《Last Essence Online - VRMMORPG》 Last Essence Online - Prolouge My name is Matthew. I am a 16 year old boy living in an average sized city in a certain country. I am currently working at a shop part-time. My friends and I decided that we will start playing a new VRMMORPG called Last Essence Online. (LEO) It is noon and I school has finished already. The reason I am working at the shop is because I don''t have enough money to buy the VR system for the game. My parents gave me a bit of money but it was not enough. So I decided to get a part-time job at the shop near my home. They pay me weekly so I barely got enough money before summer vacation started. This is my last day at the job so I need to finish this quickly. After my job I got my last paycheck and I went to buy the system for the game. The system was a blackish-purple box with white line and a black headset. While I was going home with the system I did some research on the Internet on which races I can pick when I create my character and about how I start the system and the game. The system can be started when I press a side of the box and the game starts with a voice command. I think it was : ''Awaken'' or something like that. I would feel really embarrassed if someone heard me say something like that in real life though. I also sent texts to my friends Chris and John that we will meet in the starting village in the game. They replied with an okay and their ingame names. Chris''s name is Cry and John''s is Gren. John said that he wanted his name to be Green but he acidentally forgot to put two E''s in. I wonder what race should I pick. Some players made a few comparisons between races but there are more than 1000 races and a person can have at most only 2 characters on one system. The most picked races are : Human,Orc,Elf,Dwarf,Ogre,Goblin. These races are one of the rare humanoid races that are available right now. There should be around ten more races that are humanoid/half humanoid looking. There are races like Slimes and some normal animals like a lion or cheetah. I decided to have a bit of a hard start so I already decided to pick a non-humanoid race with little information about it. The ones that had almost no information about them are the Wisp race,Rock being race, Elemental race and the Slime race. The reasons why these didn''t have much information about them is because these races suck when you pick them. You can do almost nothing but get a party and they will have to carry you during the first few quests. The Wisp race looks like a little ball of fire or light. It absorbs life-energy from other living beings and gets stronger like that. The reason why no one picks it is because you need to kill something to get the ability to kill. The wisp can only suck energy if the monster/enemy is already damaged or is willing to give energy. It has no solo potential at all. The Rock being race is a race with the appearence of a big golem looking monster. It has hands and legs but the body proportions are a bit weird. The reason no one picked this race is because they are too slow and have almost no affinity in magic. The elemental race is a race similar to the Wisps but the reason they don''t get picked a lot is because you need to pick an element first so you can kill. Normally you just need to absorb the elemental affinity of an item to get the element you want but the elements you get from the starting are are the 5 basic elements : Fire,Water,Wind,Earth,Lightning. They are too weak! That''s why no one picks them. The basic elements are good for spells but for elementals they can be fatal. Because if you pick a basic element then almost every other advanced element has a stronger power against you. The last race is the Slime race. It is actually pretty strong if you know how to play it. The only bad thing is that the slime race is slower than rock beings and have almost not elemental affinity when you start. They are completely neutral monsters before you start eating stuff. Slimes have an unique ability to get energy and power from things they eat. For example : If you eat alot of fire element things you will get the fire elemental affinity. There is actually another reason why people don''t pick any of these races¡­It is because the Npc''s hate monsters! You don''t have a lot of quests to do with these races in the starter town. Only if you go out and travel to some monster towns and dungeons you can get quests for you. While I was doing my ''research'' I already came home. That was fast¡­ I went into my room after looking around the house for my parents. They weren''t here. Weird,they would usually be here. Atleast one of them. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I took a shower and changed my sweaty clothes. Good thing I bought the system before summer vacation started. Today was the last day of school so I was really happy when I noticed that I already have enough money for the game. I changed into my orange t-shirt and blue shorts and laid down on the bed after starting the system. And then I said : [Awaken!] Good thing no one is here to hear me¡­ After I said the voice command I saw a weird screen appear infront of me and it said : << Loading Complete >> <> << You will be redirected to the character creation screen shortly after the cutscenes >> Cutscenes? SKIP! Good¡­I hate those things. And here is the character creation screen huh? It looks pretty normal. The only weird feature is that there are almost ten thousand screens and videos with tutorials for each race. Good thing to know that humans can use their hands for battling as well as crafting. I mean who even watches these things? I didn''t spend long on this and just closed my eyes and picked between one of the four races I wanted to play. The result¡­The Wisp Race! Good¡­It''s not the one I wanted but it is the second one. There is no appearance change or anything like that on wisps the only thing that changes is the color of their light. The color changes depending on which elemental affinity they have. Also the elemental affinity you get is random! I forgot to mention that. The element I want to get is Ice or even better Space-time! Image a wisp making Rifts in space and time. How badass would that be? Well,whatever let''s just continue with the creation. I need a name. A name¡­what should I call myself? Let''s just name myself Bright. Because I am a wisp afterall. I have no naming sense. Well whatever,atleast I have a name now. And now I just need to press play! PLAY! With that I saw a flash of light and I couldn''t see my hands anymore. I looked around myself and a screen popped out of nowhere! << Name : Bright,Race: Wisp, Elemental affinity : Blood >> What''s with this? Blood element? What can that do? Isn''t that a evil element? Won''t I be kicked out of the town if someone finds out!? What luck¡­ Whatever. If I get kicked out it is my fault. Now¡­ Let''s see¡­I am in the starting town named Valeria. I think this is where the other two will be aswell. I hope so. If I started in the wrong city I would kill myself. How do they expect me to play with myself. I think they said they will start in a town that started with Val-,this is the only town I saw that starts with Val¡­ Now that I look around I don''t see any players at all. Almost all are NPC''s¡­ did the players already leave to do quests? A few weeks have already passed and the starting towns should still be full¡­why is this town not full at all? I wonder¡­ [Hey you!] I heard someone calling me. [Yes,you. Are you alone? Will you join my party I need one more person so I can finish this quest and everyone already left.] A player? He is¡­what race is that? He made his face look so ugly that even I don''t know which race he is. I did notice that he has a weird big nose and is a bit fat. He must be an orc or something. [What do I need to do?] I asked. [Nothing,just stand behind and watch me kill some Dark Wolves in the fields near the town.] Good¡­This way I can absorb the life energy to get my first unique skill. I wonder what will it be? [Alright,I will join you.But can I ask you one question first?] [Ask.] [Is this town always this empty or?] [No,no it''s just that there is a special event going on for a ressurection item and everyone wants to get one.] A ressurection item? That sounds helpful. I wonder why he doesn''t go get one. [ Why don''t you go and get one?] I had to ask. [I don''t care about ressurection items and such things all I want to do is kill!] A muscle-head afterall¡­ [Don''t ask me such things and accept the party invitation already!] I didn''t even notice he sent me the invite already. Let''s see I just need to press accept. Accept! << Joined Herald''s Party. Party members : Herald,Bright.>> Chapter 1 << Joined Herald''s party. Party members : Herald,Bright >> So...is that all? I looked at Herald,waiting for him to say something. "So your name is Bright...alright let me introduce myself formally then. My name is Herald,my race is orc and I am level 3." "Ah,yes. Nice to meet you, I am Bright,race is wisp and level 1." I replied. I guessed right that he is an orc. He is already level 3 so that means he should have atleast one ability and looking at his equipment he is using a short-sword. His armor is still the begginer armor you get when you start the game. The armor you get depends on the race you picked. Wisps don''t have a physical form so they don''t use such armor. We use spirit armor or magical rank armor. The items in the game are divided into ranks based on their quality and rarity. Those ranks are,from the most common to the rarest : Common,Uncommon,Magic,Rare,Unique,Star,Demi-god,God,Universe. That''s what I heard about them atleast. Right now I don''t have any equipment,the only thing I have for battle is the [Absorb] ability that is unique to wisps. Until I absorb energy from a monster and set a path for myself I won''t get any new abilites. For example,if I absorb the Dark Wolves we are going to hunt for the quest my next rank up will be one with the wolf-type base. If I absorb a human my next rank up will be a humanoid base.Atleast I think that''s how it works... "Are you ready? I will go accept the quest from the shopkeeper once more so you get it aswell." I heard Herald saying "Don''t I need to go aswell? How will the shopkeeper know that you have a party? He is an NPC..." This is weird. "Don''t worry about that,I can just tell him that I have one more person with me now,if you want though you can come with me." He said. "I will come with you.Honestly I want to see more of the city." I said. "Alright! Let''s go!" He seems like a nice person. "Yeah..." I said quietly and followed him towards the shop in which the quest can be accepted. Looking at the buildings inside the town I noticed that the town has four different areas,in each area are different people. The eastern area is where the poor people live, the northern area is where the normal people live, the western area is where the rich people live and the southern area is where the adventurers guild and shopping district is. "We''re here." I heard Herald''s voice calling me. We''re currently in the shopping district in the southern part of the town. Herald said that I should wait here and look around if I am bored until he accepts the quest. "Alright." I said and looked around. I saw plenty of shops that are selling physical weapons and armor.But there were none that were selling magical weapons and armor. It seems that mages are rare in the early levels. After looking around a bit more I found a small shop that sells magical items. But they are mostly for elves and ... what''s this? The thing that caught my attention was a small badge looking thing with a pattern that looked like a planet with an hourglass on it. I wonder what it is... I will ask the shop keeper. "Can you tell me more about this thing?" I asked. You can''t see the stats of items unless you have the apprasial skill or you are one of the humanoid races. That''s also one of the reasons people don''t pick non-humanoid races as their first ones. "Huh,what? That badge? Let''s see..." It seems that not even he knows what is that badge. Did he forget or? "Ah,this is the badge of the last royal family. It''s useless nowadays because of the new royal family. The old one got killed. I can give it to you for 1 silver coin." That''s all I have! But it looks nice,and it is a magical item so I can actually use it somehow. Should I buy it? As I thought about that I heard Herald''s voice in my head. Wait do I actually have a head? I am a wisp though...Where am I even hearing him? "I got the quest, where are you?" Got the quest already? Ah,it''s true,there is a quest tab now in my point of view. We need to get ten big furs from the dark wolves. The fur must be atleast common rarity and must not be damaged. This is going to be hard. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. "Sorry I will come back to buy it." I told the shopkeeper. "I won''t be holding onto this for you just so you know. I will sell it if someone wants it." Alright,alright...I will buy it later. "haa--" I ran out...well,flew out of the shop and looked for Herald. I also remembered that you can use the whisper command to send private messages to your friends and party members. I sent a whisper to Herald asking that we meet outside the town gates. I already know the way. He answered with a simple okay and we decided to meet there. After flying for a bit I caught sight of Herald and went to him. He saw me aswell it seems. "You are finally here. Let''s go we can''t waste any more time." Don''t we have to make some preparations? Well, I think we don''t,we are low leveled anyways,there''s nothing to lose even if we die. "Alright,let''s go." I replied. While we were travelling I asked him questions about the dark wolves and he answered me all of them. First is that dark wolves are level 2 monsters that are almost always in groups of three. The reason they are hunted is because of their meat and fur. Their fur can be made into low leveled but high quality armor if you have a good fur. Their meat is also pretty good when cooked it seems. All the senses from real life are also active in the game so I can feel pain and I can taste the food aswell. That is pretty impressive technology. The second thing he said about dark wolves is their abilits. They have the most common of abilites and can''t evolve or rank up in the begginer areas so that means that they can kill you and kill you until they get enough experience to evolve or rank up and they still won''t do that. The last thing he said about the dark wolves is that there is a field Boss hidden around somewhere near the dark wolves that is an evolved version of the Dark Wolf. There is no information about it though. After travelling a bit more we finally found a pack of wolves. I want to try fighting them but I don''t have any offensive abilites yet... "I will attack them first and after they are cut you will absorb one of them while I fight the other two,okay?" Herald told me the strategy. It is pretty simple,but I think it can work. I am a bit relucant about absorbing the wolf though. That would make my next rank-up give me a wolf-base and the wolf''s abilites if I don''t absorb something else before my rank-up. Just so you know , you can rank-up at level 20,50,100 ,200 and 250. After that you only focus on evolution,which is even harder. Most races can evolve earlier than level 250 but those races are the non-humanoid races. My evolution path is still unknown because almost no one plays the wisp. I am not saying that no one plays it though. "Alright. I agreed to the strategy and waited for Herald to start attacking the wolves. Herald jumped out of the bushes we were hiding in and sliced one of the wolves with his short-sword. I immediately jumped on the wolf and activated my unique ability [Absorb]. The wolf''s HP went down quickly. 96%....72%....40%....25%....0%...It''s dead. With that I gained a bit of experience. Still not enough to level up? Well anyways I also got a notification. Saying: << Dark Wolf soul absorbed. Ability unlocked : [Fireball] >> also another screen said : << Current souls : Dark Wolf x 1(majority) ...>> It seems that my next rank up will be a dark wolf based one if I don''t absorb something other. But what''s with this ability? I thought you get an ability based on the soul/monster you absorb. Why did I get a fireball abilty? Is it because I am a wisp? Not like I am complaining though,I am only confused. I looked at Herald to see if he is doing alright...He is struggling a bit but I can see that the wolves are beneath 50% HP. I decided to try my [Fireball] on one of the wolves to see if it is a good ability.