《Nine Realms VRMMORPG》


 Prologue, also known as Chapter 1.

    Gunfire rings out across the ruined cityscape. The high-pitched whining of advanced lasertanks firing blasts out from across the city as two armies engage in urban combat. With the smell of burnt meat and ozone thick in the air, a man sprints across a street dodging laserfire and gunfire along the way.


    "Damn how''d they get to our location so quick?!", he muttered as he cursed under his breath.


    Tall, with a lean physique and fair skin. Hair blacker than the night, with eyes a lush emerald green. If he weren''t in the middle of combat and coated with dirt, blood and mud he would look no different from idols or supermodels, but why male models when he can be compared to female models? On his dogtag around his neck, it reads "Special Lieutenant Valanis von J?tungard. Under company Direwolves, serving in 1st Elite Strike Platoon. Enlisted 24/7/2031."


    Back in combat, the man continues running until he reaches the closest wall. Taking cover, he checks his laser rifle''s battery before returning fire at his assailents, a company of elite men whom were waiting in ambush for his platoon. Striking off a soldier, he ducks back into cover as they return fire. "Damn, such pain in the ass. And my platoon got wiped too, fuck!".


    Unlatching the safety and pin of a frag grenade, he counts down to 1 second on the timer before tossing it to the enemy position. A loud explosion follows along with screams of pain. "TAKE THAT YOU SONS OF BITCHES", he yells as he pops back out of cover and flicks the switch to auto before squeezing the trgger and unloading on the now out of cover hostiles. He manages to wipe 3/4s of the enemy before stopping to make sure he doesn''t overheat his only laser rifle in the fight. Ducking back into cover, he starts to wonder how to finish off the last of them.There should be a car about 10 metres ahead of my position, maybe I can use that to push on their position.He mentally notes down what surroundings he can make out and remember in the vicinity of the car, afterwhich he prepares to toss another grenade onto them, thid time a concussive-type.


    The moment it went off, he rushed to the car while firing potshots at them with his pistol. Sliding the last couple metres to the car, he slams his back against the cool metal of the door. He swaps the laser rifle battery with his last full one, flicking it to semi-auto burst.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "This one''s my last, gotta make this count." he muttered to himself as he popped out the side of the car and began firing on the last remnants of his foes. They drop one-by-one, the last one screaming curses and vulgarities as he took shots to his limbs and joints. "YOU DAMNED ALKERIAN COWARD! KILL ME YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Valanis walks up to his downed foe, breathing a sigh of relief. "Not gonna kill you until I get the info I want. Either you tell me now or I drag you back to base with me to let the experts do so.", he said with an intimidating tone towards the cripple. The crippled man squawks in fear, immediately spilling the information he has about the latest plans that his commanders allowed him to know of. After the interrogation, Valanis dragged him back to his homebase anyways, just incase he didn''t spill anything.


    The information he got turned out to be useful and at the same time detailed a world-ending weapon the enemy had prepared. As a result of his actions, he was tasked to infiltrate the enemy base to disable the weapon, and any capabilities of producing another of the weapon. The mission went without a hitch, but Valanis was trapped in the warehouse. With no way out, he detonated the weapons in the warehouse, wiping out the enemy base while sacrificing himself to do so. His actions saved billions, his story inspired generations.


    Now, in a place between the the world of the living and the dead.


    "You''ve got enough good karma, so I''ll let you reincarnate into another world like the one you were born in."


    "Will it have other races like Elves?"


    "No, sorry to disappoint but it only differs in that the world is under the rule of a single government, a benevolent one so no wars will happen like in your world."


    "Poop. Does that mean the date the first VRMMO comes out is the same then?"


    "Yes. Also, the elements like fire, water, and such exist there too, and is used in everyday life by everyone. The only issue is that most people have poor affinities with the elements, so everyday applications are the best they can do."


    "Cool, so will I be born with maximum affinities for elements?"


    "Yes, and there are also bloodlines for the elemental affinities."


    "So can I have Elemental Sage for affinity to fire, water, earth and wind, and Great Panda for Yin-Yang?"


    "...Is it because it matches your personality?"


    "...yes..."


    "Ok, now get lost."


    "Wa-" a bright flash of light cut Valanis off, and soon he found himself in the hands of a strange man.

 Chapter Dos(2)

    Darkness was what greeted him when he regained consciousness. Or rather, the inability to open his eyes.


    So he really meant it when he said ''reborn''. I''m still in the fucking womb damn it. Oh well, might as well think of what to do in the years leading up to the release of Nine Realms. So in this manner, in the months leading up to his birth, he tried to relieve his boredom through planning. It didn''t really work out that well, so he ended up kicking and punching for fun.


    His new mom didn''t really find it fun to feel the kicks and punches every 3 hours though. At some point in the pregnancy, he got bored of that as well and ended up developing a cultivation technique for fun. It turned out that it was actually quite useful in nurturing his still developing body and his comparatively old soul and mind. Granted, the effects of it on the body was minimal, other than the fact that it improved his already high elemental affinities, making it easier for his future cultivation. If he pursues it that is.


    In comparison, his soul and mind grew substantially, his thinking processes becoming smoother, clearer, faster and less cluttered with random thoughts floating about. His soul improved his ability to sense and control the elemental energies in his surroundings, which currently isn''t much considering he''s still in the womb. Other than the pure elemental energies his mother has affinity for, that is.


    Sometimes, he felt a warm sensation around him, which followed a period of movement and vibrations. What the fuck? For fucks sake dad, you couldn''t have waited for me to be born first before you fucked mom? No wait, that might be his fetish, or kink.


    Eventually, after what seemed to be an excrutiatingly long period of time, he felt himself being turned around through pressure on his body. Oh thank the gods, the most painful time imaginable has finally come to an end. Mother, please, make it happen faster and free me from the confines of your body. After a period of excrutiating pressure squeezing his lower body towards the exit, his head finally popped out, followed by the rest of his body as a strange looking doctor caught him and wiped him down with a little too much care. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "GAHAHA WHY DOES IT TICKLE SO MUCH STOP IT" Of course, what came out was "AGUGUUGUUUUHUHUGU".


    Jumping forward in time a little, dear Valanis, who somehow kept his name from his previous world, is now 1 year old. Celebrating his birthday of course, with too colourful decorations and plenty of cake. No, sorry, the cake was a lie. All he got instead was a tiny cupcake, while his parents got the cake. He was so mad, he managed to speak a complete sentence to curse them for stealing his cake.


    "Why you eat cake, when I get a shitty tiny cupcake?!" he adorably yelled in a cute toddler voice. His parents weren''t pleased with shitty being in the sentence, but took the first word as his penchant for curiosity. Oh yeah, his family is a rich family as well, actually owning the company that developed Nine Realms and the VR tech that supports it, Flamingoose.


    Yes. Its called Flamingoose. Not some glorious nordic-origins based name, not some cool sci-fi or futuristic name. It was named after a flamingo and a goose fusion, probably a result of his parents'' favourite birds. Not that it matters, because the company is worth billions either way.


    Back to Valanis, now that his body is developed to the age of 1, he''s decided to do some light workouts alongside the cultivation technique he developed, now named "Four Elements Dance".


    Why "Dance"? Because it involves dance-like movements to stimulate absorption and cleansing of the body, obviously.An added bonus is the fact it can be used as a combat movement technique, without stimulating the elemental absorption of course.  because if it did he would just end up exhausting unnecessary amounts of energy needed in a fight. Although, if he needs an extra boost to combat power, he could always stimulate and use his elements in the technique. Like a berserk, without the rage but more tiring.


    "Time to follow the schedule I planned, "Wake up, eat, run around the perimeter huge ass living room twice, cultivate for as long as I can manage(hopefully not too long), shower, lunch, and then whatever after that.". Hopefully all goes well until the release. Oh right, there''s schooling needed as well to keep up appearance as a toddler. Whoops, guess I''ll just ask to be homeschooled after lunch."

 Tree

    For the years leading up to the release of Nine Realms, Valanis had always been diligently training everyday following his schedule, with minor modifications made to accomodate a couple hours of homeschooling every day.


    It wasn''t all that easy to convince his parents to allow him to be homeshooled instead of going to a private or public school due to their concern for his development of social skills, but he managed to do it by promising to go out and make some friends whenever he went out to exercise his still growing body.


    Of course, everything about this situation is weird in the eyes of others. A couple of rich parents allowing their young 1 year old son and scion to run about freely in the outside world. In fact, this could even be called parental negligence, if not for the fact that Valanis'' parents always sent out a couple of bodyguards disguised and trained as babysitters to go out with him.


    Valanis now has made a couple of best friends while going out to exercise when he was 4. One of them is a girl about a year younger, with doll-like features, fiery orange hair tied up into a ponytail and bright, clear auburn coloured eyes. The other is a boy a year older, with hair black as raven, skin already slightly tanned despite his young age of 5 testifying to his love of the outdoors, a face that can be made out to be handsome when he grows up and sheds the baby fat in the future, and eyes that contained resplendent emerald green irises. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Together, the three of them always went out and committed acts of mischief that would put imps to shame in any of the neighbourhoods they managed to get to. Chalk graffiti on walls of all colours and roads that are just busy enough that it allows them time to set up roadwork cones off peak hours to mess with the drivers.


    Valanis, of course, joined them not because of his mentality returning to that of a 4 year old''s, no, he joined them out of sheer boredom caused by following his schedule daily. "There is always the benefit of getting more exercise in whenever twe run away from scene of the crime," or so he excused himself with. He also noted that his progress in training his body has been progressing smoother and quicker than expected, although he isn''t sure, he thinks it may be related to imagining himself doing the scheduled exercises everyday constantly. He''ll find out when Nine Realms starts though, so it''ll all be fine.