-That night
Hey, would you promise me one thing?
A promise? About what?
Just tell me! Would you?
Geez, you're pushy as always. But yeah, I would.
Great! Then, promise me. That you'll never ever leave from my side.
Tch, that's not a simple one.
Wha-? Hey, you promised!
Well, make a simpler one!
No! It's the most important thing for me! Or, do you hate me so much?
Are you kidding? You're almost impossible to hate.
Then say it. You will never ever leave me.
Alright! Listen well! I will never ever leave your side, no matter what happens. There! Are you happy know?
You bet I am! Thank you! Oh, and please keep your promise.
What will you do if I break my promise?
Nuuu-! I will haunt you! FOREVER!
"Gah!"
I leapt from my bed. Damn, I got that dream again. Not a bad one, I guess. But, it made my chest really hurt. My heart pounded harder whenever I dreamt about it. I took a deep breath, and let it loose very slowly. It's kinda difficult for me to get back on my bed after my eyes opened. I shot a glance to my alarm clock. It was three in the morning.
Forgive my rudeness. My name is Kyomatsu Fuusai. I am twenty one years old and currently working as assistant in a certain game center in my hometown. I lived alone in a small apartment, which consist of handful boarders and the landlord. He was a strict person yet able to maintain peace with the residents of his apartments. No arguments allowed unless he speaks first. All and all, he is a good old man. He is my favorite father figure, other than my own father, who had passed away several years ago. My mother left me in his care before she moved. I'm in debt with the landlord, so I would gladly offer my assistance whenever he calls for help. Oh, and the rent for this apartment? It just fit with my moderate monthly salary, let alone I could save for my other private needs.
Well, I do have a computer in my room. Its spec is, uh, average. At least I could use it to finish my weekly report and went online. Because I'm a game addict, that's why. I've played a lot of online games and considered myself as veteran. But the most enjoyable game right now, the [INFINITE], became my super top class priority game to play. Whenever chances are present, I definitely will turn the computer on and going all out playing this awesome VRMMORPG. I honestly didn't care about getting scolded by the landlord and the manager, as long as I could play INFINITE. The game just rocks!
There is another reason why I put a computer in my room. Due to my excellent skill at work, a game company asked me to do debugging on their projects. I'm not bluffing, seriously. The offer came several weeks after I managed to get work in the game center. The day was Tuesday, and I was busy with a bunch of customers who flooded the game center. They kept asking my advice to get through couple stages. Since I was working, it would be bad if they stopped playing here and decided to visit another game center. So, I gave them special treat. I already asked my manager before I did this. Wanna know what kind of treatment that I gave to them?
It was simple. I was 'switching' with them. 'Switching' here means I replaced the gaming console with others, taking control theirs avatars for a brief moment while giving important tips and sometimes tricks, in order to play INFINITE with less difficulty. I'm not finished playing INFINITE yet, the time I could track my own history I found out that I was just covered less than thirty percent of this game. The ratio amazed me, considering I've spent bloody hours to reveal every hidden features and changing [Class] over time just to know each [Skill] from each Class.
Developers were doing great with the battle system in INFINITE. They created [Skill EVO], a system that allows players to combine skills of their own with another. The skills must be the correct ones. Otherwise the system won't recognize them. When they succeed to combine their skills, the usual [Skill Evolved] notification banner would pop out. Then a very cool [Skill Activation] follows, showing the evolved skill to players who had their skills combined. Newly evolved skills will then appear in the [Skill Tree] as independent blocks with distinct glow around it. Players definitely had to use these skills, because they were insanely strong. But be careful, even the most powerful skill has flaws. The moment it turned on, the skill required certain condition. Like, we have to defeat monsters in twenty seconds after skill activated. If we couldn't fulfill the condition, we would stricken by abnormal status effects, mainly confused, paralyzed, bleeding, and exhaustion. It won't be any of fun when we just lay down in a dungeon, able to do nothing after we executed our most devastating skills. Monsters will own us, and we have to repeat the dungeon once more.
I told this to my customers. They were silently listening to my course with passion. I showed them too, which skills that could be combined and produced a new skill unique to every Class I had tried. They were surprised to an unbelievable degree when they heard this. They burst into shouts, hysteria, and probably mass-death, after my overdoing treatment ended. They logged on into the World of INFINITE, named Arkgea, and rushing to test every little detail I explained to them earlier. No more frowned faces can be seen. They were all smiling, even their avatars.
Less than three days, our game center was over flooded with customers. They would likely to play INFINITE, under my surveillance. I was a bit embarrassed when I know that they had come for me, but then I realized. I was working here to help them. I didn't have any intention to let them down. From that day on, thousands of minutes had passed for me, just to give a clear and easy to follow assistance to all customers who visited my game center.
News spread like a wildfire. Two weeks later, I got a shocking surprise. When I came to my workplace, the manager suddenly asked me to stop by in her office, which is located on third floor of the building. I was wondering, why does she call me? I got the answer soon.
I knocked the office door. A sweet voice can be heard from inside.
"Is that you, Fuusai-san?"
"Yes, it is! May I come in?"
"Please come in!"
I held the door handle and swung it down. The door opened and I walked into the room. There was a stunningly beautiful woman, sat on her chair and was reading a business magazine. She was the manager, Yoko Minamoto. She has long, silky blond hair and distinctive olive green eyes. Narrow eyebrows, chiseled cheeks and sharp nose gave her an exact image of an angel. And her lovely, ever smiling lips completed the heavenly art that God blessed upon her. Not to mention, she has a quite figure for her age, which was three years older than me. Her body proportion was, I would say, 90-55-90. Damn, she looked like a Barbie doll for me.
"Is there anything on my face?"
I was taken aback by her goddess look, and frantically gave an answer.
"No. You are beautiful as ever, manager-san."
That was my honest answer. She threw a smile and got back reading. Sorry, I couldn't help it manager-san. You are beautiful.
"By the way, why did you call me for?
"Wait a minute, please. You'll see him soon."
Him?
"Yoko, excuse me for the toilet. My stomach was this terrible since morning."
A man came out from the office's toilet. I could tell that he was Westerner. He was tall, at least ten centimeters taller than me. Thick, brown eyebrows framed his bluish, stern eyes. He has neat brown hair, slightly bearded cheeks. His figure was just fit with an appearance of a model. His red suit showed a well balanced build of his body. But really, a model?
His eyes met mine.
"Is this young man you told me before?"
"Well yes. Fuusai, this handsome looking man is Robert, an acquaintance of mine. Robert, this is my most adorable employee, Fuusai."
Yoko-san introduced us each other.
"Glad to meet you. I'm Robert Sighart." He offered his hand.
"So am I, Robert-san. My name is Kyomatsu Fuusai." I took his hand and shaking it. His grasp was firm. I though this person is reliable.
"Now you've met each other. Robert, why don't you begin?"
"Begin for what?"
I timidly asked manager, but she refused to respond. She was just laid back on her chair and crossed her hands in front of her.
"Listen to what he says. Please sit down."
I did what manager told me. Robert-san, who already took a seat before me, was pulling out a few papers from his case. He scanned through it and cleared his throat.
"Fuusai-kun, I want you to give me a brief explanation about INFINITE."
What? Is he going to interview me? I tried to find a confirmation of this from manager. She nodded when I put a questioned face on. Alright, alright, let me go with the flow.
"INFINITE is a VRMMORPG that released approximately six months, one week and three days ago by a game company named [e-DREAM]. The game is 3-D, the best game with the best graphic ever created by human. Plus, it's a virtual reality. We can do anything like touching, smelling, running, even dying in the World of INFINITE, Arkgea. In short, what we can do in real world, we can do that in Arkgea too. Of course, there is a restriction related to some kind of actions since we can't allow any misfortune happened to users who were playing. The device that could bring us to realm of Arkgea is a single, circular interface that covers user's ears and eyes. This device is known as [sTIKI] (read: sticky), or [super-Transceiver Integration Kinetic Interface]. To use sTIKI, one should log on into INFINITE first via computer. Then put on the device, just like wearing glasses. When this device connects with INFINITE, it will secure the user by pressing a number of nerves inside user's ears and around user's eyes to make the user fall asleep. Part of this device ensures the user to 'integrate' their consciousness into the game. In there, their brains would work normally, sending commands to their customized avatar without worrying too much about their remained silent bodies in real world. Thanks to developer who thought something really genius about gaming gadgets nowadays. This device cuts off every signal emitted by brain, delivers them straight to fake body in game, avoiding further serious damage physically. So there is no accidents like a player continuously hit a monster but in real life, he just hurt his hands because his monitor severely damaged by his own hands. The current state, when a user leaps from real world to virtual realm of Arkgea, is called [Breakthrough]. The user, after couple of seconds will find themselves floating in amidst of darkness. The sequence of activating their avatars follows, and in instant they will be taken into a detailed, rich world of Arkgea."
Robert-san smiled and nodded slightly. He continued on another question.
"How do you describe Arkgea?"
"Arkgea is vast world, almost a perfect copy of the Earth itself. Monsters loom on every part of this World of INFINITE. Players should defeat them in order to create their own legend. The AI that controls the monsters is exceptionally observant and intelligent. It records every combat data and sets various unpredictable monsters regarding the data. The stronger the user, the monsters grow strong too. Even the Status of each monster, it shows arithmetical increase. I was surprised when facing a sixty level monster with totally different Status caps. Then I realized the fact, that I came up with a powerful party and almost all evolved skill are obtained. Still, it was a fun battle. I'm looking forward to discover hidden areas in Arkgea and battling enormous creatures there."
Robert-san wrote down something on that paper. His next question was..
"Do you have any complaint about s-TIKI?"
"There is none. Wait."
"Yes?"
I remembered something. It was a minor detail, but I need to spill it out.
"Recently, the linking delay between s-TIKI and the computer took longer than usual. The avatar activation sequence also affected. It has always been fifteen seconds delay."
"Right."
Robert-san added little notes on my petty detail.
"One last question, Fuusai-kun. Do you remember your first experience in Skill EVO?"
Ah, the moment I furiously screaming like a madman.
"Sure I do! I was playing INFINITE with my friends, forming a party of four, and went into [Abyss of No Return], where the [Dread Dragon] [Azmauth] lurked. I took [Berserker] Class at that time, one of my friends took [Huntress] Class and the rest of them picked [Shaman]. Berserker relies heavily on pure, brute strength. Huntress has capability of raining barrage of arrows upon enemies. Shaman focuses on Ancient Healing and destructive Voodoo magic. We had an average level of forty six, and Azmauth was roughly ten levels above us. The fight lasted considerably long, because Azmauth kept on healing himself after we launched our attacks. We were at disadvantage. Our supplies were completely gone in that battle. Our HP bars were all at critical. In next turn Azmauth would have our heads. So I was telling one of our Shamans to execute one spell when I cast an offensive spell upon myself. I was expecting something good would happen when the spells were cast. And the moment of truth approached. I cast [Battle Lust], an offensive skill learnt by Berserker and was acquired at level twenty five. This spell increased Strength, Defense, Attack Speed and Move Speed for a short period by seventy percent. It would last exactly sixty seconds after activation. At the same time, the spell chanted by the Shaman hit me. His spell was [Invoke], a Support type ancient magic. It has ability to increase Elemental Resist and Abnormal Condition stats by a hundred percent. Azmauth himself has various Status-inflicting attacks. Our party had been hit by Poison, Paralysis, and Bleeding attacks. That's way our supplies were gone easily in matter of seconds. This spell consumed a hell lot of MP, the cooldown was also long, five minutes for exact. We couldn't recklessly activate such spell in this situation, so I planned to unleash the spell at the end of battle.
The reddish aura of Battle Lust merged with the greenish aura of Invoke. Then it appeared. [Skill Evolved] sign was seen on top of us. I felt tremendous power circulating in my body. I was bathed in golden aura. The skill name popped out, [Victor's Fervor]. I read its brief explanation below. A godly skill that increases Strength, Defense, Attack Speed and Move Speed by 300%. Nullifies all abnormal status attacks. Skills cooldowns (including Ultimate Skill) are decreased to zero. Lasts ten seconds.
I became a skill spammer in instant. I hurriedly running towards Azmauth and simultaneously hit him with every Skill that I had. Ten seconds was enough. Azmauth's HP bar was critical and he got staggered from my last skill [Skull-shatter]. I jumped back and began charging for my Ultimate attack, [Galactic Impact]. It required three full seconds before activation. Victor's Fervor was only a second left, when I leap forward and swinging my weapon [Great Ogre], which was a mace, further back. Then I swung down my mighty mace and hit Azmauth on his head square and clear. Every bits of energy that had been gathered within the mace fiercely crushed the head of Dread Dragon. Azmauth defeated, and at the same moment I collapsed. I forgot to read the entire description of my newly acquired skill. This skill consumes all Stamina I had. I wouldn't able be move unless I used Fatigue-removal items several times or sleeping for three days straight. It was insanely powerful skill, and greatly decreased my stamina to a frightening degree. I even swore not to use that Skill unless the situation was completely worst."
When I was finished, Robert-san drew a few circles on his paper. It looks like Robert-san was pointing important parts. I could not hold the urge to ask him anymore.
"Robert-san, why did you asking me some questions?"
Robert-san put on a surprised expression.
"I thought Yoko already told you."
I shook my head. Then manager spoke.
"It would be best for you to tell him in person."
"Ah, alright. Fuusai-kun, I came from e-DREAM. In fact, I'm one of the programmer that work there."
Se-seriously!? This man, he really is a member of e-DREAM game company? Whoa.
"Here my card."
Robert-san offered me a small business card. I took it and read the content aloud.
"Robert Sighart. Progammer. 1st Division."
Th-then, this man is one of caretaker of INFINITE universe! He was supposed to work right now!
"Why did a programmer come here? As a programmer, you have priority to maintain most data intact."
"As a programmer too, we have our freedom to take break anytime, anywhere. Not a leisure time, though. We got orders from our superior to collect data and samples. Definitely not an easy one."
"And you decided to come here?"
"Yoko invited me last night. She wanted me to look after you. She thought you could help me with something related to INFINITE. She was right. I saw through your game log recorded by our hard drives, made a quick reference from it, and prepare some questions. You answered my questions clearly. I got some nice data."
"Why, thank you."
"Can I ask you to assist me in our current project? It's something easy. Maybe far too easy for you."
"What should I do?"
"You know how to debug?"
Hell yeah, I know it damn well. I nodded twice and grinned.
"You're pretty confident, Fuusai-san."
"Of course I am! It's my main subject back at university."
"Nice! Tomorrow, you can do your first task. Come early, because I will leave your first assignment to Yoko. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Okay, it settled! Now I have to go back at work. Our president demanded us to show him some details about our new projects. Yoko, thanks for the invitation."
Robert-san stood up after packing his case. Manager got up from her chair and accept warm handshake from Robert-san. She replied back to him.
"The pleasure is mine."
"Fuusai-kun, don't be lazy. I know you had such a sleepy face, work hard!"
Yoko-san must be told him about my bad habits. I showed bitter smile to Robert-san.
"Good day!"
Robert-san left the office. Yoko-san and I parted him.
"Good day."
"Good day, Robert-san!"