《Greatest Gamer (Dropped)》 Chapter 1 - Jacobs Start GG Greatest Gamer I woke up to a noisy room. I seemingly fell asleep in class again. I have already passed all of my courses however I have to stay in school until I am 20 by the Law. this was enforced because it provided students the chance to learn greater amounts of information and 20 was worked out to be the youngest age which provided the highest amount of people passing all their exams and even take a side college level course as a given when you pass out of high school giving you something that will help provide stability and direction for your life. I am not the only one in my class who is able to just relax like I do. however it does give me the chance to prepare for what I will do after school. However as I am now I am unsure. I wouldn''t know what I wan''t to do after I leave school. I have a brain that would allow me to become the best brain surgeon. maybe I could even move into theoretical physics. I could become a teacher and pass on my knowledge to a plethora of people who could do it all. I am simply unsure. Ever since birth I was abnormal. I didn''t cry. normally people cry but even back then I was smart enough to realise it would get me nowhere. all of my neuron pathways are exceedingly well developed. the moment I learn something I memorise it. be it a smell. an equation or even how to ride a bike. It is all stored perfectly in my brain and my brain works fast enough to maintain this and process an almost overwhelming amount of information. I don''t like doing it much and have learnt a trick for dulling down my brain so I am not constantly walking around as a computer. it desensitises me to things I used to love. I went to exit the classroom on the bell like normal and I was the last person out the class. even the teacher left before me since I was still slightly sleepy and I was happy that my brain wasn''t overflowing me with information. As I walked out the class I also walked head first into a female with long red hair red eyes and the school uniform on which some how only enhanced her looks. she didn''t have large breasts or anything like that as she was flat as a plank of wood however when I looked at her face my heart stopped for a moment. she had still yet to realise she had walked into me and that she had pushed me over and I was falling backwards and was moments away from smashing my head on the ground. I quickly placed my hands and braced for impact all the wile looking at the female who bumped into me. my eyes were glued to her and I was unsure of why since she didn''t have the normal charm of having big chest etc. maybe it was because she had just fallen onto me or maybe I am unsure if her red hair and red eyes are natural or cosplay. its hard to tell these days. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. *THUD* the female jumped up from me as fast as she could with a red face full of embarasment having just fell onto me. "I AM SO SORRY" she seemingly shouted loudly while bowing trying to show a sincere position. "And you are so loud" I commented and this made her flinch for some reason "sorry" she then mumbled quietly while looking away her face was still red for some reason. "its ok. but why are you looking away from me? even if you did fall on me you are the senior student right so you most likely have your reasons right?" I asked after noticing the age difference between us. she was at least 3 months older then me making her around 19, I am still only 19 which placed her in the next year group. her face was slightly shocked as my statement but to me it was clear. "I guess... I am Ayumi Hatame.." Ayumi looked at me with a smile and a face that showed that she had a slight interest in me. "Ok. so what are you running for?" I asked and she then wore a shocked face as she ran past me and grabbed a packed lunch box. "I was fetching this for my sister" Ayumi said before walking back up to me. "the lunch is not what worried her. she left her copy of World Bridge Online inside" Ayumi said and I quickly took note. I have never played a game before in my life but due to how she said it I can assume both her and her sister have the game and for some reason I suddenly felt like playing it... not sure why. "Ok then. have a good day Ayumi. I hope to see you again" I said politely with a slight bow and I noticed her face showed all obvious signs of being flustered and embarrassed. (Note: cute face detected. HP and MP have been restored and the game has been saved) "yea... I hope to see you as well Jacob. have a good day" Ayumi walked away after that... wait... I detect an inconsistency.... where... ''Detective Mode Activate'' (Note: Batman Mode Activate). In this conversation I never even hinted at what my name was however she said it naturally without even needing to think... we have not met before so how would she know?... something feels strange here... well... maybe her sister told her about me? "Oh well. now I need to get WBO and a pod to play it on" I said with a sigh. I do have a lot of pocket money so I guess I can afford it. I walked off for lunch with my lunch box in hand and plenty on my mind... ok with Ayumi on my mind but I don''t know why. why won''t my brain just move on like normal? did I seriously fall for her both literally and metaphorically in that short meeting? ------------------------------- Enjoy the story. this is only the beginning. also note this is my first fiction so do let me know how you feel about it as it progresses. Chapter 2 - Choices GG Greatest Gamer I have to say this character creation is a bit special. because you cant actually change your looks. I am supposed to be asked a set of questions and based on how I answer them will then decide my starting city and alter my looks / power to make my playing experience better. But the first question is slightly difficult to answer. [If you had the chance. would you like to go to another world] if I truly just went to another world my parents would be worried and my brain would be missed by the scientific community. but this game is called world bridge online so it would stand to reason I could also return in this scenario. I still wouldn''t since I don''t even know if said world is inhabitable or even has any oxygen. "No" I said firmly and without eve questioning it the game moved on. [Do you see more strength in? your muscular strength or in your mental strength] "The mind. with the body of a dragon you can accomplish a lot but with the mind of a super computer you will be able to predict the dragons movements formulate a plan and execute it perfectly. The mind is far more powerful a tool then the muscle" I sad justifying my point. I still wouldn''t want to take on a level 200 dragon at level 1 though. [Do you desire a life unachievable before now?] "Sure. to achieve something unachievable sounds fun" I said slightly exited to see if these questions were going to build up to something. [If you had the choice between killing a corrupt king who is foolishly loved by his people or an innocent man thought to be a murderer by everyone else what would you do?] ... killing the king would be the right choice but this is a hard one. if I were to kill the king I would have done something good but everyone would turn against me and killing the innocent man would obviously be bad but everyone would support me and see me as a good man. this is a question of living with the consequences and moral. "I would kill the king" I said based on my personal opinion. just my personal opinion however even if everyone turned against me for it I wouldn''t care since I did the right thing and would find a way to resolve the issue. [if you had the choice between saving the lives of your mother father and siblings or your loved one and descendants who would you save from the painful slow death?] If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "What kind of question is that?" I said trying to hold back on shouting. "I don''t have children or a loved one so that wouldn''t be a concern but I am guessing this is an ''if I did'' question. I would save them since they hold the future of the country on their shoulders" I said logically and reasonably. but I doubt it is that simple and I doubt I would be able to live with myself. [What would you kill for?] "right now? something to eat" I said with a serious tone of voice [What would you die for?] "Half Life 3" I said recalling what many people said they would die for a while ago on the internet. [What would you sacrifice to gain unimaginable strength] "sacrifice? I guess I could just give up some of my time" I said jokingly. this was a game and I should at least try and have fun right? "Yes.... YESS!!! your path has been chosen and to keep you company is a power which could give you potentially infinite power however it will take time to grow. you are the first of the chosen to achieve their power so soon. just be careful since for you it comes at the cost of the travellers ability to come back to the living when killed" (???) that didn''t do anything to boost my confidence. a permadeath system is scary but this isn''t SAO or something where I die for real. I just have to start again from scratch. "Now it is time for you to leave this dark abyss of creation. now go and stand in the sun and make the entire world"(???) When I had left the voice continued talking. "I have really went and done it now. that kind of power could be dangerous in his hands..."(???) "Wow. the graphics here are really... nope this is just pure darkness" (Random Player) "hmm... no he isn''t a chosen one.....Hello there and welcome. I have 3 questions. what is your selected name race and aesthetics?"(???) ------------------------------ finally. I will be able to start the in game plot line now and also expand the IRL base story line. I hope you enjoy. also I am writing another fiction at this time however said other fiction is a bit... dark... hope you like it also this chapter may be short however it is VERY important to the plot. enjoy. Chapter 3 - one vs 1 GG Greatest Gamer {Level: 0 - 10,000 Exp until level up]] [Name: Jacob Wild] [Class: Weapon''s Master] [Str: 100] [Agi: 100] [Mass: 100] [Int: 2908] [Mana Control: 3968] [ESP: 1] [Skill List()] [Psychokinesis: your power to manipulate anything that is within your ESP. what you can do relates to your Int and understanding of your ability. This power grows significantly stronger every time you level up] [Perfect Memory: Remember everything with ease to the finest detail] [Book Worm Trait: Every book you read increases intelligence stat by 10 if the book has more then 100 pages] .... OP.... its so OP.... my intelligence stat..... OP. I looked around the spawn area for any signs of an NPC [You Are Dead] The HELL? I just got in the game and I am being killed already? I call BS that is unfair. [Would you like to respawn?] "For the sake of curiosity on what ever the hell killed me... yes"(Jacob) 3...2....1.... [You are dead] Ok, that was a gun. I felt it enter through the back of my head from an angle that would suggest my killer is using a sniper from atop a tall building. there was a bullet hole in front of me from my previous headache that confirmed my theory. it took 3 seconds for them to successfully shoot meaning I have 3 seconds to GTFO and run for the hills... easier said then done. [Would you like to respawn?] However I don''t turn down a challenge. "Bring it"(Jacob) As soon as I spawned back in I dived to the right and rolled behind a car. *BANG* A bullet... so this game gives guns away. it would be helpful if I had a gun as well but it looks like I wasn''t so lucky. I just have.... psychokinesis. So how the hell do I use that? *BANG* now that shot came from at least 300 feet due to the timing that I could hear the bullet and saw its impact. I quickly then took this chance to run to the only available option. since all the buildings were locked up with iron bars and I was in the middle of a long street I went for the sewers. *BANG* [You are dead] Thats ok. I have all the time in the world to get that movement right and the pay off is I get to continue with the game and then come back to kill that bastard later. [You are dead] [You are dead] [You are dead] ... on my sixth attempt I made it into the sewers and boy did I feel achieved for doing so. it was smelly and I could hear a few explosions over head. I must have made him mad that I got passed his sniper. I didn''t waste any time in running through the dirty dark sewer. I couldn''t see anything but I didn''t have to since I had another sense. I could feel a light wind moving through the sewer against my skin telling me where I could go. I just had to also use my amazing skills of echolocation to get by. Oh. I should probably say that echolocation isn''t all that special. all I am doing is focusing on my other senses instead of sight. humans naturally have the ability to hear how close things are to them it is just that most of us don''t know how to use it. similar to walking around your house with your eyes closed and getting used to it. I did it for fun one time and learned how to use it. *Creek* *Tick* *BOOM* [You are dead] What? I stepped on something. a mine? that is unfair. thats just not fair. who just randomly puts mines in the sewer system? [Round over] [You Lose] [-10 Gate Points] [30 Gate Points Remaining] Huh? was I seriously thrown into some sort of competitive match up round so early in the game? [Moving to the town of beginnings] I was lying down and once I got movement control of my body I sat up ready to be avoiding another sniper bullet just in case however I was on an alter of some sort. I was inside of a huge church of some sort. the building was mostly empty however I saw one person sitting in prayer to who ever this church was built for. it looked like an old traditional Christian church with stain glass windows to boot however instead of a cross there was a sword. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Hi there."(Jacob) "Huh.... A CHOSEN!!!"(Zora) I saw her name written above her head and she ran over to me excitedly. I almost missed the fact she was an NPC if it wasn''t pointed out. she had what looked to be a white mage''s robe on. "A what now?"(Jacob) I said this not knowing what that meant. according to the game''s manual I should be called a traveller or a player by the gods who know they are just programming supposedly. what does it mean to be a chosen? "A chosen. You are the first chosen in a thousand years to come here. I beg of you please help us before our world crumbles to ash"(Zora) I could tell she was lying. the moment she said first... however it looks like she does indeed need my help. "Sorry. I am not able to be lied to. it is to clear on your face that I am not the first one here. so until I get the truth I think I will just go around and try and kill the sniper who gave me such a hard time earlier"(Jacob) I walked past Zora ignoring her for the most part however I wasn''t fully set on leaving yet. if my help is needed she will take 3 seconds to reconsider. "WAIT"(Zora) Called it. "You left your gun on the alter" (Zora) I turned around and saw her having a huge internal power struggle about telling me and not telling me. although I am curious I wont force her to tell me. This is just a game so how important could it be? I walked slowly over to the alter and found a simple handgun that snugly fit inside of my hand. I had a holster to the left of my waste and I naturally held it in my right hand. this could have been handy when I was being attacked by a sniper earlier. "..a... also there is another thing I should tell you...."(Zora) I could hear her mumble and turned to face her expectantly. "And what would that be?"(Jacob) "Well... as a Chosen... You have to keep a positive amount of Gate Points. if you run out... just... don''t run out ok"(Zora) If I needed ominous warning I would have asked. so I guess some sort of game over or negative thing happens if I run down my points. maybe they are important later on? "Also if you wish to start another PVP match either issue a duel or open your menu and there should be an arena option. you can make Gate Points there. Gate points can buy anything if you have enough of them just don''t run out. also be sure to take up missions by exiting the church and entering one of the worlds"(Zora) Oh. an exposition dump. I will be sure to remember that. so going into the world gets me missions and gate points buy everything. got it. "Menu" (Jacob) [Options] [Multilayer] [Church Management] "Multilayer... however I may come back to church management"(Jacob) [Arena] [Tournament] [Grand Tournament] [???] "Arena"(Jacob) [One vs 1] [One vs 2] [One vs 3] [One vs 4] [One vs Army] I saw Zora''s expression of horror as I got my next blue screen. she looked like she was desperate to say something and after I looked at the blue screen in deep thought she spoke up. "Wait... you can''t win yet. please don''t waste your Gate Points so easily"(Zora) "Oh but I am not wasting my points. or are you not telling me something important"(Jacob) I may not want to force her to tell me but I am still curious. it is still her choice. "look. If you will take some advice then just exit the church and take on a few normal missions. they are at least possible and will give you a few weapons and tools that will be helpful." (Zora) "Oh ok. I was about to ask the menu for a one vs 1 match but...."(Jacob) I was teleported even though I did not actively mean to do so. at least I now know not to say the key words or it automatically teleports me to the Arena. [Arena. 200,000 Gate Points Gamble] [Level 1 Jacob (Hand Gun) VS Level 3 Fred (Duel Wield Sub Machine Guns)] ... oh crap. ----------------------------------- Jacob has really got himself in some trouble this time. now if only he could also get out of it... Chapter 4 - Kill Or Be Killed I changed the style I was writing the story in slightly so it would fit better with where I was taking the story. Sorry if this is an inconvenience however it had to be done. also sorry if its late but Happy New Year ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GG Greatest Gamer I was in a built up area now... not sure how I got here or even what the hell is going on any more but I was at one end of a street and a guy with two sub machine guns in his hands looked just as confused as I did. fortunately for me I could work things out significantly faster. what we were in here was a Death Match and he was shit out of luck. I waited for nothing before aiming my gun and planting a bullet in-between his eyes. Unfortunately for me he had some sort of shield up that made my bullet bounce off. that was unexpected as I had hoped that would do at least something. Fred my now angry opponent started shooting back at me and all I was able to to was dive behind a near by car just as I did from the sniper earlier. I checked my gun quickly and it looks like I only have 6 more bullets left with no spare ammunition. "Come on out and die you bastard" Fred said while continuing his endless barrage of bullets on the car and this time I had no sewer to hide in. I could tell he was walking slowly towards me due to the increasing volume of the gun and I could also tell he had a lot of ammunition since he was quite happy wasting it. I remained quiet just waiting for the right moment to strike. *Click* I jumped at this noise. his guns ran out of bullets and he was right next to the car I was hiding behind. while he was reloading I dashed out in front of him and placed my gun in his mouth and shooting down his throat. however it didn''t go my way as his shield forced my gun out of his mouth dealing no damage. I fell back slightly upon realising what happened and finished reloading the sub in his right hand before shooting at me again. this time I was way to close to avoid by jumping back so instead I jumped into his personal space and pushed his gun to the side and I punched him in the solar plexus. While he was trying to get over being winded I was busy working out hos his shield worked. if my gun and bullets cant touch him yet my hand can does that mean it uses some sort of magnetic field? But if that''s the case how the hell am I going to kill him when he has two sub machine guns? Fred was starting to regain his bearings however I didn''t let him have the chance to stand back up by delivering a punch directly into his throat. So if I want to kill him now I can but that doesn''t help me kill him the remaining 7 times if this is anything like the last round with the sniper. Maybe I just need to have more kills then him by some sort of specified time? well since its my best bet there is not point in delaying any further. I clenched my fist and punched Fred several times in the throat before he stopped moving. when Fred stopped moving his body vanished and reappeared back in his original spawn point except this time he was not looking to happy. not at all... "Die DIE DIE DIE!!!" Fred said while sending a wall of bullets at me... no wall would be wrong. I was prepared from the start. before the first bullet left the gun I was watching carefully of his finger and the bullet''s trajectory. I obviously was not fast enough to avoid a bullet however if I was faster then his reaction time and his finger I had a chance. I shot at his other sub to prevent it from working temporally. sure enough the bullet lodged in his gun and I avoided the first shot. at this point I was lucky because my original estimate placed the bullet I had just avoided into my liver... I guess the gun has a worn barrel making its accuracy much worse. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I then took this opportunity to run. I ran to the end of the street and made my way onto the next street... this map... its design is defiantly going to mess with my head as this entire map is just a box. 4 streets connected to each other with buildings that you cant enter and I won''t risk climbing. I had one kill so all I needed to do was run for my fucking life... what? Like hell I am going to pull a win out of my ass when he has a shield and he is now on guard around me. I just have to wait. He probably is like and doesn''t have the points to pay up if he wins so I will get to find out what happens when he loses. *BANG* I was running across the next street trying to find a place to find when a bullet went through my thigh causing me to start to lose a lot of blood. and I mean a LOT of blood. I was in agony and holding all those naughty words in trying not to succumb to the ungodly amount of pain. I didn''t even think a VR could cause such pain. "*BEEP**BEEP*BEEP*ING *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*" Ok I may have been in so much pain those naughty words were all I could say but hey I found out two things. first thing is that the game automatically beeps out any profanity. second thing I learned was. "*BEEP* THAT *BEEP*ING HURTS ALMOST AS BAD AS WATCHING DRAGON BALL EVOLUTION" Yea I still couldn''t resist throwing in such an obvious joke. I could hear Fred laugh slightly at said statement... well the part that wasn''t just beep. "You are an annoying person to kill but this makes it a tie. I am faster then you so how did you think you could escape me. I am Level 3 making me already a god by comparison to you. Why don''t you just die now and forget this entire thing happened. The Lands Of The Lost don''t need another champion who thinks they know better" Fred said very vaguely yet very informatively *Bang* Yea I wouldn''t go down without a fight. I grabbed the gun he held way to close to my face and dragged it to the side causing all the bullets to miss completely. I then did what I had to do to survive. With my one remaining leg I broke the gentleman''s agreement and delivered a kick he would never forget the feeling of. I used the time of his inevitable distraction to reached up and pull the pins on all the grenades he had by his waist and I then kicked him away from me and rolled behind a car. *BOOM* Second kill... that guy is way to stupid. I mean what kind of guy would just walk over to his enemy and start a casual conversation with them. he even his his gun right next to my face and yet was so unprepared for any resistance I easily countered it... I mean what kind of stereotypical antagonist would do that... oh wait yea that''s right... I am the only one with any amount of intelligence because everyone else treats this as a game while I treat things to realistic. [You have a two kill lead over your opponent. would you like to end the match early in exchange for only getting half your winnings?] "HELL YEA!!!" I shouted with a smile [+287 points] [First Chosen Kill] [ESP has been unlocked automatically] Damn it... I am going to have a word with Zora later... A very VERY long word.... ------------------------ The story kicks off alongside action in the next chapter as the plot of this fiction becomes partially revealed. Next Chapter Title: Lawless Wasteland Chapter 5 - Lawless Wasteland GG Greatest Gamer It didn''t take long before I woke back up in the church where I met Zora. I saw Zora located around the same place where I vanished while crying on the ground. I guess she was worried I would fail but that is a lot of emotion for an NPC. Artificial Intelligence has really come far because just by looking even with my perception I wouldn''t be able to tell that this was a NPC. I walked up to Zora and placed my hand on her shoulder. "Don''t go giving up on me just yet" I said with a calm smile. Zora turned to look at me in disbelief before jumping up and hugging me while making my clothes that look remarkably like my school uniform start to get drenched with tears. "Why did you go? Do you know how worried I was? If you die I die to you Idiot...." Zora was slightly upset at me but after shouting all that in my ear she took a few deep breaths and calmed down. "I am sorry if I worried you. But I only went up against a level 3" I said casually but her face went from sad to horrified. "How are you still alive?" Zora let go of me and stared directly into my eyes with a burning fire almost to bright to look at in her own. "wait... Is being level 3 really that big?" I asked honestly confused. "The level cap is at 10. Each level you gain 1000 stat points. Getting levels are very high risk and near impossible however the pay off makes each level vastly stronger to the one before it" Zora said seriously and I flinched. That means that my opponent had 2000 stat points allocated and better guns then me. Wait with how fast he moved he couldn''t have put them into Agility. With how strong he was he couldn''t have put them into strength... was it that force field he had? "I guess I got lucky that he underestimated me" I said honestly. If he played his cards right and kept a distance from me I would be dead right now. And I do not want to even think about what would happen when I run out of Gate Points in a game this realistic... come to think about it I only started playing this game because of a cute girl but I somehow think I became more interested in the game then finding a girl who could be anywhere and showing off. "I should have known... Idiot" Zora said while walking to the door of the church. She turned to me with a smile. "Are you coming? You wanted to know about this world right?" Zora said slightly reluctantly with a long sigh. "oh. right..." I said confused. Her personality shifted drastically from earlier. Is she angry at me? I followed her to the door and it opened with a loud creaking noise that showed it was old and needed a good oil. we exited the church and the door shut behind us... "This place..." I wasn''t even able to say it. This place was just.... unreal.... "Welcome to Earth 10 million years in the future... Obviously it looks a little different" Zora said seriously while looking out over the broken landscape. And I don''t just mean metaphorically. There were chunks of soil and stone were floating in the air in free fall. Motionless. The sky had few clouds however it was not the blue I was used to for earth. The sky was a dark black that made me question how I could see things like there was a source of light however then I noticed the sun was not its normal orange but an ungodly black. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The air was dry and breathing felt more like a chore then something done naturally. The air was much thinner then I am used to but I will adapt. The plants trees and water was still there. In fact I was in the middle of a forest however the river from streams was not flowing. I saw a leaf floating right next to my head and I snatched it from its motionless home floating in the air and I examined it. While I was touching it the leaf was moving like a normal leaf would. I would wonder why it didn''t blow away in the wind however there wasn''t any. it looked like time itself had stopped. I threw the leaf and it moved for around 3 seconds before it froze. "What happened here?" I asked confused at how the developer of this game was thinking while he made this. "Here? Earth was brought into the conflict between multiple gods. unfortunately no god was alive in the end causing disorder. This is the result of their battle and deaths. The land tore apart and everything changed. because of this I can''t tell you if it is worse anywhere else or better anywhere else since it was never mentioned in... Lets just say this place is bad" Zora said while walking away from the church. Wait... I turned back to where the church was but it wasn''t there. Nothing but trees and more deserted lands. "So where is everyone?" I asked and Zora looked confused. "Everyone? there isn''t anyone here you need to care about besides the chosen. Fear not they wont kill you here. they wont gain anything by it" Zora said casually We continued through the forest as I tried to wrap my head around this strange world and the logic behind it and where the plot was. "So what do we do now?" I asked curiously and Zora chuckled before shaking her head. "I will do nothing. You can do what you want but the people here are broken and divided so I doubt they will be much good" Zora explained before walking over to me. "To get missions go to your menu while here. the option should be unlocked now. To return to the church just ask for me by name and a door will be generated as close to you as possible" Zora added before vanishing into a small explosion of light. I was left all alone in a future where gods doomed us all. It could be worse I guess. Well now... I guess I should call it a day for now. "Log Off" I said with a smile and I felt my consciousness being pulled away from the forest and back into my body... The thing is when I woke up I wasn''t in my pod but on the floor where I passed out. I wonder if I just fell out of my pod when I logged off and it only happens to be similar to when I was in the game. I mean without the pod you can''t access the game so that can''t be it. "JACOB. For the last time your late for Dinner. Don''t make me come up there and pull you off that game" My mother was shouting at me to come downstairs. from the sounds of it she has been waiting a while. "MOM. I am on my way so calm down for a sec ok?!" I shouted back at her while I shut my pod down. This has been a long day so I guess I will continue playing tomorrow if I am not to busy. ------------------------------------ Sorry this took longer then I had planned. Since new year I have been very busy but I am starting to get some free time which I am going to cram writing the story into so I hope the delay between chapters isn''t to big. Eventually I will be back on track and able to release more often.... Hopefully? Chapter 6 - School Fight part 1 GG Greatest Gamer After I finished my breakfast I walked out the door and went to school. The sky was dark yet the sun was slowly brightening the world from the horizon. The walk to school felt strange. I did not find school challenging and I did not have any real problems with any of the students however something felt strange inside me every time I walked there. As I walked across the roads that seemingly went on endlessly I could hear see and understand every conversation around me. I could process all of it in what felt like an instant and this is my curse. When I reached the school I entered my first class of the day and it looks like my normal teacher is out as the teacher at the front of the classroom is new. "Hi there class. Mr Harrison is ill so I will be taking over for a while. My name is Zack Willson so address me however you see fit. I won''t be here for long" Zack said with a smile. He wore a suit and he acted high and mighty. I have not seen the face but I do know Zack Willson is the son of the currant head master of the school. "Can you just start the lesson. I really couldn''t care less about your name" I said annoyed at the fact he was carrying himself in a manner that made it look like he saw himself as a god in our presence. "Sure" Zack said sure reluctantly. I wonder if he has ever dealt with a student who couldn''t care less about him. He looks angry. I sit quietly in the class absorbing in all the information said. 3 students to the back of the class started a conversation and I didn''t have a choice. My brain took it in.It felt annoying, boring, tiring and remarkably exhausting but at the same time something I couldn''t change. I just had to live with the fact I would never forget anything and I would absorb everything. That was not the only part that was hard... I took a look around myself at the class to see the same unchanging atmosphere. Around me everyone felt jealous of my intelligence. they felt depressed at their lack of by comparison. Something I have noticed time and time again. I have never had a friend before. Who could approach someone who has vastly superior mental capability? No... that is the wrong question. Who would want to? Even if they feel like they can''t there are people who still would want to be friends. However I am unfortunate in the circumstances of nobody wanting to approach me. Once people get to know me they immediately seek to push me away from them. Who wants to be the person that stands next to a genius? No. Everyone wants to be the genius and not seen as inferior. Choosing not to stand by me and to instead stay away. Over time I have grown to accept this. At the end of the school day I packed up all of my things and left the classroom. That was when things started to change. That strange feeling I got before school. It started to get stronger. [Due to constant sensing of ESP your ESP has increased by 1 and your intelligence has increased by 100] [A new skill has been created: Negative Sensitivity] [Negative Sensitivity: You are able to sense the presence of negative energy in the area and more clearly if it is directed at you. This skill increases with the ESP stat] Oh wow... Did I eat something bad for lunch? No the taste was the same as normal and I made my own... Wait... someone is behind me... I am not sure how I know but someone is behind me and I feel an sickly twisted energy being emitted by them. I don''t exactly get the luxury of dreaming thanks to the way by brain is wired so that just begs the question. What the hell is going on? [A challenger has appeared!] [Permadeath has been engaged] [The round wont end until one challenger dies, both challengers release their blood lust or one challenger surrenders] [Team Flow has entered the instance dungeon] No rest for the wicked I suppose. I felt around using this new sense I got. Only one person emitting negative energy so only one person able to be detected. Now I know that games are meant to not be real and my brain is easily strong enough to play tricks on me but when I turned around I saw someone... "Ayumi. How have you been today?" I asked innocently even though I could see the sun had turned from a nice orange as it fell out of sight to a ungodly black that would make most pits of hell jealous. I was not playing this one off easily. I could only hope that this is my brain playing tricks on me and all I need is to go and get my head checked out by a doctor. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "Jacob? oh its just you... have you seen anyone hanging around in... cosplay?" Ayumi said as she seriously eyed my surroundings... is she an idiot? Am I missing some information about the formation of this instance dungeon? am I just going insane and that sister she mentioned is hiding in some cospaly? To many questions and to few answers. "Not that I am aware. I was just about to head home and play that new game I got" I said with a smile and Ayumi looked at me curiously. "Witch game" She asked after carefully examining the room. "That game I saw you come into class to get. World Bridge Online" I said innocently but due to the fact when I mentioned the game she turned to me with a face that had lost the sparkle in its eye and looked directly at me with a dead face. I could feel a negative energy coming from her. Ayumi walked towards me slowly. "Why did it have to be you" Ayumi asked me and I felt a huge pulse of Negative energy. No this time I could feel her base energy and I knew it was something along those lines since I only have ESP and Negative Energy sensing and I felt two types of energy. She was getting ready to fight. "huh?" I then just realised her statement. I have never talked to this person before except for once. sure I found her attractive and even used it as fuel to try a game out but the phrase ''Why did it have to be you'' doesn''t come up unless... "Do tell me. How did you know my name?" I asked realising the situation I was in and the fact she didn''t have anything floating above her head. So she had to have received the information it another way. She mentioned her sister so.... Wait the dungeon said something about a team? I may not have long to chat. One person would be hard enough to fight but even with my intelligence I doubt I could fight against a group of people. A martial artist against 8 thugs would struggle. My body is in shape however I am no martial artist. And in a school I cant just escape into a dark area like the sewer and abuse the fact I can sense what she cant see. So for now I will try and avoid a fight. "... It doesn''t matter now. I am sorry" Ayumi said before charging at me with insane speed and moving to deliver a punch that would easily according to the quick E=MC squared calculation I ran in my head instantly crush my skull. So I prayed to the lack of belief in god and used Psychokinesis. I formed a wall in front of my face and on the moment of impact I was blown away and I could feel my health slipping away. however this would not be the end for me since my head wasn''t even bleeding or hurt much actually. I was still sent flying across the classroom making a lot of noise and since the Negative energy coming from Ayumi started decreasing I am guessing that she thought that was it. "Don''t be sorry. This has just begun" I said with a smile. With Psychokinesis I should have a chance at victory. I lifted myself up from the ground slowly but in the most intimidating way I could that showed I had not taken much if any damage. This was mainly just a method of buying time. I tried testing my psychokinesis and it looks like my only problem is range and strength. I cant reach any further then two meters and I can still feel the weight of the object I am lifting all be it not as much as it would be with my arms alone. I stopped a inhuman punch so I take it that strength of the Psychokinesis relates to my intelligence stat while ESP covers range... I really should check the internet and look for any cool things I could do with this power. Lets hope I can knock Ayumi out quickly. If I do that then a simple case of Psychokinesis to a few unique parts of the brain should allow me to cause some memory loss. I just need to finish this really quick and then run from the rest of her team. "No" Ayumi said and suddenly I felt a surge of pain go through my head. I could feel an energy marking my skull but this ESP is new so I can''t focus in on it very well and its anything but detailed. However this mark was seriously inhabiting my ability to focus and the pain made it almost unbearable. "I have already won" Ayumi said before charging at me again... ----------------------------------------- Wow. I am sorry for being so busy and for the chapter being so short. I have had very little time on my hands as I mentioned in the last chapter so I had to either rush this or wait up to 3 weeks to get out a good chapter. So I just broke down the School Fight chapter into a few smaller chapters. I am sorry for the inconvenience however if you are reading this weeks or months after I wrote this then just see the School Fight chapters as a single chapter. I just had so little time on my hands to write it. Chapter 7 - School Fight part 2 GG Greatest Gamer I opened my eyes to try to recall just what happened. I saw Ayumi charging at me however Something happened after that. My head hurt and my body ached. All I could think was how. The first hit no normal person would survive. I had a shield made of my own mental power however with that second hit I was unable to react. My body couldn''t respond. Here I am lying on the ground hurt yet alive. "Seriously. I was standing still. Did you miss or something?" I asked noticing the mark on my head had vanished. My vision was slowly returning and I saw Ayumi seemingly decided to take a quick trip down memory lane or maybe read a book in her head and stop in the middle of a fight. "Huh? Oh yea. Sit still for a second so I can kill you" Ayumi said before charging at me again... what the hell is wrong with this chick? I wasn''t about to just sit around and wait so I used my Psychokinesis to stop her in her tracks. I felt my brain being torn apart the moment she froze and I felt like I was holding Ayumi back with muscles that could tare and break. I guess my mind has its limits. "I think this is a safe place to say I win" I said with one hand glued to the side of my head due to the strain and one hand held out and pointing at Ayumi to direct my Psychokinesis. Not sure why it helps but I did it naturally so not like it could hurt. [Psychokinetic Hands: Need a hand? How about 3? How about 8? Hell have as many hands as you want however you have to divide your power among them meaning the more hands you have the weaker they will be. Using Psychokinesis to make a hand reduced Mana costs up to 50% and reduces strain on your head by 3%] [Psychokinetic Grip: By using your Psychokinesis you are now able to alter the world around you using nothing but your mind. However by generating a Psychokinetic Hand you are able to transfer your own physical strength into your Intelligence Stat while holding something down. This is due to the brain focusing on something it is used to making it easier to manipulate] "So you think. You realise that Team Flow has more then just one member" Ayumi said to me with a smug smile on her face. I did not have much brain power left to focus on my ESP however noticing 3 people behind me all pointing guns at me was a clear sign that I had went and screwed up. *BANG* The first bullet was shot. I can not dodge this bullet because it has already been fired at me. I am not a superhuman in speed. I can''t block it with Psychokinesis since if I do Ayumi is just going to kill me in close quarter combat. I cant let go of Ayumi at all costs since she probably wont give me the chance to do it twice. As the bullet got closer and closer I worked to a plan that could help me out and screw them over but it would be a very painful plan. I let the bullet pass through me. Using the small amount of Psychokinesis I had spare I nudged the bullet away from my heart and into my stomach / lower back. the bullet hit me however Ayumi was also on the other side of me. So I directed said bullet into Ayumi''s right lung. She probably could have avoided it considering how fast she charged at me. Damn why is everything so fast and why am I being so screwed over here? I have a gut feeling of absolute pain at the moment because of the bullet wound. [Bullet Effect: Slowed] Damn. If there is a god of luck I beg of you to send some my way. I have 3 more people to deal with who I have not even seen yet. All I saw was a blurry image through my ESP and even then I can only see their general direction and location. Ayumi fell to the ground and relaxed my Psychokinetic Grip I had on her. I remained calm since they probable guessed that shooting more bullets wouldn''t work. I turned my head to the 3 and noticed that they didn''t look like front line assault fighters at all. Maybe they played a support role in surviving in the game? well saying game is more questionable at this point... wait... does that mean when Zora didn''t give potentially life saving information that it could have gotten me actually killed?.... I think I said something about having words with her. At least I have something to live for, Now its time to work out how to do the Live part. "So tell me. Why were you trying to kill me?" I asked with a calm smile even though I was in pain. I knew that would unnerve them more since I could feel my own Negative energy surrounding them. Ayumi may have been a high level with a strong ability however these people feel to be around my level. No actually due to my intelligence being broken they are far below me. However when I killed Fred I learned to exercise caution since everything has a weakness. Fred''s shield and somewhere even my Psychokinesis will have a weakness. I will have a weakness somewhere and that means there is a chance they could exploit it. To the far left was an older student who could pass off as Ayumi''s older brother. Their energy feels similar enough to make the assumption. Due to his bread knife he had and the chief''s clothing he defiantly is the cook or that sort of class. to my far left is a teacher... A teacher I saw in lessons earlier called Zack. Zack was dressed like you would expect of a Female Healing Mage... I am not judging. That is Judge Dredd''s Job. I am more concerned about the third figure. It was a ninja... Yea I know a scout class would come in very handy however I feel my ESP struggling to detect her presence. If I lose focus on her I fear I won''t be able to regain it. she was holding a silenced pistol and a thin, long and most of all sharp blade. She was with the body of a child yet in actuality it felt more like she was just a Loli... ESP is very useful... I feel like I would be dead already if I lacked it. "...Well. We didn''t actually realise you had Ret... became a chosen so we wouldn''t have just attacked you over nothing. But this school is under the protection of Team Flow''s 5 members" Zack said slightly scared however something did not add up... 1, 2, 3, 4... wait 5 members? Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. *Bang* I am not sure what came first. The bullet or the sound. I could tell where it came from within seconds of looking around through my ESP and by focusing out the school window I saw around 3 miles away was an energy reading. I could say nothing more then that. However due to the range and power behind the shot I would have to say sniper. Defiantly a sniper and said sniper had just wasted their shot. I probably would be dead right now if Ayumi hadn''t have stood back up directly in-between me and the sniper and forced the sniper to shoot to the side. I turned to the weakened Ayumi who was struggling to even stand and pinned her down onto the ground with 4 Psychokinetic Hands. She couldn''t resist given the state she was in. "Call off your snipe or I decorate the school with Ayumi''s entrails" I said slightly absent mindedly. I really did not actually want to kill anyone. If I knew killing in the game had a chance of killing IRL I probably would have tried reasoning with Fred instead of killing him and running away like some sort of noob shouting LOLOLOLOL. However since they don''t know that it is probably the best course of action to resolve this peacefully. I held Ayumi in the way of any more bullets and waited for the response. "Ok... But you realise this is already checkmate right?" Said the Ninja who had a blade held against me neck. I am guessing she has a skill called Assassinate and I won''t survive it... "Can you move faster then I can think?" I Said referring to Ayumi hoping to cause some hesitation however inside of her I felt that she had nothing but confidence in killing me before I killed Ayumi. A speed type build. I assumed she was just a scout and I was a fool. She played the part and even manipulated her energy so not even my ESP noticed the danger. "Well Played" I said tilting my head back exposing more of my neck for her blade. This caused hesitation. I did it on a wim and it was right. It looks like I am not the only one who would prefer to avoid killing. It is probably what stopped Ayumi earlier and it is what is giving me the chance now. I sent the full force of my Psychokinesis down onto her crushing her into the floor. It would really hurt and her body won''t survive it long. [Gravity: Using your Psychokinesis to its maximum you can now even control gravity] Oh god I shouldn''t have done that. My head started hurting and I temporally lost control of my grip on Ayumi. *BANG* I coughed up blood while taking a few steps backwards at the shock of being shot in my left lung at an angle that luckily didn''t hit my Heart or Aorta. I could feel the mental strain of using my powers starting to effect me but Gravity just cut off all the power I had built up. I exited the room and took cover in the hallways. I sat back against the wall trying to sense their position with my ESP. They moved from last time however I didn''t sense it. I couldn''t see where they were until the exact moment of impact but by then the bullet had played its part. I tried to form strategies in my head and all of them had me getting close to the sniper. The school is surrounded with a nice wide flat plain field full of green grass. that would be the death of me since I may be able to deflect a pistol but a sniper? not a chance and especially not now with no power left inside of me. The other options are waiting for them to come to me but seeing the situation I am in I highly doub.... *BANG* "???" I coughed out more blood upon a bullet being planted firmly into my right shoulder. I made a fatal mistake in my planning. The sniper shot my through the wall. Most likely an ability akin to thermal vision that grants him the ability to see targets through walls. [Bullet Effect: Minor Paralysis] And if I thought I couldn''t move due to my injuries anyway this just seals the deal. Oh man how many orphanages did I need to set a blaze to deserve this? I wonder if I wait for more Psychokinetic power to come back could I move myself by force? Make a invisible limb out of my Psychokinetic energy and drag myself across the floor? *Click* I could hear it but I didn''t want to accept it. The healing mage Zack held his gun at me. I was as good as dead at this point. "I thought as a teacher *Cough''s up blood* You had some obligation to keep your students from harm?" I asked dryly in a weak voice that only made me pity myself. How did I fall so far from just playing 1 damn game? Mother always did say that playing games is bad for my health however this is probably not what she had in mind. I chuckled to myself at the thought and even though it hurt I didn''t want to die begging for mercy. That just wasn''t my style... I waited for the bullet that never came. I looked at Zack and tried to focus with my eyes that were blurring and saw his hands were shaking and he was having an internal conflict over pulling the trigger. I guess there is still some humanity in him but he gave me to much time to rest. Using my Psychokinesis I started jamming the gun and after a few seconds the gun became useless. Since he hadn''t the physical ability to kill me otherwise I moved on to ignore the healing mage. "Now... To deal... with the sniper...." I said quietly. I had kept going through my mental powers and survival instinct. Right now. I was at rock bottom and my body was loosing blood at an incredible rate. I felt myself go numb and then after a few seconds I passed out from blood loss. ------------------------------------------- School Fight Final will be released hopefully by the end of the weak. I have been working my ass off and I am getting more more time to do what I love. Write long complicated stories on the internet and hope to go that they are not seen as horrible. Also let me know if this chapter was long enough for you since I had planned to write more however time is not a gift I am blessed with at the moment and I am not a good enough writer to produce good quality work in the short amount of time I get to work on it. I do hope you enjoyed the chapter. Chapter 8 - School Fight Final GG Greatest Gamer No.... Bleeding out..... I am going to die at this rate and if I fall unconscious now... no I already have... Why can''t I get up? Everything is going numb but if I don''t wake up now I will die. It hurts so much but I have to focus on it. The pain is all I have left at the moment so like a rope I grab onto it with all my might. [Limit Breaker Stage 1: Pain] The pain started to increase and my eyes slammed open. For a moment nothing happened however short lived the moment was. My eyes started to glow a dim red while my Psychokinetic energy wraped around me and started to get streams of a blood red flow through it. the hallway I was in tore apart with a wave of Psychokinetic energy that I know for a fact was far above anything I was capable of. For that moment I could see the sniper''s position clearly and I could feel the wave of power send all of Team Flow flying. This power could be described very simply. It was the worst pain I have ever felt and I was strong. [Limit Error: ] [Pain Limit Has Been Sealed] I fell through the floor to the hallway below and I hit with quite the impact. Look around confused as to what happened. I was awake however that power... No. I don''t have time to waste any more brain cells then I have to. I haven''t been taking this game seriously since I didn''t believe my life was on the line however I think now would be a good time to flip the switch. Situation: I am on the ground floor of school building C which is one of the branch buildings around the big main school building. There are 5 enemies and 4 of witch are out of action with Ayumi suffering from major internal bleeding and her right lung full of blood. The Ninja is recovering except for a sniper who is located 4.8 miles away on a hill overlooking the entire school. hiding right next to a big oak tree. Plan 1: Move to the back of the school and take long way around out of their line of sight and ...... Plan 2: use Ayumi and co as hostages and make the sniper surrender peacefully.... Plan 3: .... .... .. . After around 3.8 seconds of thinking I decided plan 87 was my best option since it was the simplest and resulted in the least amount of risk. Plan 87: Manipulate all 5 of Team Flow''s negative energy so I can cancel out their blood lust. According to the rules shown at the start is they no longer hold hostility to me and I them then the fight is over. I sent out my Psychokinetic energy out to the sniper and started messing around with his brain. From this distance I lacked the necessary power to do anything other then alter a few brain cells at a time and a few of the transactions through neuron pathways so it may take a few minuets but the sniper won''t be able to make up that kind of distance while I am screwing around in their head. Although I can not see things clearly in their head I can accurately determine their brain functions and likely actions taken and how their brain is structured so worst case scenario they die. Chance is approximately 0.3 % on them being dead while my likelihood of success is 89.4. However to execute this plan I will need to deal with the other 4 first because I can''t be distracted while messing around in someone''s brain or I may accidentally turn their own cells into the blades on a blender. I jumped up and entered back into the room where Team Flow''s 4 members were. All 4 were in bad shape and Ayumi would die in around 4 minuets without medical attention. Zack was unconscious so he would not be able to heal her... It is annoying but I may as well fix the mess I made. By flowing my energy into her right lung I removed the blood and pulled her cells back together. it was a patch that would fail in half an hour without medical attention however it is better then dying... Wait a second. "Why did they attack me in the first place?" I asked myself aloud while my brain came together and made an effort thinking. They all or normal people who are nice yet turned into vicious killers against me just as the sun turned black and I entered the game world I saw earlier so this results in my brain coming up with a few possibilities. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Scenario 1: This world messes with your head causing people to act more aggressive to others? Flaw: Ayumi didn''t kill me when she had the chance and neither did the ninja. They acted more like they felt like they had to. Scenario 2: Team Flow has encountered other people from the game world before and it ended up badly resulting in them growing alert of anyone from that world the come across. Flaw: Doesn''t explain why they would initiate a fight before they knew if I meant them harm. I am missing a lot of information and thus must ask the right questions to work out truth in this situation... which questions to prioritise though? Question 1: Why did they attack me Result: Poorly asked and could be any number of reasons that are not relevant to the situation I find myself in thus useless for now. Question 2: How has nobody else found out about the game? Result: important however for now I don''t need to know since my survival right now doesn''t need to know. later it may help avoid this sort of situation depending on the answer Question 3: How did Ayumi know my name? Result: She lied when she said it was her sister since in the class there is no female students that have sisters. there are only 7 females in the class and they only have either brothers or are a single child. So that means Ayumi either can see a name tag above my head like a game even though it doesn''t work the for me or she knows more about me then she is letting on. She hesitated when going to kill me and she did not seem happy to know I was in the game since it for some reason caused her to initiate the fight. Reason unknown yet I know one thing for certain. Ayumi Hatame knows more then she is letting on. [Fight Ended] [Draw: Blood lust has been released] [-50 Gate Points] I flipped the switch again and relaxed my brain a bit. I don''t like my super intelligence however at times it can be useful. If I had just ran out onto the field or any other scenario I could have died if something went wrong because of lack on the snipers combat ability and things happening unplanned and this ends the fight peacefully. It gives me something to think about for tomorrow... The sun started to return to the beautiful orange we all know and love and the building began to be flled with people. the destruction caused seemingly vanished under the new suns glow. "Jacob. You realise school is over. Come on the gang are celebrating their results on the mock test. Wana join Mr. purfect?" Steven Calub from my class asked questioningly. He asked innocently enough however I had to decline. I am not good at parties. I mean I know and point out every harmful side effect of the weakest of alcohols and these guys buy all the high quality toxins that they willingly throw into their digestive system at rates the body isn''t designed to deal with. I am not ruining another class making them realise hanging around a smart guy isn''t always fun. Especially because its me. "No thanks. I Have a game to play after school where I am going to be dealing with a very rude and annoying NPC who has been needing a good talking to for a while now" I said with a smile before walking away. I could feel Ayumi and Zack walking around and the others from Team Flow. I walked away from the school directly to my home where I double checked I wasn''t followed before I entered my pod. I was going to have to spend some more time in that world and find out as much as possible. ------------------------------- Yay! I got the chapter out earlier then I thought I would. I hope you all enjoyed as the story is only growing and I hope to continue it for some time. Feel free to leave a comment on how you think I could improve. Foreshadowing time: What is this unknown power Jacob unleashed and what sort of mysteries are buried in this unknown world known as the World Bridge Online? Chapter 9 - Neighbour GG Greatest Gamer Once I was sure nobody from Team Flow followed me I entered the house and said hi to my mother. "Jacob. Finally back I see. You are 8 minuets late so something must be wrong" My mother said instinctual worried. I guess it was out of the norm for me to be late however... Today was slightly different then normal in general. "Yea sorry about that mom. I had to deal with some of my peers and it took a while" I said while putting on my best ''Annoyed at having to deal with said peers'' face. Mother bought it as she always does. "Ok then. Oh and the house next to ours finally has some people living in it. I thought when you scared the last pair off we wouldn''t get any more but a nice family moved in. Could you show some manners and stay as far away from them as possible" My mother said with a sincere smile. "Wow. I feel so welcomed" I said while walking back to the door so I could ''Greet'' the neighbours and my mother tried to stop me but knew that no mater the argument I can win it so she just decided to bang her head off the wall for ten minuets and see if she wakes up into a world where I am normal. So we finally have neighbours? Well I guess I should let them know exactly what they are in for if they hang around this house for to long. I mean 8 murders and 31 suicides occoured in this house. Or so any search on the web will have you think. I just personally like the peace and quiet that neighbours never respect so I inform them on all the facts I can find that make their life in this home slightly harder. *Knock**Knock**Knock* I knocked on the door eagerly anticipating the chance to scare the living hell out of a gullible adult however it was not an adult who answered the door. "Hi?" I saw someone who I never thought I would see again. "Fred?" I said confused and Fred just looked at me with the same confusion. "Wait... Do I know you?" Fred asked slightly confused and I felt like banging my head against the wall. "Yes you do. I played against you on the game World Bridge Online" I said with a smile and preparing to avoid his guns at any moment and counter with my own. "... Oh, Did I play a game like that?" Fred asked himself while putting in some thought. He was nothing like the guy I met in the game. "You don''t even remember the guy who pulled the pin on your own grenade?" I asked and he just shook his head while remaining in deep thought... "Do you have the game in your room somewhere. Maybe if you remembered actually owning it by seeing the box you would remember the game itself?" I asked and he nodded while walking into his house and to his stairs. "Would you like to come in. If we played a game together I guess we are friends?" Fred said questioning his own logic. He is definitely not the same Fred that I saw in the game. Is this because he ran out of points? I followed Fred upstairs and we entered his room. His room was full of heavy metal band posters and very untidy. However the Fred I am speaking to doesn''t look like that kind of guy. He feels... Meek? Fred began by searching his room and sure enough we found the game box with the disk in it for World Bridge Online. "Well I guess I owe you an apology. I guess I just forgot" Fred said while referring to a game that only recently came out... Wait. The date of release on Fred''s copy of the game was... 8 years ago... Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. "Well I had my fun with games like this however I don''t have any interest in them these days" Fred sounded slightly sad while saying that I felt an energy that was just like his own from another part of the room. However it was lost to him. I turned to his bed. Under it he had a lot of... Magnets? "Did you like magnets?" I asked and he looked at me confused before following my eyes to his Magnet collection. "Hmm.... I am unsure. I can''t even remember where or who I got them off. I wonder if I am becoming forgetful?" Fred asked curious. He may not have felt it but those magnets were the most negative thing in the room. I couldn''t see any more then that however I did try. [Quest: Past Mistakes] [Fred appears to have lost his memory. His memory is sealed from him inside of the Magnet collection. Find away to give him some peace of mind before he is never able to again] [Time Limit: ???] [Time Limit Quests: If you run over the time limit the quest may become unable to be completed or something terrible will happen. Probably both] Wait... when did it become my responsibility? He tried to kill me right? He brought it upon himself so..... [Reward: 38XP] ... On second thought I still don''t know the worth of XP and I have not got any so far. I think it may be beneficial to at least try right? I noticed Fred had the same school uniform as me in the corner of his room so I will be able to see him around if I need to speak with him. But I never thought the penalty of losing all your points would be so bad. Completely forgetting everything? "Oh well. See you around school Fred" I said while standing up. "Going already? Oh I guess it is late. Have a good day. Anyway why did you come over?" Fred asked curiously and that reminded me. "Just to introduce myself is all" I said with a smile before leaving the room. "Ok. By Jacob" Fred said with a smile that you would normally show a friend... wait. Discrepancy detected... Something inconsistent... yet obvious?... My name! He was supposed to forget it right? Or does some small traces still survive loosing all of your points? I wonder if that means what was lost can be regained? So many questions so few answers. I guess I should speak with Zora now. As we have a lot of catching up to do. "#####" For a second. An instance I felt something. I could hear a noise coming from Fred''s room that wasn''t his own and I could feel something move... Wait... No it couldn''t be. Ghosts are not real right?... --------------------- So many questions and so few answers. to get the answers continue reading. If something is not explained assume I will get around to it but I am using the cliffhanger in all its glory and I am building out to set in stone a better plot later on. Apart from that feel free to comment and discuss anything below besides ''first''. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Also I really need to get a proof reader. I will give it some thought later. I have a hard enough time translating into English as it is. Chapter 10 - Team Flow GG Greatest Gamer Now something tells me I did something wrong. I am standing right next to my pod however something was missing. my world bridge online game was nowhere to be found. I am no idiot and just left the box somewhere. I couldn''t feel any trace of the game box. the one in Fred''s house was emitting a strong energy so it is very hard to miss. I got into my pod even though it had no disk and entered the white void that is my game choice menu. "World Bridge Online" I said slightly worried that I lost something important. "There is no record of any game known as World Bridge Online. there is a World Gate Online and World War Online if you are interested in purchasing a copy" The computer AI is programmed to advertise games? "No thanks. Console Off" I said exiting the pod... What is going on here? Is this because of that Team Flow incident? "JACOB!!! It is 9 O''CLOCK ALREADY. TURN OFF THAT LOUD GAME THING OF YOURS ALREADY!!!" My mother shouted to me. "I WAS TRYING TO CHECK A GAME MOM!!!" I replied with a warm loving smile. "A GAME? I KNEW WE SHOULDN''T HAVE GOT THAT GAME FOR YOU" My mother said worried for my health. I decided to just turn off the game and go to bed. I was anticipating tomorrow. I pictured many situations that had me encounter one of the team flow members. I doubted that I would get the advantage of taking them on one at a time and they would certainly be ready for me. Well no point in procrastinating any longer... zzzzzz *BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP* *Click* I didn''t even need to move to turn off the alarm clock. My power is very useful for when you are tired however I had to focus. Taking all of 9 seconds to get ready I left my room and prepared to leave the house. "Breakfast" My mother said while grabbing my shoulder just before I left the house.... She is only looking out for me and she does a very good job of it. Even if she shouts some times. After breakfast I went off to school and walked at a slow and calm pace. I could feel the bus as it moved to the bus stop and I knew exactly how fast I needed to move to catch the next bus... Hmm. I wonder which power is more useful. My Psychokinesis or my ESP. With my ESP alone I can see so much more then before and calculate many more variables in a plan. In fact with Psychokinesis alone I would have died already.... Its a tough decision... I got on the bus and moved along peacefully to the school. It was sunny. Not to the level of being refreshing and peaceful but to the level of where the sun is constantly getting in your eyes and the area feels hot. I feel sorry for the guy sat next to me on this packed bus. he is sweating like crazy. Guess suits are not summer attire. The final stretch... I looked upon the school with my ESP and sensed the presence of 4 Team Flow members. I cant sense the sniper... then again I guess that is his or her power. I can barely tell much about them other then the size of their brain. Then again that doesn''t tell me much. The moment of truth. I enter the classroom and see it mostly full. "Sorry for being late" I said to Zack politely before moving to a seat in the middle of the class. Upon seeing me Zack directed some of his Mana into his phone. "That is alight. You haven''t missed much Jacob" Zack said with a false smile. I could feel the hostility behind it. I was waiting for something to change and I didn''t have to wait long. 4 energies gathered around the room. "Dark Zone" All 5 of them muttered at the same time. I heard it through my ESP however after that the sun went black instantly and in that instant I was surrounded by all 5 members. I remained seated. The moment I sense the sniper I knew it was to late. The barrel of the snipers gun was pointed firmly into the back of my head. I could have done something but they planned this through. in a 5 on 1 fight even with some weak participants the fight isn''t a question of who wins but a question of how long can the 1 last. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Jacob. We need to have a talk. Care to follow me?" Zack asked with a gun pointed directly at me. "I am weighing my options" I said seriously as I looked around. I had set up a few things with my psychokinesis however my traps are all set out of the classroom. I would have happily started a fight however I noticed a worrying sight. My classmates were still here. Frozen in time however still here. "Jacob. We don''t want to be your enemy. As you may have guessed the World Bridge Online disk is gone and you have no idea how to get back there. Without that it would only be a matter of time before a hunter came and killed you for Gate Points" Zack said almost with a cocky smile on his face. I knew he was playing me yet at the same time he was right. "And what do you want in exchange?" I asked cautiously. "Join Team Flow" Zack said with a smile. So he was trying to recruit me? Doesn''t explain nor excuse the near attempts on my life. "... Not happening. You tried to kill me" I said angrily. "You nearly killed us as well" Ayumi retorted. "You started it" I said preparing my psychokinesis to deal with her hostile energy. The room went quiet from there. "We apologise?" Zack said with absolute no intention of actually meaning his words. "So. How did you know my name?" I asked innocently however.... not a single reply. I looked around at them for some sort of response. "Nothing? This is my life on the line so you have to at least tell me how you know my name" I added yet there was still a long pause... "You told us it yourself" Zack said to me looking slightly sad. "I have never even met half of you..." "When you created Team Flow" Zack interrupted me leaving me speechless... How? I have never played that game before and I saw the state Fred was left in when he forgot. "Bullshit. I know literally everything that happened for entirety of my life" I said seriously. "And in this world time itself stops" The Ninja girl added. "Your point being that I forgot doing it? I saw the state someone who lost their gate points ends up in. I excepted a quest to help them yet I don''t even know what I can do. I have nothing inside of me missing like Fred did. "Are you sure? With all that intelligence you are missing nothing? No parts of that ''purfect memory'' that left something out?" Ayumi The Chief asked and I turned to him confused. What was he getting at? My life has been simple up to this point and I remember it all. "Then hang around with us for a while. Maybe you will remember something or maybe we are just tricking you into joining the team. Either way you need us to survive this harsh world. So what do you say Jacob?" Ayumi asked me seriously while lowering her weapon... Two options. Say no or say yes. Saying no may result in conflict between me and Team Flow while joining may be good and maybe I was originally apart of the team and lost my memory somehow. There is still the chance Team Flow is just playing me and is planning to screw me over. So what do I chose?..... ------------------------------------------------------- So. How will this situation play out? Are Team Flow telling the truth or are they lying through their teeth and in the end does it really matter in such a world where help doesn''t come easily for a level 1. Dropped - IDK if it is permanent Sorry however after a lot of thought on this story I decided the VR theme is not something I am even slightly good at writing. I have seen thousands of people do it better and some of them wrote themselves into oblivion. I had intentions for this to be much better and had even decided on a half decent plot however it is near impossible while using a VR character for my type of story preference. If I learn to get better at VR I will attempt to re do this entire story however for now I do not think my work on the VR genre is up to a good enough standard to have people read it yet. I do give permission for anyone to use any ideas I have put forth should you wish and if you think you can do better then me on this story and have your own idea on where to take this story go ahead. I don''t wish to take a concept to the grave so please feel free to add/improve the story without me should you miss it. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. PS: If I ever do come back to the VR genre I think I will start simpler and not on such a large scale and serious as I was going for.