Chapter 1

"The World"

"Please wait…"

Those words had been displayed on Kent's screen for quite some time since he had installed a new computer game. This game was all his friends and co-workers ever talked about. The game had originated from Japan and made its way over seas about a year after its release. This game was called "The World:" Kent sat in his chair awaiting the game to finish its installation.

He ran his hands through his dark hair as he waited impatiently. Kent was about average build and 6' 5" tall and he worked at a small office about 3 blocks away from his home. His life was boring to say the least. Online games were his main hobby. He liked to become someone else and escape reality. Kent was about to stand to go grab himself another coke when the words vanished from his screen.

The title screen popped up and he was presented with a menu. Kent clicked through the menu and found his way to the account creation screen. Kent held his eye up to the retinal scanner and all his information was registered automatically. Kent was now on a screen that asked him to come up with an account name.

"C...r…o...s…s…e…l…"

Kent typed carefully into the box. Kent was finally given a chance to create his character he noticed that he had several classes and races to choose from. Kent scanned the list and figured he should pick a race first.

"Human, Beast, Darkling, or Harpy…" Kent thought to himself.

Kent decided to stick with what he knew best he placed his cursor over the word "Human" and clicked. Kent watched his character slowly come to life he chose from a variety of clothes and hairstyles and finally had the look he wanted. He was wearing a red robe with some minor armor on the shoulders and wrists. His hair was dark blue along with his eyes.

"This should do." Kent thought.

Kent then proceeded to look over the various classes he could choose from.

"Blade Brandier, Shadow Warlock, Harvest Cleric, Steam Gunner, Adept Rogue, Stealth Ninja, Blood Mage, Twin Blade, Danse Macabre, Lord Partisan, " A few others seemed to be blocked out they must be reserved for higher-level players he thought. Kent clicked on Blood Mage and read the description.

"A spell user that specializes in using their own blood, the blood of allies, or the blood of monsters as a catalyst for spells and arts. Starting Abilities: Absorb Starting Equipment: Staff and Robe"

Kent looked pleased with the description and it sounded like it would be interesting to play he confirmed his decision and his screen blanked for a moment.

After his screen came back on the words "Please put on M2D and pick up controller" were displayed. Kent reached into the game box and pulled out the Micro Monocle Display that had come with the game. He plugged it in and put it on. It took Kent's eye a few minutes to adjust but when they did he noticed his was now looking around a strange city with many people running around him.

"Is this 'The World'"? He thought to himself.

Kent took a few steps forward and opened a huge set of double doors and found himself over looking a large city and a long bridge. People around him seemed to be talking and running around talking to various shop owners and such. Kent was overwhelmed where would he begin? His friends wouldn't be online until much later and he had no idea how anything worked in this world.

Kent began walking across the bridge when he noticed a strange man dressed in black armor sitting on the ground. Kent approached him and tried to get his attention.

"Hello." Kent mumbled into his microphone. The man looked up at him and gave him a puzzled stare.

"Hey, what can I do for you?" The man replied to Kent

"Well, you see I just started this game and…" Kent tried to get out more but the man cut him off before he could finish.

"You want me to teach you how to play?" The man on the ground asked.

A smirk went across Kent's face and he replied with a cheerful "Yes!" The man stood from his sitting position.

"Well then I'm Tsunami the Adept Rogue." The man said to Kent

"I'm Crossel the Blood Mage." Crossel replied.

Crossel was Kent's character name and its what people in "The World" know him as. Tsunami began to go over the basics of the game with Crossel. Tsunami taught Crossel about the various shops and the Chaos Gate. After about an hour or so Crossel was finally caught up on how the towns worked.

"So, Crossel I think your ready to fight in a dungeon." Tsunami said to Crossel.

"Alright, we use the Chaos Gate then right?" Crossel asked Tsunami.

"Yeah, normally you would invite me to your party before we left but I'm already in it so we can skip that step I showed you earlier how to select area words so lets travel to 'Long Forgotten Maiden' and get started with combat training."

Crossel inputted the specified words and approached the gate. The Chaos gate warped Crossel and Tsunami to a field and directly infront of them was some monsters.

"Alright Crossel, I want you to engage those creatures. There are a few ways you can deal damage to them. The first is your basic attack. Your basic attack will allow you to hit with your equipped weapon but because you are a spell class I suggest only relying on it when you need to. The second would be your magic. Your spells are your main source of damage and can help you and your parties greatly because you just started you probably only have the Blood Mage beginners spell Absorb. This spell draws HP from monsters and gives it to you or a party member. The third way it with an Art. Arts are combo techniques that use your equipped weapon as to attack. Arts can add various effects to the damage you do. You should have no Arts right now because you just started and Arts are rare for Blood Mages." Tsunami explained to Crossel

Crossel listened carefully to everything he was being told and took it all in. Crossel felt he was ready to battle so you walked up close to the creatures in front of him and Tsunami. When Crossel got within a certain range the creatures began to attack him. Crossel began to attack the enemies with his spell and physical attacks until a strange purple light was orbiting it.

"Crossel that light is a Rengeki using a Art or Spell now will activate the Rengeki. There are a few types of Rengeki you can use but the three you will see the most are Offensive, Defensive and Support. Offensive is displayed by a purple light and usually increases the damage of the art or spell used when it's active. Defensive is indicated by a blue light. When an Art or Spell is used and Defensive Regenki is active the Art or Spell will increase your party's defense for the duration of the battle. Support is displayed by a yellow light and causes your Art or Spell to receive some kind of healing bonus when its used." Tsunami explained.

Tsunami had just finished explaining when the monsters dropped to the ground and Crossel continued walking.

The two walked around slaying monsters for a little while when they finally came to the boss monster of the field. This creature was a large goblin with a drill attached to one hand and a gun in the other. It was Level 5, which was stronger than the other Level 1 creatures. Crossel figured he had a good idea of how to beat it so he ran in with Tsunami and began attacking.

Crossel began attacking the creature with his staff dealing little to no damage and Tsunami stood back healing Crossel when he needed it. Crossel was determined to finish the fight on his own so that he could show that he was ready to explore this new game on his own. Crossel backed up as the creature swung at him with its drill. Crossel watched it move carefully and as it came in range he fired off his Absorb spell stealing some of its health and giving it to him. He did this a couple of more times when a white light engulfed the creature. Crossel fired off another Absorb and shouted "Rengeki!" as he did when the spell connected a girl dressed in white appeared in front of the boss. The girl held out her hand and began to draw life from the boss and channel it into Crossel. Crossel was amazed at how powerful the spell was. Tsunami didn't show it but he too was amazed at what was happening before him. Tsunami walked up to Crossel as the girl vanished and the boss fell to the ground

"Crossel that was a rarer form of Rengeki called Summon Rengeki. When a Summon Rengeki activates only a spell can trigger it. The spell will call out its hidden power and summon a creature that will use the spell once at its highest level. Its very uncommon to see one used but, when it is used it can change the tide of any battle." Tsunami explained to Crossel

Crossel looked over to Tsunami. "Is this the treasure?"

Crossel held out a staff that the creature had dropped it was a level 4 staff it was silver with a red gem on top and a dragon wrapped around it.

Tsunami smirked "Yeah, that's a Dragon Rod, a Blood Mage weapon, it will grant you the spell 'Blood Rage' regardless if you've learned it or not. 'Blood Rage' causes you to injure yourself for 30 of your HP in exchange for changing your equipped weapon into a sword that increases your damage by the amount your staff increases your MP. It's a very powerful ability especially when a enemy is immune to magic"

Crossel smiled and equipped his new weapon. The two walked over to a transporter and left the dungeon returning to town. Crossel looked over to Tsunami and thanked him for all his help. Tsunami let off a grin and walked away from Crossel after giving him his Member Address and with that Crossel scratched his head and decided that he would log out for the day.