《BattleCube》 Chapter 1: Introduction The morning of April 12th, 2021, it¡¯s been about a week since the start of the new school year. It¡¯s about 6:30am as my iphone alarm is telling me to wake up with its annoying beeping sound. As I slowly woke up, the air in my room seems so hot and humid even though I have the fan beating on me at its highest setting. I hear a knock on my bedroom door which was more of a pound, ¡°Soto, wake up! It¡¯s time for school. I made you breakfast. It''ll be on the table okay. I might be a little late tonight from the office so don¡¯t wait up okay. Have a good day at school.¡± As my mother went to start her day. I decided to sluggishly get up from my bed and go wash up and fix my brown bed hair. As usual, I leave my bed messy since my mom doesn¡¯t really care if its made or not. However, I¡¯m glad she still makes me breakfast in the morning knowing how busy her work schedule is now. With her busy schedule, I¡¯m usually just by myself here. After putting on my school uniform, I ate my over easy eggs with bacon and toast for breakfast and got ready to meet Chelsea at the corner of the street. I first met Chelsea when I moved here to Tatachi City when I was 12. My mother was offered a lead position here in Tatachi for a multimillion dollar corporation that handles technology. My father was okay with it since he moves around country to country for business, so we moved here with my mother¡¯s company providing our new apartment and covering the moving expenses. I didn¡¯t have a single friend until I met Chelsea that also lived in the same complex. We met each other in the same class and noticed each other walking in the same direction until we both arrived at the same complex. Ever since then we walked home together and went to school together while her mom didn''t mind. Chelsea¡¯s mom would also let me come over to play with Chelsea on the weekends. Though sometimes she gets on my nerves since she was more of an extrovert but that''s what I like that about her. When we used to play outside, if I would¡¯ve got one scratch or bruise, she would always be there to bandage me and of course lecture me to be careful. Of course, we would get teased a lot by our class because they would think we would be dating since how close we were. More likely, I see her like a nagging sister. As I was walking, I noticed her with her black hair and hazel black eyes focused on me: ¡°Hey, would you hurry? Were going to be late for the bus and it¡¯s only been a week already.¡± If she was so worried so much about being late, she can just go on ahead.¡°You know, you don¡¯t always have to wait for me. You can just go on ahead without me and I¡¯ll catch up or just see you at school.¡± Saying that just got me on her bad side already, ¡°And if I do that, I feel like you wouldn¡¯t go to school. I do this because I already know the kind of person you are. You¡¯ll feel like you¡¯re not obligated to go and you¡¯ll just skip class and join some rebellious gang. We¡¯ve been going to school together for a long time and I¡¯m not going to let that happened. Were friends! Friends don¡¯t let friends slack off. Plus, who else can I do this too?¡±. I look at her while were walking, ¡°Isn¡¯t that why they¡¯re called boyfriends or other friends, ever heard of it?¡± Soon as I said that, I felt a menacing aura just oozing out of her with her smug expression, ¡°Why don¡¯t you just shut up already before you dig yourself deeper into your own grave idiot!¡±. *** As we got to our bus stop, I took out my iphone to start up a game I was playing last night. It takes awhile to get to our school where we live so I pass the time just playing Knight¡¯s Kingdom. Chelsea can¡¯t help but observe what I do: ¡°How rude! Is that all you do? Ever since we were little you would always play your game on your Nintendo DS while I¡¯m right in front of you trying to conversate like friends do. But nooooo¡­When we both got our own phones, you still insisted on play video games. You know this is our 2nd year right, so we have to make the most of it instead of just wasting your time on your stupid cell phone games.¡± Saying that just triggered me: ¡°Hey this isn¡¯t just a waste of time! For your information, other people play this game and it¡¯s popular right now". Chelsea responds, ¡°But playing video games isn¡¯t going to put food on your table after high school. Have you thought about what university your going to go to? You know they have been making us fill out surveys and assessments to help us determine what we want to do after high school. Before you know it, it¡¯ll be too late and you¡¯ll just be working some part-time job while other people go on with their lives. For me as an example, I won¡¯t be here forever walking beside you and making sure you go to school. I just want what¡¯s best for my friend.¡± Hearing her lecture me is annoying as ever but she does have a point. This is our 2nd year in high school and the only friend I have is Chelsea ever since grade school. While she goes off to some university in another city, it¡¯s possible I might just be here in the same place without making any improvements on myself. It¡¯s just I don¡¯t know what career path to choose. I see other adults going to work everyday on the bus but looking at their expression''s just makes me feel sad. It¡¯s like every adult I see aren¡¯t happy with the lives they made for themselves like the color in their lives have just vanished since they graduated. What I¡¯m trying to convey is I want my life to be different and interesting. I just don¡¯t want to be another person that¡¯s going to blend into society and just go to work and get old. I guess just playing video games helps me escape reality and puts me into the shoes of the main character or like anime I watch.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. As we get to our stop, me and Chelsea continue to walk as she sees her friends Ryli and Idol, ¡°Hey I¡¯m going to go with them, I¡¯ll come visit you during break.¡± As she waved bye, I continued walking with my face in my phone, ¡°Yes! I just unlocked a new quest.¡± *** As any normal day, I stroll on not saying a word to anyone as I can feel the atmosphere of the school. I never fitted in here in the first place. I could easily just quit school and just find a part-time job but I just couldn¡¯t find it in my heart to let my mother down or Chelsea. As for my father, he¡¯s always out on business and out of the country. But sometimes I wish I had more friends then just Chelsea. During my first year, I thought I made some friends but in the end they were just using me to copy the answers I had for my homework assigments. It was a rough day when I finally stood up to them and told them I''m not giving to help them anymore. Afterwards, they given me a real beating after school. I took some days off which of course worried Chelsea but I just told her I got the flu and stood home. I returned to school and found out those bullies of mine dropped out but things didn¡¯t change after that. People just looked at me with a strange look as if I was an outsider. Soon, I just decided I don¡¯t need no one else since I have Chelsea as a friend. I started to just go off on my own to lunch like the track bleachers or some random bench to eat by myself. Ever since, things have stayed the same and I just have my face in my phone playing phone games. I know it¡¯s easy for anyone to say I¡¯ll go into creating video games since that¡¯s all I do but things are more complicated for me than that. Maybe its fear since there¡¯s so much competition in that field that it¡¯s not a solid job career choice. I just don¡¯t want to be normal like everyone else. Sometimes I wish reality just wasn¡¯t like this but like how things are in video games or anime, that would make everything exciting. *** As school was wrapping up, I seen Chelsea enter my homeroom with her friends Ryli and Idol. ¡°Oh hey and Chelsea¡¯s entourage". Let¡¯s just say Ryli and Idol don¡¯t like me one bit since they think I¡¯m holding Chelsea back somehow. Chelsea says, ¡°Hey I¡¯m going to go with Ryli and Idol to hang out. Are you okay going home on your own?¡± I look at Chelsea puzzled, ¡°What am I your boyfriend? You don¡¯t always have to come and tell me your going to go do something, just go.¡± Ryli says, ¡°I told you Chelsea, he didn¡¯t need you to come all the way here just to notify him. But still at least she came to let you know jerk off.¡± I automatically stood up, ¡°What the hell, no need for name calling". Chelsea got in the middle, ¡°Hey you two don¡¯t start arguing. Anyways, Soto I just wanted to let you know so you won¡¯t wait up for me. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow okay. Get home safe". Sarcastically I said, ¡°Yes mom, have fun and Chelsea¡¯s groupies.¡± Her friends looked back me disgusted, ¡°Yep it¡¯s official, they hate my guts.¡± *** I entered my house and noticed no one was home. Usually this means my mother was working late and even sometimes stays the night at her workplace if she''s working on a project. I go up to my room and power on my computer to start working on my homework. But before that, I always check my e-mail since I¡¯m on reddit boards talking about the latest games that are out right now. I go down stairs to make a sandwich since I skipped lunch at school due to leveling up in Knight¡¯s Kingdom. As I came upstairs, I noticed a notification in my e-mail. As I clicked on the e-mail, I noticed it wasn¡¯t from a sender I¡¯m familiar with or a username on the reddit board I post on. All it said was ¡°CONGRATULATIONS BEING SELECTED¡±. As I got curious, I opened the e-mail and read: Hello Sot0, Congratulations! You have been chosen as a tester to test a new app we have just developed called BattleCube. Out of the population in your region, we have chosen you due to statistical research on some of the games users play within the region We hope you accept this offer to improve our app and we will gladly compensate you for your time to report any glitches or bugs to us. If you would like to participate in this test, just go down to the link and fill out the form. Once filled out, just ¡®agree¡¯ and sign with a digital signature and we will send you the link to your phone to download the BattleCube app. All other instructions will be provided in the start up of the app. We hope you take advantage of this opportunity given. Thank you username Sot0. *** After I read the e-mail, I was thinking this must be a spam but for some reason didn''t go into the spam folder. Hoping no virus is attached to the e-mail, I crossed my fingers and followed the blue link to download the app. At first, I was thinking this was a scam since it¡¯s so sketchy they went through all this trouble to find testers. The app name sounded it will be fun to play and also be compensated just by testing the app. I filled out the form with my full name, phone number, e-mail address, and just skimmed the legal information. Once I was finished, I clicked ¡®agree¡¯ and signed the formed. Soon as I sent the form, I immediately got a link sent to my phone. As I checked my phone to get to the download link, the number that showed as a sender was just dashes. That creeped me out but I overlooked it and proceeded to click the link. After clicking, I noticed something was a little off about the download as it didn''t display the amount of memory it needed to download but just a download bar. Since I didn''t know how much space was needed to download Battlecube, I didn''t think much of it and let it install onto my phone. I plugged my phone into the charger and proceeded to study for tomorrow''s classes. After finishing my studies, I turned off my desk lamp and viewed my phone, ¡°Wow, its still taking this long to download. Well I hope its finished by the time I wake up tomorrow morning for school". I slowly crawled to my bed and closed my eyes as I was hoping my phone is not infected by a virus. Chapter 2: BattleCube Morning of April 13th 2021, Soto hears his alarm go off as it¡¯s that time to brush up for school. He slowly gets up and wondered if his mother got home last night. He walks through the apartment and notices nobody else around except for his existence. Thinking to himself that she probably stood the night at her office again. He then goes to the bathroom to get ready for school. As he was brushing his teeth, he just remembered he was downloading the BattleCube app last night. He walks to his room to grab his phone to sees he received two messages, one from his mother and one from his childhood friend Chelsea. He opened his mother¡¯s message first that read: ¡°Hey son, looks like I won¡¯t be making it home tonight ?. I have a deadline on a project I¡¯m working on that¡¯s due tomorrow. I¡¯ll be home tomorrow afternoon. Have a good day at school ??.¡± He then moves on to Chelsea¡¯s text: ¡°Hey sleepyhead, just giving you a heads up I stood the night Ryli''s house so I¡¯ll be heading to school from her place. Make sure to get your ass to school. If I don¡¯t see you, your getting a pounding from yours truly ??. See ya at break.¡± Thinking to himself how Chelsea¡¯s charm can go from caring to being ruthless is a scary switch to flip. After reading both messages, he suddenly remembers the app and proceeds to check if it¡¯s fully downloaded, ¡°Well time to see what this app is about after I¡¯m done brushing my teeth.¡± Soto went to finish brushing his teeth and brushing his hair. After, he put on his school uniform, he went to make a bowl of cereal for breakfast. As he was eating, he sat down and opened the app. As he opened the app, there was a black screen with a small cube going slowly in circles as it was starting up the app. Suddenly, the background changed to some blue type of screen with a technology theme background with a young girl suddenly popping up with blue hair saying excitingly, ¡°Hellooo new user!¡± As Soto was suddenly startled, ¡°Whoa!¡± ¡°Wait?! Photos of myself?!¡± Soto said surprisingly. Once he said that, he had a strange feeling she understood what he said, ¡°Yep, naked photos of yourself¡­nope I¡¯m just kidding about that silly. For this, I need you to take photos of yourself to make sure I can read your whole body so please keep your clothes on.¡± As he agreed, he stood up and started to take photos of his whole body from his legs to his arms to his head doing weird embarrassing poses trying to get the best angles of himself. I¡¯m glad I¡¯m in the own privacy of my home taking these embarrassing poses. He clicked ¡®done¡¯ to move on the next step. ¡°Scanning all photos for parameters¡­¡± Unica responded, ¡°Perfect! Now you shall pick your attire.¡± There was a wide range of equipment from armor to bottoms you can choose from that Abriel can sit forever if he wanted to to look through the whole library. In Abriel¡¯s case, he typically likes to pick the most basic clothing and armor if he was starting out in a RPG game. He never picked anything fancy like heavy armor but just basic clothing that would have a balance of stats. ¡°Next is the personality test, I will ask you questions that will help me determine the type of personality you have and you will type the answer. Judging how you answer, your class will be chosen and for that class I will present you different weapons to choose from that class. As you progress, there will be opportunities to get better weapons and armor.¡± explained Unica. The personality test was quite tedious like ¡°Which scene best calms you?¡± and ¡°What color would you say best fits you?¡± and even questions like, ¡°To save a one person that¡¯s going to be hit by a train, would you flip the switch where more people would be killed?¡± As Abriel continued to answer each question, the questions got more complex where he had to second guess himself. After completing the final question, Unica responds, ¡°After reading your results, your class will be Sword. I shall present you with different types of swords you can use for now but it will be up to you, the user, how you shall wield it.¡± As Abriel went through the selection, the swords presented just looked like basic light and heavy swords for beginners and didn¡¯t show any type of information about them such as durability or how strong the sword is. Abriel finally chose a sword and Unica says, ¡°When you¡¯re ready to proceed, just say the phrase ¡®BattleCube Start!¡¯ and I will explain and answer any questions you have about BattleCube that I¡¯m allowed to answer. Whenever your ready user.¡± Abriel showed a sigh of relief after the setup process was over that took over 50 minutes to complete. He then notices the time on the wall and seen he was going to be late for the bus to get to school. He then grabs his backpack and cell phone and dashes out the front door. As he was sprinting down the sidewalk, Abriel not noticing around the corner, he runs into a girl with a different school uniform on with brunette hair, wearing white headphones and BAM!. He collides with her and they both fall onto the sidewalk. Abriel urgently gets up to check if she¡¯s not injured, ¡°Oh my gosh are you okay?! I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to bump into you.¡± The brunette girl with white headphones gets up rubbing her bottom, ¡°No, no, I¡¯m sorry. I was distracted while¡­ I was listening to music.¡± She explained apologetically. After Abriel checked on her, ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I have to run before I¡¯m late for my bus. I¡¯m sorry random girl.¡± As Abriel shouted and sped off, she looks off at Abriel running away and checks to see if her phone is damaged, ¡°Oh thank goodness.¡± As they both went their separate ways, Abriel manages to make it to the bus by a hair before it started to leave the bus stop.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. As Abriel found a seat, his heart was pounding from the sprinting he just did, he realizes that¡¯s the most cardio exercise he¡¯s ever done in quite awhile since his first year of high school. He then remembers he wasn¡¯t done with the tutorial yet. As he was gasping for air, he put his headphones on and connects them through Bluetooth. He reopened the app again and picked up where he left off with Unica that looked like she was patiently waiting. ¡°Are you ready user?¡± Unica explains. As Abriel remembered the phrase, he started to wonder why an app would need someone to say a phrase out loud instead of typing it. Abriel then proceeds to say, ¡°BattleCube Start.¡± Suddenly, he had a strange feeling come over him and seen some type of AR cube come out his phone screen. The cube appeared to look like a light shade of blue and was transparent. ¡°What the hell?¡± The cube suddenly got bigger in an instant and went through the bus and went through the bus walls and further. Suddenly, Abriel felt the bus suddenly stop and observed everyone on the bus just disappeared in a blink of an eye. As Abriel stood up from his seat, ¡°Okay what¡¯s going on?! Where¡¯s everyone at?!¡± as Abriel¡¯s heart started to pound. Abriel stood up in a panic wondering what just happened. A confused look came over him as he felt like time just stopped. He looked at the above electric sign and noticed it stopped moving. Abriel then went to the bus door and forced his way out to look outside as he was in the middle of an intersection. Looking around, Abriel noticed all the vehicles stopped moving and the people inside the vehicles vanished out of thin air. ¡°Okay this is freaky? This has to be a joke, right?¡± Suddenly, he hears a light female voice behind him¡­¡±Nope, this is real user. Your inside the BattleCube.¡± Abriel suddenly turns around and noticed it was the tutorial girl Unica in the flesh. As she waved her hands, ¡°Don¡¯t panic now user, I¡¯m here to answer any questions you have.¡± She points, ¡°Don¡¯t have that panicky look on your face now. You won¡¯t get any girlfriends with that scary look.¡± as Unica chuckles at her own joke. ¡°Okay, what did you do?! What is all of this?!¡± Abriel expressed. ¡°One question at a time please user.¡± as Unica responds. ¡°I have a name you know. It¡¯s Abrel and not just USER.¡± Abriel responded. ¡°Nice to formerly meet you user Abriel. And to answer your question this is BattleCube. BattleCube is an app created by my publisher which you are the lucky few who was chosen as a beta tester to test this new app. Once you said the phrase, you launched the app and opened up BattleCube. This cube expanded up too a radius of two miles on all sides and took the current surrounding area you¡¯re in and turned it into a Battlefield zone. As you can see, the Battlefield zone was created due to the cube that came out of your phone. The cube created a void space that scans and copies the area as it expands and that copy from your reality is where time in your current reality doesn¡¯t exist when you¡¯re inside the cube. That¡¯s why no other humans aren¡¯t here besides you.¡± Unica then waves both her hands as in presenting something. Suddenly a standing mirror appears. ¡°Look for yourself.¡± Abriel approaches the mirror and suddenly the skeptical face he had turned red when he realized he was wearing the clothes he chose from the equipment selection screen. ¡°What is all of this? I¡¯m wearing the exact equipment that I selected from the equipment selection screen.¡± ¡°That is correct user Abriel. Like I said though, everything you chose is up to you on how you want to use it.¡± Unica responded. Abriel then notices his sword is on the back side of his waist. He pulls it out to observe the weapon, ¡°So what¡¯s with all this blue glow around me?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what protects you from actually being injured in a battle when your inside the BattleCube. Think of it as your armor and hit points. Check the screen on your phone.¡± Unica explains. Abriel observes his phone screen in his hand and noticed the screen change. The screen displayed his hit points (HP) and spell points (SP). He noticed his HP is at 500 and SP at 10. ¡°All users as of now will start off with 500 HP but as for SP, it will vary for each user. But to see where your stats stand, I must give you a pretest.¡± Abriel had a startled expression, ¡°What do you mean by pretest¡­as in?¡± Suddenly, an electric current started to flow around her arms and suddenly, electricity started to come from Unica¡¯s hands. The electricity not only look frightening, but the sparks looked unpredictable that it gave out ferocious aura coming from her hands. Suddenly, an HP gauge came over her head but the gauge didn¡¯t show exactly how much HP she had. ¡°I believe the Gauntlet class will be sufficient in this battle.¡± As she put her right foot forward, these flat circle shaped objects started to spin violently on her head as Abriel took a step back. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid user Abriel. Think of this like a pretest to see what you will need to work on to become a better beta tester. So, make sure you get into a fighting stance as soon as the battle is about to begin. Your future opponents will sometimes be unpredictable that they won¡¯t give you time to get into your fighting stance¡­Ready¡­¡± As Unica was about to charge Abriel with her violent hands surrounded by electricity, ¡°Wait, hold on a second! I don¡¯t think this is a safe idea! Usually, I like to feel the controls out when I play a game¡­ Unica shouts, ¡°Commence pretest for user Abriel. BATTLE START!!!¡± as the pretest begins¡­Abriel Vs Unica. Chapter 3: Pretest...Abriel Vs. Unica As Abriel stood still, there were many thoughts racing through his head wondering what was going on. As he stood there, a blue hair girl with an electric current traveling along her arms to her hands was about to charge at him. He felt, not only nervous, but adrenaline traveling throughout his body wondering if he would have enough time to jump to the left or the right. As he stood, he was consumed with nervousness that he didn¡¯t have a chance to move once she started to charge at him. Thinking how fast she¡¯s going with those sparks coming out of her hands, he felt one blow was going to kill him. Thinking his life was about to end at that moment, he never had the chance to say goodbye to his mother or his childhood friend Chelsea. At that moment, he felt his life was flashing right before him wishing he was still on the bus going to school or even seeing Chelsea again one last time. As soon as Unica¡¯s electric punch was about to hit, Abriel closed his eyes and decided there was no way he¡¯s going to survive her punch because the impact would cause severe damage to his insides or worse¡­ impale him. His final decision was to close his eyes and crossed his fingers that her fully charged punch was going to end his life so quick that he won¡¯t feel any pain. With the force behind Unica¡¯s punch, she made contact to Abriel¡¯s chest and sent him flying straight forward and made impact to the side of a car. The impact was so great, as soon as Abriel¡¯s body hit the car, his body rickashaded off the car door while the car flew backwards from the side and landed upside down on the street. Abriel landed face first onto the pavement and felt as though a train just slammed into him. As Abriel¡¯s eyes were still closed, he heard Unica¡¯s voice, ¡°Get up and open your eyes user Abriel.¡± Abriel slowly opened his eyes wondering if he was about to die from internal injuries. He slowly got up on all fours and realized he wasn¡¯t coughing up blood or impaled from the blow as he was filling out where he was hit at. ¡°I¡¯m still alive right?¡± he looked up in Unica¡¯s direction, ¡°Am I dead¡­?¡± ¡°Of course your not dead silly. I just punched you really really hard that I sent you flying, making you ricochet off a car and you landed on your face.¡± Unica demands, ¡°Look at your phone screen attached to your armband.¡± Abriel viewed his phone and seen his HP was now at 375. ¡°Holy shit! I lost that much over that one punch to the chest.¡± ¡°Yep, that punch was registered as a critical hit. I took out at least 25% of your hit points from that punch.¡± Unica responds. ¡°Okay¡±, as Abriel got back up slowly, ¡°So why is my body still in one piece? A punch like that in real life would¡¯ve caused some broken bones and internal injuries. It did feel like a train just slammed into me though, but the pain was like a painful pinch.¡± Unica responds, ¡°Because the thin blue shroud that covers your body acts like a pain absorber. It will absorb the amount of pain you would¡¯ve taken from my attack and it¡¯s registered to how much HP you will lose. Of course, the thin blue shroud isn¡¯t perfect. You are going to feel some type of pinch sensation instead of real life pain. And if you were wondering what would¡¯ve happened if my punch impaled you. Instead of my punch going straight through you, the blue shroud would¡¯ve registered it as an impale. My arm would¡¯ve just ended up on the other side of the blue shroud.¡± Abriel started to believe the situation he¡¯s in. To summarize what Unica was saying; being inside the BattleCube, a two-mile radius cube, forms some type void space known as a Battlefield Zone which he¡¯s equipped with the equipment and garments he chose during the set-up process. Then with the thin blue shroud that covers his whole body, he is protected from being inflicted by real pain because it acts as a pain absorber. The blue shroud absorbs the pain and turns it into a mere pinch and depending on the attack, it¡¯s registered to take away HP from his hit point gauge. So this really is just like a game. But how can something so sophisticated exist right now? Just for this being an app is another thing. Something like this is way too advanced to be just an app. As Abriel¡¯s questions were being answered, more questions started to surface from his head. Abriel shook his head to realize he¡¯ll think about all the small details later. ¡°If this really is a game, then I have nothing to worry about.¡± Thinking about the role-playing games he¡¯s played and anime he¡¯s watched, he recalls different types of stances characters would take with swords. As he thought of one, Abriel put his left leg forward while his right leg is pushed back with his sword drawn. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m game.¡± as he took a deep breath, ¡°I promise you though, there won¡¯t be anymore free hits from here on out.¡± With the look of determination on his face, he looked at Unica determined to beat her even if this battle was just a pretest. ¡°Whoa! Now that was the expression I was looking for.¡± as Unica got into her fighting stance again. They suddenly charged at each other with looks of determination.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. As Abriel charged in, he seen she was about to punch him again with the same straight right punch that sent him flying. He quickly moves to the right and lifts his sword and goes for a downward slash. Suddenly, Unica swiftly moves to the right. With Abriel missing his attack, Unica balls up her left hand, quickly kneels and goes for a left uppercut to Abriel¡¯s gut which lifts him off floor. Unica then jumps and balls up her right fist to punch Abriel in the face. Abriel feeling a strong pinch on his abdomen and face after being punched, he lands on both his feet. He gasps for air, wipes his mouth, ¡°Oh my gosh, your fast for a little girl.¡± Unica responds, ¡°Well, you act like I¡¯m not going to counter your strikes. Sorry, but I won¡¯t sit here and take your attacks freely. Remember, I¡¯m testing you to see where your stats are at.¡± Abriel quickly wipes his mouth and starts to dash toward Unica and goes for multiple slashes. As Unica is evading each slash with ease, ¡°Come on user Abriel, your attacks are too predictable.¡± Uncia swiftly grabs Abriel¡¯s hand wielding the simple sword and goes for a strong slap to Abriel¡¯s face. The slap was so strong that both Abriel and Uncia froze in place wondering what just unfolded. Abriel standing frozen, eyes bulged opened, realizing he was just slapped silly by this little girl with blue hair. As they stood still, Unica was doing her best to keep her composure until she just couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Unica takes some steps back and starts laughing hysterically, ¡°BLAHAHAHAHA..BLAHAHAHA..BLAHAHAHAHA! OH MY GOSH! LOOK AT YOUR FACE! HAHAHAHAHA!¡± as she points laughing at Abriel, ¡°Oh my gosh, the look on your face after I slapped you was too priceless.¡± as she continues to laugh. Abriel shouts, ¡°WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!¡± as you can see smoke coming out from Abriel¡¯s ears. Noticing Unica was still laughing, Abriel realized she left her self-wide open for an attack. He then grasps his sword and charges for an attack with a downward slash. Unexpectedly, Unica guards his attack by using both her arms to guard herself, ¡°There we go. Now your getting the hang of it. You took advantage of the opportunity while I was laughing at you.¡± as she backed away. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see what you¡¯ll do next.¡± Unica quickly sticks out her arm with her palm open aiming at Abriel, ¡°SPELL: SPARK BALL!¡± As soon as she pronounced the mysterious phrase, the sparks in her hand started to form a sphere like projectile that was big as a basketball. With no time to think, the object launched toward Abriel. He quickly guarded with his sword as soon as the object was about to hit. As soon as the projectile hit his sword, it caused an explosion of electricity as he was soon feeling small sensations of pinches throughout his entire body. The blast from the projectile even blinded his eyesight for bit as he tried to open his eyes. The blast was somewhat compared to being blinded by some type of flash grenade. Not noticing, he seen Unica right in front of him and felt a barrage of punches hitting him as he was trying to evade each punch and guard at the same time. Doing his best to evade her small punches, he kept trying to slash Unica but she was just too fast for him as Abriel started to feel winded from swinging his sword. Noticing he couldn¡¯t keep up any longer with her punches, he quickly ran the other way to open the space between him and her. Abriel trying to keep his composure, he suddenly notices his HP was at a measly 24. Thinking to himself, he needs to find someway to at least hit her once. There¡¯s got to be a way to hit her at least once. I know I¡¯m fighting a losing battle, but I¡¯ll be satisfied if I just hit her just once. He recalls when she spoke that phrase, How did she do that with her hand moments ago? Suddenly, he was hit with a sudden idea as a light bulb just went off in his head. Abriel quickly rushes to hide behind a nearby car, ¡°You know, hiding won¡¯t help you now. You¡¯re just avoiding thy inevitable. Here is a hint? Use your imagination user Abriel.¡± as Unica shrugged with a smug expression. Abriel thinking about what she said, Use your imagination? I was going to see if I can use my sword to cut off the car door to use as a shield. But just maybe¡­ Abriel puts his new plan into action. He closes his eyes and thinks about different sword attacks he¡¯s seen in video games and anime. Visualizing an attack, he puts up his sword in front of him and thinks of what the attack is going to do, This is going to be a gamble but I¡¯m hoping this is going to work¡­ please work. Not noticing his sword glowing, Abriel opens his eyes and yells, ¡°BEAM SLASH!¡± Swiftly swinging his sword downwards, he shot a projectile out from his sword that resembled a sword slash. The projectile that came out of his sword from his swing was so sharp that it cut right through the car as a knife was cutting through butter. The beam acted as a projectile that had its sights on Unica as it was fast approaching her. ¡°AAAAAAHHHHHHH!¡± as Abriel swung two more times to create the projectiles. As the three projectiles were fast approaching Unica, she had an expression on her face as she was proud of Abriel what he just accomplished. Unica put her arms up to guard against the projectiles. As they made contact, a small explosion was created from each hit. Abriel took advantage of the situation and circled around her from far away making sure she didn¡¯t notice him. Once behind her, he quickly charged in and went for an attack, ¡°AAAAAAHHHHH.¡± He felt the attack made contact as she was still standing still guarding the earlier projectiles. As Abriel was standing still with his sword pointing to the ground, ¡°I¡¯m impressed user Abriel. Good job on your pretest today. But I have to end it here.¡± As soon as she said that, she quickly turned and went for an uppercut to Abriel¡¯s chin. Abriel was launched mid-air from the uppercut and landed on his back onto the pavement of the intersection. As Abriel was laying on the pavement, he looked at his phone and seen his HP was now 0. The battle was over, as Unica was victorious. Chapter 4: Rules With Abriel losing his pretest battle against Unica, he replays the uppercut he just took in his head. Wondering what he could¡¯ve done better, he wonders what¡¯s going to happen next. Unica walks over to Abriel and sticks her hand out, ¡°Don¡¯t feel so bad user Abriel. This was only a pretest.¡± Abriel looks at Unica and reaches for her hand. ¡°I was completely caught off guard with your SP Technique. I wasn¡¯t expecting a SP Technique to be performed. Usually, an SP Technique isn¡¯t learned during the pretest. Other users that I already tested didn¡¯t have an SP Technique created during their pretest. In other words, you might be one of the talented few I¡¯ve tested so far.¡± Unica explained. So that was an SP Technique. ¡°So that was called an SP Technique?¡± Abriel wondered. ¡°Yes. You might haven¡¯t noticed, but your SP decreased by 5 when you used it. As you keep fighting and growing as a user, you will eventually learn new techniques. To learn new techniques, the app analyzes three subjects: Technique, Growth, and Spirit. As all three grow and improve, you know when your ready to learn and register a new technique. You can register up to 10 techniques in your queue. Once all 10 techniques in your queue are learned, you can only replace your already learned techniques, so be careful what you replace and imagine.¡± Unica explains. As Abriel is listening, he plays back the technique he used named: ¡°Beam Slash¡±. ¡°So I have a question. What if I imagine some technique that requires more SP than the SP I currently have?¡± ¡°The app analyzes your brain patterns and the technique your attempting to come up with. Then the app converts that technique to SP. If it cost too much SP, then it will not register and nothing will happen. However, your SP will increase as you grow each of these areas.¡± Unica answered. ¡°I see.¡± as Abriel takes in her response, ¡°Can you explain more about the three Subjects?¡± ¡°Yes! I was actually going to go over that. First, I shall go over Technique.¡± Technique can be a multiple of things. It can range how you stand with your weapon, how you use your weapon, or even how you defend with your weapon. Using your SP Techniques can also be considered since it depends how you use them. So in your case, you have to improve how you swing your sword and improve your form in the art of sword fighting. As you improve that area, the app will analyze your Technique and you¡¯ll be a better with a sword. ¡° ¡°Then we have Growth. Growth is not only improving how you use your class but also it depends on your physical and emotional state of mind. You will eventually learn how to read different situations and adjust how you will strategize. Doing this will exercise your brain and help to handle stressful situations you¡¯ll come across. Not only exercising your brain will help but exercising your physical health. Staying in shape and top form will help you grow but also benefit the Technique area. During your pretest, I can tell you haven¡¯t done any extreme exercising for quite some time. I would recommend you start doing some cardio and weight lifting exercises so you can prevent being winded early in a fight.¡± ¡°Last is Spirt. Spirit is a more complicated subject to explain for me. But the information my publisher programmed within me is still somewhat¡­ beyond my comprehension. To some degree, Spirit is what some of you humans say from a religious stand point...the human soul I believe.¡± Did she just say what I think she just said¡­the human soul?! ¡°The Spirit is the main core of your wellbeing, which is who you are that makes up your individuality. The BattleCube app is able to analyze the very core of your essence from the values you hold dear to what type of individual who you truly are. But to grow this subject¡­I have no clue.¡± As Unica shrugged, ¡°This was all according to my publisher. I tell you, the human soul is so complicated that computer algorithms have a difficult time understanding what it truly is.¡± As Abriel was trying to process everything what Unica explained, ¡°Alright, I think I get the gist of this. But what I¡¯m confused about is how this app can analyze all that information about a person. An app to do this is not only unheard of but it¡¯s nothing I ever heard about on any forum board.¡± as Abriel started to wonder, ¡°So can you answer me this¡­ Who created this app?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry but according to my program, I¡¯m not allowed to answer that question.¡± ¡°And why not?¡± ¡°Because the time isn¡¯t ripe to reveal that. For now, you just have to play BattleCube to find out that answer in due time.¡± ¡°Okay. So how does this game work then?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked! I¡¯ll explain the rules and how all of this is going to work. First, this is known as BattleCube where you will encounter real life players or generated monsters the app will generate. ¡° ¡°You can use your class to fight but also anything you see fit in the environment to bring down your opponent(s) HP to zero. Since this is a beta, your job is to report anything suspicious or bugs in the app. To report, just go down to the ¡°Notes¡± section and type what you think we should investigate. I already have full access to all the user¡¯s notes so all you have to do is type anything that must be fixed or investigated. Since this app is still in beta, we ask you to keep this app as secret as possible to only you and the rest of the 300 users. If sensitive information gets out about this app, I will require to take action upon you according to the contract you signed.¡± Unica explained. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to interrupt you but¡­ did you just say you have the right to take action?¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yes. According to the contract you signed, you must keep all information about this app to yourself. If not, then I will have no choice but to enforce severe repercussions. Of course, you will have full right to state your case and reasons behind an information leak for me to determine the best course of action to take. If the explanation doesn¡¯t balance your reason, then according to my publisher, I have full right to do what I must do to prevent ANY information leak about the BattleCube app.¡± Is this app that secretive? I¡¯m starting to wonder what I really got myself into. I wonder who in their right mind would create such a thing. And she did mention ¡°severe repercussions¡± as in what? Maybe I should¡¯ve thoroughly read the contract before I agreed to anything. I guess I¡¯ll ask more about this later. If I have to guess, this app must¡¯ve been created by someone who works for the government who wants to test what impact this technology would on a small number of people. ¡°Moving on now. When you open your app, you will notice that your menu will have new tabs now. The tabs are as follows: Items, Equipment, SP Techniques, M&Locations, Party, Messages and Notes. However during battle, you can only access the Items¡¯ tab. If you open your Item tab, you will see an inventory of items you can use during a battle that can restore your HP, SP and abnormal statues. During a battle, if you browse into that tab, all you have to do is select the item and select the name you want to use the item for. Unfortunately, you can only hold up to 10 items so be careful.¡± ¡°In your Equipment tab, you can always change your equipment if you earn or buy a new sword or armor. It¡¯s very important to keep up with your equipment as time goes on. This tab can only be accessed when you¡¯re not in battle. Then we have the Map and Locations tab (M&Locations), the map will show locations of other users and Monster Zones. You will learn to use this as time goes on.¡± ¡°We then have the Party and the Messages tab. The Party tab is if you decide to party up with another user and Messages tab if you need to message another user. You can play solo if you want but I would recommend you get to know some of the others since they¡¯ll be like your co-workers during the beta test. At the moment, you can only have three users in a party. So including yourself, you can add two more users. Once in a party, you can share items or heal each other or even if you want, fight one user in a battle. However, you can¡¯t heal another user if they¡¯re not in your party.¡± *** ¡°Now I¡¯ll explain the ground rules:
  1. You can only talk or acknowledge about the BattleCube app with other users. Talking to non-users about the BattleCube app that have no knowledge of the app is strictly prohibited.
  2. You are permitted to fight other users if both users and/or other users acknowledge each other with the phrase, ¡°BattleCube Start¡± simultaneously.
  3. In extreme conditions if your life is being threatened or in danger by a non-user, you are permitted to use the app to protect yourself to protect the privacy of the BattleCube app. Advise CAUTION as battling a non-user will have repercussions if the user loses.
  4. If you are defeated by a non-user, your rights as a user will be forfeited and the app will uninstall itself and destroy the phone the app was installed on to protect privacy of the app. At the same time, your memories of the app will be erased.
  5. If a non-user is defeated in battle, the app will erase all memories and recollection of the battle from the non-user.
  6. After a battle is over, you are prohibited from physically harming the other user and/or non-user as the loser will mentally be fatigued from the battle. Physically harming the other user and/or non-user after a battle will suffer repercussions.
  7. You are prohibited starting a battle within 3 feet of the user¡¯s home/residence as these act as Safe Zones. If you are within 3 feet of a Safe Zone, a battle cannot be started.
  8. You are prohibited from abusing the BattleCube app for illegal activities for self-gain and/or that will harm users and/or non-users.
*** ¡°These are the ground rules my publisher told me to withhold. But I¡¯m given full authority to edit the ground rules or add more rules if necessary. Well¡­ that wraps up the tutorial. Any other questions before the Battlefield Zone collapses?¡± Thinking to himself for a moment, a question comes to mind. ¡°So before I opened up the app, I was on my way to school on the bus. I¡¯m not going to be late am I!?¡± ¡°Oh yeah. Your currently still on your bus. But how do I explain this that will make sense without using vocabulary that will confuse you. When you activated the BattleCube app, you observed a cube come out of your phone screen and quickly increased in size. The cube that came out your phone screen is a type of void space created by the app that takes your consciousness and being to a different dimension entirely.¡± ¡°As the dimension is created, the cube freezes the current flow of time temporary which I¡¯m calling your flow of time Reality Rate. This explains why everything within range of the cube is frozen in place which to create the Battlefield Zone. As inside the cube, a new temporary flow of time is created which I¡¯m calling Cube Rate, a rate parallel to Reality Rate but at a faster rate. In simpler terms, your brain will perceive Cube Rate as the norm but in actuality, you¡¯re really going at a faster rate than Reality Rate. ¡°At the same time you¡¯re in this dimension, perception of reality is also changed outside the cube. The app uses your phone to send out signals to the brains of non-users to trick their perception of reality. By doing this, the app is able eradicate your existence while in a battle. As an example, everyone around you on the bus cannot recollect you being on the bus or even feel your presence on the bus as if¡­ you¡¯ve become a GHOST!¡± WHAT??!!! ¡°However, these signals are not full proof just to be warned.¡± ¡°Once a battle is over, the cube will stop its Cube Rate and put you back onto your current flow of time. You will then pop back into Reality Rate in your original position where you activated the app and the world will perceive you again as if you were always there. You will feel some type of after affects as your brain adjusts back to Reality Rate, but it¡¯s just temporary.¡± ¡°If a situation occurs where you defended yourself against a non-user, the non-user will greatly be affected by the loss. The app will register the being as a non-user and send a signal to their brain to make them so fatigued that they will have no choice but to rest. Just think of their loss as shooting them with a powerful tranquilizer gun.¡± ¡°Alright user. The Cube Rate will now collapse and you¡¯ll be put back onto Reality Rate. The beta for the BattleCube app will officially begin once I explain the tutorial to all users. I will send a message out with further information. Till then, make sure your ready and start strategizing now.¡± As Unica waves goodbye to Abriel. Without a notice when Abriel was about say goodbye to Unica, the environment around Abriel collapsed and with a blink of an eye, Abriel suddenly popped back into his seat. Trying to realize his situation, noticed his stop was approaching¡­ ¡°Well I better get to class.¡±