CC Corp. started developing a new revision for the popular online game, The World, after several events that led to its decline. However, the game never made its way to the public. The existing game did not manage to drive enough revenue, to keep the on-going project alive, and CC Corp. was forced to declare bankruptcy halfway into its completion. It was then that thousands of players were forced to say farewell to their favorite online game.
Three years later, an unknown amount of packages were sent out to seemingly random addresses.
It had no traces of who or where it came from, except from its contents: a single FMD which contained the data of The World.
The events take place in a mysterious version of The World, ran by an anonymous figure.
Before posting for the first time, please ask for permission via a forum PM and include a short profile of your character.
Feel free to use your own style or format.
All characters start out as a 'Novice,' a class which can equip any weapon. Classes are achieved by meeting certain requirements and are currently limited to that of the G.U. universe, except for Adept Rouges. Expect a lot of secret classes in the future, though!
Also, please check the first post every now and then because it will most likely be updated as the story goes on.
Last edited by Candy Euphoria on Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Tonight's murky weather was preventing the moon's brilliance from spilling through the curtains of Azusa's gloomy bedroom. A lightly clothed, black-haired girl walked in bringing with her the pleasant smell of shampoo. The room would have been completely dark if it weren't for the blinking lights on her Face-Mounted Display, more commonly known as an FMD. Azusa stood and picked it up. Even though she had used it several times before, she always wondered how these expensive virtual reality goggles ended up as gaming gadgets. Wasn’t it only fifteen years ago when these were exclusively used for high-tier military and medicinal purposes? Technology advanced at a frightening rate. Medicine? Azusa remembered she had to write a paper about medicine development during the past decade.
She looked at the FMD’s digital clock and sighed to herself, “Just thirty minutes.”
After setting the ‘wake’ function to activate after half an hour, she wore the small silver ring around her head and felt her way into her single bed.
* * *
As Azusa’s mind was being transferred to that cyber world, her real senses were also being replaced artificially. The warmth born from the contact between her skin and the bed’s cover slowly disappeared. Her already darkened vision went even darker. Even the scent of Garnier had also started to fade. However, it didn’t last long. As if somebody had forced her eyelids open, everything around her became visible.
She was standing on a floor as white as everything else; it was like an endless colorless space devoid of walls. A small console stood across her, five feet away. It comprised of a floating monitor and keyboard.
『Welcome to The World』
It took her a second to realize that the voice didn’t belong to anybody, nor did it come from anything. It was a digital command injected directly into her brain by the system. A command made to replicate an audio message. The cyber LCD came to life and displayed a form similar to most MMORPG’s registration process. As soon as the system validated Azusa’s information, she was greeted by another form. It would have been more accurate to call it a survey, maybe even a questionnaire.
It asked seemingly random questions that looked to have been designed as some kind of test to gauge one’s personality. That is, to say, if one answered it truthfully. Roleplay was a popular thing to do in online games and this was probably the game’s way of customizing your avatar according to your character’s archetype. They say that unlike the previous versions of the game, where character customization was very limited, it wasn’t uncommon to find other players who looked exactly as they did, or be mistaken for somebody else. However, the game had undergone a lot of changes since then, and with its ‘ultra extensive character creation method,’ players could now achieve a truly unique online appearance they could call their own. Although Azusa didn’t mean any ill intent, she admittedly provided careful answers in hopes of manipulating the system’s decision and ending up with a pre-defined avatar she preferred. She decided that if she didn’t, she would try again, in hopes of finding one that she liked the most.
Azusa was stunned at how well it turned out for her first time. The outcome had shoulder length black hair, tied into two even ponytails. Its coat, which seemed more blue than black, covered a rather risqué black string bikini and a pair of black shorts and boots. It, rather, she needed a name.
Mac Anu was erected on a solitary island surrounded by an endless digital ocean. However, it wasn’t possible to exit and explore the surrounding waters, as the entire city was enclosed by gigantic walls taller than the city’s topmost structures. Inside was confusing network of streets and canals; a complicated mess of machinery and architecture, giving birth to unceasing pillars of steam.
The city was divided into several districts. The place where Chigusa arrived was called the Dome, and it was arguably the place that sees the most action. It was the only district that had access to the Chaos Gate, a rotating mass of sphere and pendulums that acted as the main form of transportation in and out of the areas of The World. For some reason, the place was empty, besides herself and the other NPCs.
A vivid memory played through the mind of Chigusa’s player.
‘Congratulations,’ was what the label read. Azusa opened the mysterious package and inside was an FMD containing the data of The World, which was supposedly taken down years ago. She never had the chance to play it when it was popular, but now that she’s received something like this, maybe…
The scantily clad black haired girl called out her menu. A floating window appeared, inches from her fingertips; it displayed her status, among other things. Chigusa. Lv.1 Novice. Huh.
She opened her equipment tab and surprisingly enough, she actually had some things to shuffle through. The tab displayed several beginners’ level weapons, or more commonly known as level one rarity items. She also noticed that her armor, Black Bounty, had already been equipped. With a reason only known to herself, she chose to equip the Blade Guifei, a one-handed sword and closed the window.
Chigusa dragged her feet around the circular stage, letting the intricate details of the immediate area drown her senses. This wasn’t the first time she had played an MMORPG, so she knew that it was unthinkable that a game of this quality would be left untouched by gamers all over. Maybe she had managed to sneak into the game during a server-wide maintenance?
“I’ll just go adventuring, I guess.” She turned around and touched the rotating pendulum, activating it. It was a good thing she read a decent part of the built-in manual last night. The innermost sphere flashed a deep emerald.
『 Δ - Quiet - Solitary - New Truth 』
The words broke through the sphere’s surface and all of a sudden, the copper floor disappeared. It was the system’s way of stealing Chigusa’s sense of gravity, covering her eyes with its hands. As Chigusa was being warped, she prayed hard for somebody to pull herself back down.
The forest outskirt was surrounded by different types of greenery. The dirt floor was littered with digital mushrooms that grew back no matter how many times you picked one off. Slender trees with knobbly trunks and branches covered the canopy with some much needed shade.
Azusa called out her menu, this time, exploring the mission tab. It displayed various information like what you had to do in order to clear the mission for the area, and the average level of the monsters. It also included a partial view of the entire area’s map, which hasn’t proved useful yet, since it didn’t tell her anything except that she spawned in the middle of big blotch of fog-of-war.
『The monsters in this area suit your level.』
So it says.
Chigusa closed her window and excitedly began to walk north. Not far into her trek, she noticed a humanoid form that donned an abnormally large head with ears that looked like spears; its skin was a sick yellow, and its large pink tongue, along with the small blunt flail in its hands, flew in all directions. Anybody would have made a run for it, if they were to see something like this in real life. But encountering monsters in an online game was only common sense.
Chigusa focused on the monster, and naturally, its information populated at the top left corner of her vision.
『Goblin Rookie, Lv.?』
Chigusa carefully sneaked into the monster’s blind spot, careful not to step on anything. Snap! It was the clear sound of a dry branch snapping in two. As the goblin clumsily spun towards the source of the noise, Chigusa panicked and instinctively reached behind her back. At that moment, light effects emitted from an invisible scabbard and she felt something physical materialize from between her palms.
『S-Sword Flash』
Chigusa felt her weight decrease, or maybe It was just the feeling of losing control over your own body. Little did Chigusa know that ever since she activated her skill trigger, the system had possessed her avatar. The black-haired blade brandier started dashing towards the goblin in a speed as fast her AGI rating let her. As soon as the system detected the distance was near enough, the system assisted her in performing a choreographed three hit slash. The goblin fell to the ground with a cry, void of color and life, and then eventually faded. However, its death cry seemed to have attracted two more goblins of the same level.
“Calm down, they’re the weakest monsters in this game!” Chigusa shouted, half for herself, half to the monsters. She was hoping that the Goblin Rookies would understand they were programmed as fodder for level one characters, and possibly run off. However, like all NPCs, they were programmed to fight to the death, within the bounds of the clumsy AI set to them. Chigusa steadied her breath and set both feet firmly on the ground.
“Here we go!” –『Sword Flash』
With Chigusa’s increased concentration, she felt that she had a better reign of her movements this time. The three hit combo killed one instantly. The remaining goblin, still with the same goofy expression as the previous two had, rushed towards her, swinging its flail wildly. She dodged the first blow and countered with two, well placed slashes. The goblin’s HP went down to twenty five percent.
* * *
By the time Chigusa had defeated all the enemies and cleared the map, she had reached level three and gathered a couple of restoration items like Sprite Drops and Asian Mangoes. Unknowingly, she had also cleared the mission conditions and was ready to warp back to Mac Anu.
Akiko sat staring at the machine before her. It had been such a long time since she'd played, but she knew that, once she started up, she'd be playing as obsessively as she had before.
Eh. Why not?
She lay on her bed, donning the headpiece that would immerse her in a digital world.
------------
The game asked questions now to determine the avatar's look. She answered truthfully enough- she didn't want to play completely as herself, after all. The first try made her burst out laughing- it fit so well with what she was going for- save for the gender. But, it was funnier this way. She accepted, a jovial smile spreading across her face.
------------
In the root town of Mac Anu, a new player edged into the server from the digital nether-verse that tied the two worlds. Standing at the gate was a tall girl with long pink hair, a somewhat revealing uniform akin to a modern day knight. The figure had a very firm and princely stance that Akiko had laughed at. The avatar's eyes were a fierce teal.
Those eyes now scanned the surrounding area. Strangely, it was empty.
What happened? This game used to be so popular. With a shrug, she started down the steps that lead to a bridge that would take her to the main areas of the server. However, a sound from behind stopped her in her tracks. She looked back. A column of light bars hovered up and down before the gate, indicating that another player was entering the area.
Chigusa’s hands were still quivering with excitement. All she wanted to do at that point was to go on another adventure, even if it meant doing it alone again; she probably stopped caring about the odd situation she was in. As Chigusa activated the Chaos Gate, the system embraced her with the familiar sensation of warping.
The sound of rattling and shaking native to Mac Anu flooded the black haired swordsman’s ears as she streamed in. Everything looked the same as before, except for a tall figure who stood in the middle of the circular room. From her appearance, she could have been a knight, maybe even a prince. It was an avatar so well made that Chigusa couldn't help but stare with her real life mouth open.
『Olivier Lv.? - HP: 100% - SP: 100%』
Another player? If Azusa were in Chigusa’s place, she would have beamed from ear to ear, however that would betray the role she was playing with Chigusa and it was certainly a look unbefitting of the avatar’s cold demeanour. She was having a hard time choosing the right words to introduce herself as she drew into earshot. But she wasn't able to speak. A loud ringing sliced through her eardrums. The handsome avatar didn’t seem to be bothered by it in the slightest. Can't she hear it? That’s when Chigusa remembered what it was - the wake function! Before she could explain what was going on, she woke up in the middle of her poorly lit bedroom.
“Just when things were getting good, too. Guess it’s time for homework.”
