《The Colosseum》 Prologue - Goal It was the year 2105. There were no flying cars, no A.I. robots running around and no alien invasion. Things haven¡¯t changed much, until twenty years ago when the first Virtual Reality Game was released. Almost overnight, everything changed. Well known Players replaced Holywood celebrities. First, TV shows popped up on various networks, showing some epic quests, amazing fights or just talking about the game. Then, various channels emerged with the intention of only showing Virtual Reality content, today there were over fifteen channels alone dedicated to VR Games. Gamer was now an actual profession, and it was also the most coveted. There were almost endless means of making a living through VR. You could sell loot and currency for real money, record your adventures and either sell them to a TV station or upload it online, you could be a hired gun inside the game for real money out of it, travel agencies could hire you to take people somewhere dangerous. The possibilities were too many. There was also another type of business that bloomed and that was Weapon Schools. There were more of them than Starbucks. Everyone soon realized that knowing how to wield a weapon would give you a big edge in the VR world. There were Sword Schools, Spear Schools, Archery Schools and any other weapon you could think of, there was probably a school for it. Most of these schools gave training both inside VR and in real life. It was a great advantage to these schools to have a famous Gamer as their trainee, as it would bring more customers and the school would become renowned, giving them pride, glory and money everytime one of the trainee¡¯s adventures would come on TV. This story focuses on the rise of one of these schools, a school with only one apprentice. ***** Close to a mountain range in the United States there was a big wooden house. To the left of this house was the black and white mountains and to the right a beautiful green forest, the two miracles of nature almost surrounded the wooden house completely if not for a small dirt road that traveled through the forest for 10km until it got to the closest town. Even though it was a wooden house, it didn¡¯t look poor. The solar panels that powered the house gave it a modern feeling, the wood was clearly very expensive and well maintaned as the youth of nineteen years old watching TV inside would take care of it everyday as was part of his routine. There were two wide fields in the front and in the back of this house. The field in the back of the house had a large fence around it, with vegetables of various colors inside making it a beautiful sight. The field on the front was filled with tires, ropes, gloves and other cheap training paraphernalia. The youth inside the house had the name of Jade. It was the name given to him by his mother, taken from his jade colored eyes, same as hers. It was also the only two mementos he had left of her. His mother died of a brain aneurysm when he was only five. His father loved him very much, however it was very hard for him to be around his son, looking into the same eyes of the woman he loved and lost was painful, so he punished himself with work and alcohol until one year later he joined his wife in the after life thanks to a heart attack. Soon Jade forgot, as young children do. He didn¡¯t forget the pain or his mother¡¯s smile, he just forgot most of his life with them. After his father died, he went to stay with his grandfather, in the big wooden house. His grandfather was a chinese man as was his father, however Jade looked a lot more of a western descent thanks to his similaritys to his american mother. The only trait he got from his father was his black shiny hair. His grandfather¡¯s name was L¨¬ Jaw-long. All he knew about the man was that he had been a monk in a chinese monastery until the age of 30 and that he loved old movies, after that it was all a mystery to him. He was a strict but fun man and he also loved Jade very much which is why he made him his only apprentice in the Martial Art he had created. Jade started his training at the age of 6 as it was the only way his grandfather knew how to stop his grief and crying. It started with a heavy specialized fitness regimen focusing more on flexibility and stamina than strength, then started the hand-to-hand combat and later hand-to-weapon combat. His grandfather¡¯s Martial Art had no name, however over the years, Jade just called it Brutal, as that was what it was. It would look as if playing with its prey, skillfully destroying limbs and causing dangerous amounts of pain to weaken a target before going in for the easy kill. No danger, no compassion and no mercy. Once Jade was 14, his grandfather started inviting prized students of Masters he knew to come and stay at the house for a month and spar with him. They all were weapon wielders and better than his grandfather at it since L¨¬ Jaw-long never cared to learn how to use them. However even with Jade not being able to use the full force of ¡°Brutal¡±, such as destroying limbs since it was just a spar, he was always able to win much more than lose. He was very quick on his feet and had endless stamina. Sometimes he seemed like a snake against a bigger opponent, going in to bite when he had the chance and then waiting for the poison(pain) to sink in before going in again and again until the opponent couldn¡¯t stand anymore. It was a slow death. He was starting to appear cocky, that cockiness though, came from the absolut trust that he had trained harder than anyone else with a great master watching over him. For his style of fighting though, it was almost encouraged to play cocky as long he kept his head clear, mostly because it would help in exhausting his opponents. He had become a happy, cocky and funny kid. Even though he was home schooled, he was of the VR generation, so being alone with his grandfather in the middle of nowhere didn¡¯t make him lonely. He had a few friends in every game he played and a few acquaintances in the town close by. His gaming career wasn¡¯t amazing by any standard, mostly because he had no goal and not enough time as his training took most of it. He would just enjoy putting his grandfather¡¯s teachings to work on a few monsters. Jade would also play to socialize a bit aswell. Lately though, Jade had more time. After almost 14 years of grueling training, his grandfather had nothing new left to teach him. His daily training was now almost kept to the basics, with just keeping his body fit and flexible with a couple of sessions of sparring with his grandfather twice a day, whom he haven¡¯t beat once in his life. He kept busy with training, but it was now down to 5 hours a day, with another hour for chores around the house, he had a lot of free time. He also took his tests to finish highschool and easily passed so he didn¡¯t need to study anymore. He applied and was accepted to a few colleges but he didn¡¯t want to go yet as there was nothing he wanted to study, so he deferred for a year. Now, he spent the majority of his time watching TV or inside the VR capsule. That TV was almost always on, even when he wasn¡¯t home. He picked up the habit from his grandfather, as always since he was a boy, they watched old movies together. There were about 5 channels that passed only old movies 24/7 and they enjoyed every bit of it. The TV was mostly on one of those channels except for an hour a day when Jade switched to VR news. Today was another normal day. He was watching TV, it was on a VR channel and there was a show on about those Elite Weapon Schools, everytime one of these shows was on, he always remembered a conversation he had with his grandfather. *Flashback* Jade was 13 years old and they were watching a VR show about Weapon Schools and the experts were ranking them based on their Gamer apprentices and their achievments, when Jade asked a question. - ¡°They don¡¯t look all that strong to me. Hey, old man. Why don¡¯t you go show them who¡¯s best?¡± - ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate your opponents, you idiot. Besides, i¡¯ve had my time of glory, next is yours.¡± - Said the old man seriously, but then it turn into a grin and he continued - ¡°Whatever life holds in store for you, never forget these words, with great power comes great responsibility, this is your gift, your curse, who are you?¡± - ¡°I don¡¯t know. Who are you?¡± - ¡°Me? I know who i am! I¡¯m a dude, playing a dude disguised as another dude!¡± - ¡°I know you. You know you. And i know you know that i know you.¡± - ¡°What we¡¯ve got here is... failure to communicate!¡± *End Flashback* And that went on for about thirty minutes, as they kept coming back and forth with their movie quotes from over a century ago. Jade couldn¡¯t help but smile every time he thought of it. However he hadn¡¯t missed the first part of the conversation. His grandfather passed on to him what he knew, and now it was his time to try and make a name for himself, or better yet, for his grandfather¡¯s Martial Art, he just didn¡¯t know how yet. The show ended and Jade was about to turn off his TV when he heard the news host again. - ¡°Today we have a very exciting guest. I¡¯m sure most of you know, but the 13th VR game ever is coming out in two days, named ¡°The Colosseum¡±. Joining us now, is one of the creators and brilliant minds of the VR world, Dr.John Kage.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Jade put the remote down, and sat to listen again while the people in the news audience were clapping. A man in a professor suit, glasses and a handsome face came walking in. - ¡°Thank you for having me, Dave.¡± - ¡°The pleasure is ours, Dr.Kage. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let¡¯s talk about what matters, and that is ¡°The Colosseum¡±. I know you¡¯re as much a creator of VR games, aswell as a player. So tell me, what can we expect from this game?¡± - ¡°Well, you can expect...Glory.¡± - ¡°Glory? I¡¯m not sure i understand, can you explain?¡± - ¡°Certainly. As i talk about the game you¡¯ll see what i mean. We¡¯ve decided to go with the medieval setting, with magic of course. That in itself is nothing new, however most other things are. I won¡¯t go on about Lore as you guys can check that in-game, although i can tell you that every city has an Arena of sorts with specific levels to enter. I can assure you that this game will have more PVP than any other out there.¡± - ¡°So there are no monsters and dungeons?¡± - ¡°Oh there are. However there is no experience points in this game. The monsters and dungeons are there for a few reasons. So you can keep practicing and gain stats, but most importantly, for their loot. We¡¯ve set it so that if you wear a piece of armor that you didn¡¯t win or make, it will have less 10% of it¡¯s effects, so you¡¯re also encouraged to go out there and get the bad monsters body parts. There¡¯s also skill books out in the world, which encourages you to leave town even more.¡± - ¡°There is no experience? That is a first. How do people level up then?¡± - ¡°Well, we came to this solution when we looked at how levels work in other games. For instance, two warriors with the same exact skills are at level 50, one puts all his points into Strength, the other into Intellect, are they¡¯re still both level 50?¡± - ¡°Well, yes.¡± - ¡°Exactly. We don¡¯t want that, we want the level to be an actual number that you look at it and you know more or less how you¡¯re doing. We call it a ¡°Power Level¡±, as it says, it¡¯s the level of your power. Instead of gaining stats when you level up, you gain stats to level up, and there are also other ways to gain levels.¡± - ¡°That actually sounds pretty interesting. Can you give some examples?¡± - ¡°Sure, i can give you a fast run through of what i did in the beta test, it was only until level 23 so it¡¯ll be fast but informative. I¡¯ll start as anyone else will, in the pre-game choices. Before you actually get into the game, you will choose two or three stats that you will want to focus on more, from those stats you get the choice of a variety of basic classes and basic weapons.¡± - ¡°Will we be able to change classes and weapons later if we want to?¡± - ¡°Of course, these are just basic classes for the early levels, however they will influence throughout the game. For example, if you choose to focus on Intellect and Wisdom, then choose a Mage class, later on you will not be able to change to a warrior class that focuses on strength. If you want a a Spellsword type, you can choose Intellect and Strength or/and Agility and there will be a variety to choose from. This is just so you decide how you more or less want to play. Same with weapons, if you chose a warrior class, you will be able to wield most weapons, so the choice at the beggining is just so you get something early on that you are comfortable with.¡± - ¡°Seems there¡¯s a lot to choose from and that¡¯s what we like. Will we be able to train the stats that we didn¡¯t choose aswell?¡± - ¡°Yes, you will. However, for instance, for a mage trying to train strength, it will be harder than for a warrior. Also, let¡¯s say a warrior has no stats other than 100 strength, he might be 25 ¡°Power Level¡±. If a mage also has no stats other than 100 Strength, he will probably be 8 or 9 ¡°Power Level¡± as his spells won¡¯t deal much damage, his staff will hurt though.¡± - ¡°Okay, okay. I think we get it. Sounds actually pretty fair. Carry on, please.¡± - ¡°So after you make your choices pre-game, you will be in a starter city. All these citys have an Arena from level range 10-20. As any other game, you will need to eat so you will also need money. In these citys there are a variety of schools, if you join one they will give you food and a place to train and sleep. However they take a percentage from your winnings in arenas.¡± - ¡°These schools. Can we leave them later?¡± - ¡°Yes. They only teach the basics, and once you have enough money to be on your own you can easily leave. If you don¡¯t want to join one of these schools there are also other jobs and small quests to do around town.¡± - ¡°Sounds like a neat way for players to avoid being so poor they can¡¯t eat early on.¡± - ¡°Yes, i thought so too, so i joined one of these schools and started training until i got to level 10. It wasn¡¯t that hard, however later on it will get a lot harder to gain a stat compared to early on, as to be expected. After that i went outside the city looking for small monsters and animals to kill so i could make some armor and weapons. Speaking of crafting, when it comes to making weapons and armor everyone has that ability in-game.¡± - ¡°So everyone will be able to create their own weapons?¡± - ¡°Exactly. There¡¯s a 3D interface that helps you make what you want, once it¡¯s done, you give it the materials necessary and it will give you the things you made, depending on the materials used it will come out with different stats. It sounds a bit more boring than in other games, however with the creativity of our users in their gear, we will hopefully overshadow that.¡± - ¡°I agree. Can¡¯t tell how many times i¡¯ve wasted materials trying to make the weapon that i wanted, just to get a preset one instead.¡± - ¡°True. So once i equipped my gear i was at level 17, i also got lucky and found a skillbook with a rare skill that brought me to level 23, i had to unequip items just so i could enter the arena, ahaha.¡± - ¡°What? Gear and skills also affect your level?¡± - ¡°Ah! Of course, forgot to tell you. Let me give you an example. Let¡¯s say you are a Mage at level 20 and you get a pretty good new skill. Are you still level 20? Is your ¡°Power¡± still the same? I say it¡¯s not. The same thing with gear. Also, you can actually disable skills before entering an arena so you¡¯ll be able to enter which is quite handy. Still, your ¡°Power Level¡± won¡¯t be everything as we all now, tactics and Martial Arts play a great role in battles. We just thought that giving a more accurate number would make it easier for everyone.¡± - ¡°This certainly sounds different than what we¡¯ve seen so far. So, what can you tell us about the World itself then?¡± - ¡°I can tell you a little bit. For now only one continent is discovered, there are several others though. However in this continent, there are various kingdoms that surrounds something in the center, and in the center of this continent, there is The Colosseum itself, i won¡¯t say it¡¯s the only one nor will i deny it, but in this continent it¡¯s the biggest Arena. Every kingdom sends their best men and women to fight in the games as they get various benefits from winning. It¡¯s a way to avoid war, while still showing all the glory and prowess of their kingdom.¡± - ¡°That sounds like something i¡¯d definitely want to watch.¡± - ¡°Right? Speaking of Glory. That is a new stat we implemented into the game that is as much a benefit inside the game as it is outside.¡± - ¡°Outside? What do you mean?¡± - ¡°Well, the Glory stat is something you get from the public. Gladiators are fighters but they are also entertainers. You can win all your fights, but if they are boring, you won¡¯t get much Glory stat. The Glory stat works a lot like the Fame stat, however there are other benefits, such as getting a bigger payday every time you fight because more people will want to watch you in the arena. Also, more entertainment inside the game, means more entertainment outside aswell, as TV stations will want to show the best fights. Just so you know, if the fight is inside an Arena, only the winner can upload it or sell it.¡± - ¡°It¡¯s looking to be the next great VR Game. The first release of the software is already sold out, how long until we get more in stores?¡± - ¡°Well, we are both happy and sad to say that we made a huge miscalculation. We didn¡¯t think the game would get off the shelfs so fast, mostly because in America alone we already sold over 50 million copies, and that¡¯s including the ones we had in storage. So it will be another month before they are in stores again, we apologize and thank you for your patience.¡± - ¡°The Colosseum, get it because it will be amazing. Ladies and Gentleman, Dr. John Kage!¡± As the show ended after the applause of the audience, Jade finaly felt a presence behind him, it doesn¡¯t happen often anymore that his grandfather catches him unwares, however he was so psyched about the new VR game he didn¡¯t even notice him. - ¡°How long have you been there, old man?¡±- Jade asked without turning. - ¡°Oh, for most of it. Looks pretty good. What do you think?¡± L¨¬ Jaw-long asked as he looked down at his grandson who had his hand shaking a bit and giving a wide grin. - ¡°Wait ¡®til they get a load of me!¡± Prologue- Part 2 - Creation After finally turning the TV off, Jade stood up and asked his grandfather. - ¡°Hey, old man. You mind if i order the game online?¡± - ¡°Nah, go ahead. I¡¯m sure it will be fun.¡± The old man answered after noticing Jade¡¯s excitement. He knew his grandson hadn¡¯t felt that way since the time he told him he would bring people to spar with him. Hopefully this time the excitement will last longer, he thought. Jade ran up the stairs to the second floor where his room was. It was a large room with a kingsize bed as he was pretty tall at 1.85m(6.07ft). There was a shelf with his old school books over his bed, on the right of his bed there was the VR Pod almost the same size in length, oval shaped with the top being transparent and the rest was a silvery blue color. On the left of his bed there was a desk with a computer on top. That computer was mostly used for study purposes, altough rarely it would also be used to order something online. The things he ordered online would stay at the post office in the town close by, until he would go and pick them up. After finishing his business, he turned off the computer and went down stairs again while thinking. ¡°A month, hun. Well, if i didn¡¯t have an handicap it wouldn¡¯t be as much fun, ahaha.¡± - ¡°Old man. Let¡¯s spar!¡± ***** A month later Jade¡¯s grandfather, L¨¬ Jaw-long, was taking a shower while checking his bruises. ¡°Damn that kid. Is he trying to kill me?¡± - He thought while giving a wide grin. Jade had never once beaten him, which was to be expected, although L¨¬ Jaw-long knew it was only a matter of time. The biggest advantage he had right now was experience, however his grandson also had a great advantage that was almost off-setting his own, Jade was tall. It might not seem like much, but with a tall flexible build, comes large limbs. Jade¡¯s arms outstretched were almost double the range of his grandfather. With the excitement Jade was feeling towards this new game, he couldn¡¯t stand still, and so he passed the time while sparring with L¨¬ Jaw-long. His grandfather was no longer a young man so it was hard for him to keep up with all the sparring sessions, however Jade thought his grandfather invincible, so it didn¡¯t even occur to him. ¡°Thank god the game should be here soon. Another month of this and i would have to break his leg just to save face, hahaha.¡± After drying himself up, he wore a gray t-shirt, the same color as his well maintaned beard but not his hair as he didn¡¯t have any, he also wore black training pants and black flip-flops. He was going towards the kitchen to get a snack when he heard the phone ring. - ¡°Hello?¡± - ¡°L¨¬, it¡¯s Henry from the post office. There¡¯s a new package here for you.¡± - ¡°You just saved my life, Henry.¡± - ¡°Wha-? Is everything okay?¡± - ¡°Ahaha! Yeah, everything is fine. Do you mind if i send my dumb grandson to go and get it?¡± - ¡°Sure, there¡¯s no problem, but i can send my son in the car to deliver it, if you want.¡± - ¡°Nah! The package is for Jade and he could use the exercise, the freaking kid can¡¯t stand still, maybe it will tire him out, ahaha.¡± - ¡°Okay, i¡¯ll be waiting then.¡± Even though they lived 10km away from any form of civilization, they still had been there for many years. Since the closest place was a small town, L¨¬ Jaw-long knew almost everyone there. After his grandfather told him that the game was already at the post office, Jade couldn¡¯t wait and ran towards the backyard where his bicycle was, taking of right after. It took him less than an hour to come back and without a word, he ran to his room. Inside, he opened a small hatch from the VR Pod and inserted the disc. This wasn¡¯t the actual game, it was more of a bunch of software that gave access to the game from his Pod. While the software was installing, which took roughly an hour, Jade read the basics in the handbook that came with the game, there was not much that he didn¡¯t know already, so it was mostly to just pass the time. Finally, it was time. Jade stood up from his bed, and went in the VR Pod, the familiar green light that scanned his whole body from head to toe and stopping at his iris came again accompanied by a woman¡¯s voice welcoming him back.
Welcome, Jade. You have access to 4 games. Choose the one you would like to play at this time.
-¡±The Colosseum¡±
The Colosseum¡± has been selected. Enjoy.
Everything turned black for a few moments until he was in a endless white room with five mirrors in front of him. All these mirrors were as tall as him and were surrounded by a red light. Again a woman¡¯s voice spoke, a different voice from the one of his Pod.
Welcome to ¡°The Colosseum¡±. Decide your User Name.
A semi-transparent keyboard popped up in front of Jade. After pressing the J-A-D-E and Enter keys, it disappeared again.
Your User Name has been saved. You can now start steps 1 through 5 of this character creation.
The first mirror surrounded by a red light switched to green and Jade stepped up to it. In the mirror there was now an image of himself nude, with arrows to the left and right.
You can choose your Race.
After flipping through to see which races were available and laughing at himself as a Dwarf with a huge beard that went all the way to, and actually covered, his penis, he finally came back to the Human race and selected it. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
You have chosen your Race. Would you like to make modifications to your appearance?
-¡±No¡± - ¡°There was a snake-kind of species. That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll be able to use the ¡°Snakes on a plane¡± line.¡± The second mirror then turned green aswell, and Jade moved in front of it. There was a list of most of the stats available in-game.
You can now select up to 3 primary stats and up to 2 secondary stats as the focus of your playstyle.
It said up to three primary stats because you could choose only one if you wanted, and that stat would be a lot easier to gain than if you selected two or three. The secondary stats would be harder to get but they are still needed, for instance most people choose Vitality as a secondary stat. Jade already knew what he wanted so he didn¡¯t waste much time here. He touched the mirror to select Agility and Strength as primary stats, with Stamina and Vitality as secondary stats. It wasn¡¯t all that different a choice than other people, as most melee classes would focus on those stats. He thought about putting Stamina as a primary stat aswell, but he wanted to primarily focus on offense. The third mirror surroundings also turned green.
Stats selected. You can now choose your Basic Armor.
In this mirror there was again an image of Jade with arrows on each side of him, except now he was clothed with linen brown pants and a linen white shirt. As he flipped through the available armor, it was clear that it was only the most basic possible. Full sleeved shirts, pants, shorts, sleeveless shirts, robes and even skirts. There were a lot of combinations possible but it was mostly for convenience sake, that gear at most would give a bit of Defense. He selected a pair of black dyed pants and a t-shirt that was dyed green, the color of his eyes. Finally, he also chose his shoes, the most important part, as it was the only basic equipment part that allowed leather. They were basic trainer¡¯s shoes also dyed black. ¡°Can¡¯t wait to make my own gear. That looks like i¡¯m going to the gym... How is a t-shirt considered basic armor anyway?¡± After he confirmed his choice, the fourth mirror surroundings turned green.
You can now select your Basic Weapon.
In this fourth mirror, there was again an image of Jade, fully dressed with a sword in his hand. The arrows to the sides of him changed the weapon. There were many weapons available, even though they looked pretty cheap. Spears, shields, bows, staffs, small swords, big swords, there was a huge selection. Luckily enough for Jade, after going through about fifty different weapons, he finally found what he was looking for. It was a pair of leather gloves that only went until the middle of his fingers, so he could freely use his fingers and palms aswell. On the knuckles part of the gloves there were three small copper spikes. After he pressed a button to dye the gloves black, he accepted the weapon.
Basic Weapon Selected. Taking into account your Race, Stats, Basic Armor and Basic Weapon choices, we have selected all the Basic Classes available for you to choose.
The fifth and last mirror was now glowing green aswell as Jade moved to it. In this mirror there was a small list of five classes. It usually is a lot more, for instance, if he had chosen a dagger for a weapon, there would be a lot of different warrior and rogue classes there. However he chose the gloves, so his choices were a bit more limited. The classes were Fighter, Monk, Brawler, Ninja and Barbarian. Every class had a brief summary of what they were all about. He really wanted to choose Ninja for the ¡°cool factor¡±, however even though both Ninja and Barbarian were classes that could be weaponless, they thrived with weapons in hand. Monk was a good option, and even more if he remembered his grandfather had been one, but this is a game and it wasn¡¯t the same thing. Monk¡¯s had a little less offensive power so that they could use a bit of self-healing which didn¡¯t interest him. The choice came down to either Fighter or Brawler. Brawler had a bit more offensive power in general, if it hit anything it would do nice damage. However a Fighter was more skilled, if it hit the right places it would do more damage than the Brawler. Since it was just a Basic Class and he could later change it, Jade didn¡¯t have much to think about and quickly chose the Fighter class.
Character Creation complete. Would you like to play the tutorial?
- ¡°No.¡± - Jade had seen a video of the tutorial, it offered nothing new.
You will soon start in a random Beginner City. Enjoy.
After a minute waiting, the white room started to become brighter and brighter until Jade had to close his eyes. Suddenly he heard voices all around him and felt the wind blow. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked around, there were a lot of people walking around with cheap weapons and crappy armor, much like him. Suddenly he gave a small smirk. - ¡°I see dead people...¡±