s all fine", answered Kyaga. "We come in his name."


    The woman looked even more shocked. "Is he... dead?"


    "Uhh, no." Kyaga realized that he maybe phrased it a bit strange. "We come to deliver berries!"


    She instantly looked relieved. "Oh, thank god." She sighed. "This old man... He can''t do a single thing for me and always has to hire other people to do things."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    We all smiled in amusement at what she said.


    "Well anyway", she followed up, "please come in!" She made a waving gesture towards the inside of her house.


    Entering, the 5 felt a warm breeze overcoming their bodies. Until now they didn''t even notice that it was kinda cool outside. Something pretty uncharacteristic for Zeiwit, as it normally was that pleasantly warm, bright, and chill beginner City. But now it was just cool, full of hectic and confused people and it felt just dark.


    The inner space of the house matched the warm air inside of it perfectly. Old fashioned decoration. A lot of furniture made out of solid wood and a wooden floor.


    "Could you even enter these houses before?", asked Itaka, whispering into Shizu''s ear.


    "Only some, but this one in particular not. I''m surprised myself."


    "I hope you didn''t hurt yourself when searching for these berries. It can be rather scary behind the city walls."


    Shizu looked at her HP-Bar and smiled to herself at the irony.


    HP: 34/237


    "Yeah, we''re all fine", she said, before anyone else could say anything. She didn''t want her to worry and speak about it. She was alive and that''s what counted to her right now.


    The others just looked confused but went with it and nodded.


    One mechanic in AOS is that all pain you experience in battle slowly wanes after you left combat. About 5 minutes after combat you just felt like there never was anything that happened to you ever. Of course, they were confused at why, for example, the pain was made more realistic, but that mechanic of the game was still the same, but they couldn''t waste too many thoughts on that for now.


    "That''s really nice. But you probably were lucky. Don''t let yourself get talked into situations like that by an old man like my husband! He just always wants his life as easy as possible. You are new here anyway, right?", she asked curiously.


    "Yeah, we are new." Said Kyaga. We arrived with everyone else. He pointed outside a window next to him onto the streets, where there were still a lot off people walking around aimlessly.