The Prince's Rogue
Authors Note: So I have had this idea for a story for quite a long time now, and ½ Prince gave me a chance to write it. The story I will be writing will be in the ½ Prince world and it will include the main protagonists, I'm just not sure how much right now (in the second life world, I know how they will be included in real life). If anyone out there is one of those people who hate anything wrong with the storyline; things that don't coincide, I'm warning you now, there will be many differences. This story is an AU, a "what if" story, so while some main parts will coincide, there will be changes. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!
Summary: Sai is a 20-year-old boy living alone in a city in Taiwan. He just bought a new virtual reality game called Second Life. Sai makes his character and sets out into the world to make himself great. There will be events form the main story of ½ Prince, but this is a story of it's own as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own ½ Prince, and I am not making any profit from this story. I do not own any characters in this story besides the ones that I create myself.
This story starts on a sunny day in a city in Taiwan. Our protagonist, Sai, walks into his apartment in the upper-class part of the city. He is a relatively attractive young man, fair skin, short and spiky black hair, about 6'2 and muscular (but not buff). He has an angular face with sharp, intense eyes and a brilliant smile.
He has just gotten back from a grueling day at the Academy of Fine Arts, his teacher may have been young enough to still be in school, but he worked them hard! Even though he was hard pressed to keep up in the class sometimes, he really liked the teacher. He was young enough to be almost a friend to the students in the class, but old and smart enough that he could still teach. His class really turned out lucky for him though; he got the best teacher in the school, and his friend Feng Lan was in his class. It could be said that the class was quite crazy, especially when the conversations got focused on the new game, Second Life, a virtual reality game that everyone seemed obsessed with.
Sai made his way to his kitchen to scrounge up something to eat. In the end he just decided to have cereal to save the trouble of actually making anything.
Once he finished his bowl, he got up and went to his book bag and pulled out a box that had Second Life clearly printed on it. His class had finally gotten to him and he decided to test out this so called, "Amazing Game."
With the game in hand, Sai made his way to the only bedroom in his apartment, deciding it would be better to play the game in Sleep Mode so that he didn't use up time on the game that could be used for other things. He put on the helmet, and he got sucked into the game.
All Sai could see was black, he blinked a few times, and the setting started to form. He was in an open space, with checkered floor and ceiling, and a huge floating chair with a beautiful woman sitting on it. Sai had a double take, but he calmed down as he remembered that he was in a game here, anything could happen, nothing he knew applied.
"Hello," the woman in the chair said, "Welcome to Second Life, I will be helping you create your avatar today."
"Ok, can you just explain to me what choices I have then?"
"Of course, but before you start, I must warn you that you cannot change your race or character late in the game. This is so that the game will be more realistic to the players. So, start creating your persona." Sai felt rushing all around him, and seconds later he was surrounded by a multitude of avatar, avatars of different races and classes.
"You have many races to choose form here; Dwarves, Beasts, Demons, Orcs, Elves, Dark Elves, Elementals, Celestials, and finally, Humans." The woman informed him. "Beasts can be divided into wolves, birds, dogs, and tigers; the Elementals can be divided between Flower Spirits, Tree Spirits, Wind Spirits…"
Sai thought for a moment, "OK, can I see myself as a Beast, a Celestial, and a Dark Elf?"
"One moment," the woman replied, and seconds later all three appeared in the room. Sai examined the three for a few minutes; as a beast, he was a Panther, and yet, it was not a character he was satisfied with, and so, he went on to the Celestial.
While he liked the Celestial, it looked too… Good. He didn't want someone innocent looking, but he did like the wings and the stats that went along with the avatar.
Finally, Sai looked at the Dark Elf, the avatar was stunning, it looked menacing, and yet amazingly attractive, in a dark way.
Sai was debating in the end though; he liked both the Celestial and the Dark Elf, he wondered if he could possibly get the woman to combine some of the traits of both. When he thought about it, it seemed reasonable, made the game more realistic seeing that those two races could breed.
"I was wondering," Sai started, "could you possibly combine the Dark Elf and the Celestial, so that it's a Dark Elf that has black angelic wings, the magic and wisdom of the celestial, and isn't denied access to holy places?"
"I don't know, that could be a difficult request, because the stats of the two are conflicting on some matters," the woman honestly replied, "but I can ask my superiors if you wish? What are you're reasons for changing your avatar this way?"
"I just like the combination, it could be useful, as well as the fact that it should be possible because if this game is realistic, then these two races could have had children like that."
"I guess you're right bout that… Just give me a minute." The woman went silent as her eyes blanked over. Sai just stood there waiting for a few seconds, thinking about how he would shape his character once into the actual game.
He was thinking some kind of… ranger? He wasn't sure what to call it, but a bow and arrows, daggers, and his main weapon would be a staff. He could use some magical attacks, but only as support, it would be a well-rounded character.
"I have talked to my superiors, and while they debated over the topic, they find your conclusion logical, and have agreed to your request, just tell me the specifics of the customization." Her sudden arrival started Sai out of his thoughts and he jumped in surprise. Then a thought came to him.
"Wait, you said superiors? That means you're not an NPC? I'm sorry then, I never got your name. I am Sai." Sai suddenly felt awkward, he had been treating her like an NPC the whole time and had not even been polite to her at all.
"Oh, it's quite alright, most people think that, I'm used to it now. My game name is Petal. Now, about those altercations?"
"Oh, of course, so I want the basic Dark Elf figure and stats, but with black celestial wings, the Celestials power of magic and wisdom, and peoples acceptance of Celestials." Sai stated, thinking if there was any traits that he missed.
"Ok, that is easy enough, here is what you're avatar will look like." That said; a figure popped into existence, smoke unraveling from around its naked body. The "Dark Celestial" as it will be called, was a heavenly creature with an aura of darkness surrounding it. It had a tall figure, muscular body and long blonde hair in a low ponytail, it reminded him greatly of himself. It was perfect in Sai's eyes, but he also knew that he would get many girls to follow him once they saw. Even so, it pleased him, and he told Petal that it was acceptable.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Because of the combination of the two races, my superiors are giving you a choice of making him twice as fast, or twice as strong." Petal informed him of the choice, and as he was about to reply, she stated, "You really are lucky, only one other player in the whole game has had their wish granted like this."
Sai was startled at this, "Seriously, only one other? What change did they make, and why did they get it?"
"Well, it was because she was the first player to start the game, and she wanted to be a male for some reason."
"Hmm, sounds like an odd request, but to each there own. Ok, lets get on to finishing the character."
"Well, you need to answer the question first…"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, it completely slipped my mind. I will choose Speed."
"Ok, now for the finishing touches, what clothes will he wear, what additional stats will he get, and what continent do you want to start your game-playing experience on?"
"Ok, well I think I know what clothes will be good on him, on the bottom layer will be skin tight cloth clothes, gray in color. I want leather boots; almost skin tight pants, vest and gloves. Finally, with all those will be a cloak with a hood, kind of ratty looking at the ends, frayed and ripped, but in good condition… Wait, I just thought of the word, worn, a worn out cloak."
"Ok, I understand," Petal then snapped her fingers for dramatic effect and His avatar was suited out, "Is this acceptable?"
"It's perfect. Now, for the stats, how many extra points do I have and what are the options?" Sai really wanted to get finished in the creation room and start his experience in the game.
"Well then, you get 57 points extra with the character you picked, and you can spend them on any of the following; Strength, Agility, Speed, Intelligence, Wisdom, Magic, and Stamina. Take your pick."
'57?' Sai thought, 'that's an odd number…' Sai thought on those stats for a few minutes and figured that if he was going to be a ranger he wanted Agility, Stamina and Speed the most, but he still would need others, Strength especially. He remembered that Celestials had Wisdom and Magic already applied, so he didn't need to put any on those since they weren't too big of a deal for him. All the others came with the Dark Elf, but mostly Speed and Agility, so those would be really high for him.
"Ok, so I have decided on 15 to Speed, Agility and Stamina. That leaves 12, so 6 to both Intelligence and Strength, and that should be it for the stats." Sai said, and left it to Petal to decide what to choose next.
Petal looked pensive for a moment, and then said, "Ok, before we choose your continent, make sure the attributes of your character are what you need them to be."
"Attributes? You mean the physical features?" Sai inquired.
"Yes, like hair color, height, eye color, et cetera…" Petal answered.
"Ok then, I like the hair color, but I don't want it in a ponytail, just have it long and straight down. As for the height, maybe just a smidgen taller, to make him look more regal? Blue eyes, angular face… yep, I think we're done with that." Sai really was pleased with how his avatar looked and couldn't wait to bring it out into the game.
"Oh yeah, what about my name?" Sai questioned her. That would have been a bad part to leave out.
"I can't believe I forgot that! Well, do you have any ideas for what you want it to be?"
"Yeah, I'm deciding between 'Ranger' and 'Shade'. What do you think?"
"Personally, I like the name Shade quite a bit better, is that your final decision?"
"Yep, so write that in and I'm ready," Sai finished happily.
"Well, since that is all finished, where do you want to be born? North, South, East, West or Central Continent?"
"Are there any differences between them? Anything that could sway me?" Sai asked.
"There's not much difference, just the majority of players choose the Central, and a few different variety of mobs on the different continents. Other than that, not much," Petal replied.
"Well then, I think I will choose the Northern Continent if that's alright," Sai decided.
"Of course, you are being born now," Petal, said, before he was being sucked out of the game.
The last thing he heard before everything went black was, "I used 43 points towards beauty, that's why you had such an odd number."
'Damn that woman….'
Shade (I will be calling his in game avatar Shade form now on, Shade for out in the real world) landed heavily on his feet after being sent into the world, almost falling over. He stuck out a hand to catch himself, but instead of a wall, like he expected, he had something soft and round in his hand. Warily, he looked over at what he had caught, and to his terror, he saw a young woman standing there with a mortified expression on her face.
"Oh my God! I'm terribly sorry," Shade apologized, letting go of the woman's breast. This was a horrible way to start the game.
The woman shrieked and smashed Shade on the head repeatedly, screaming, "PERVERT!" The woman then caught a look of Shade's face looked painfully up at her and she blushed, looking away.
She looked back after a moment, a little more composed, before screaming out, "I'm sooo sorry! Do you need any help? Money, weapons? ANYTHING FOR YOU!"
While this freaked out Shade, he decided not to let the opportunity go to waste. He started out his sentence, "I thank you great . . ."
However, before he could finish, the entire woman population in the area who heard the girl scream, came rushing over. When they saw him, they, just like the first, freaked out.
"HE'S SO HOT!"
"TEAM UP WITH ME, I CAN SUPPORT YOU!"
"HEY! HE'S MINE!"
"I CAN GIVE YOU MONEY! I LOVE YOU 3"
And so on with the screaming for his attention and love. When he saw the avatar in the creation room, he didn't think he was THIS good looking! And then he remembered… Petal added to his beauty stats… Damn her…
'Well, guess I should use this to my advantage,' Shade thought.
"Well ladies, can I have your attention? I have just started this game and I would appreciate it if I could have some items to start me off. Perhaps, a few daggers, a bow with some arrows, and maybe some potions?" Shade inquired upon them gently, so to make them fall for him even more. He wanted the best he could get to start him off.
Immediately, hands shot out from all over the crowd, some holding daggers, some holding bow and arrows, some holding both and/or more.
Shade was over-whelmed by the amount of items presented to him, but he soon recovered and examined the vast array of weapons. He quickly sorted out which weapons were satisfactory, and which were not. Looking at the daggers, he knew that having around 5 or 6 would be the best choice, and so he grabbed a few of higher looking quality, a sturdy build, and grabbed them. He also grabbed some fancier looking ones and some throwing knives just in case.
In the case of the bows, there was one in particular that stood out to him. It was a beautifully crafted, yew bow. Given the way the owner was holding it, they didn't realize the value that they held in their hands, and he gladly took it from them. Another good-looking bow caught his eye, and he decided to grab it, just for insurance reasons. And of course, to go along with the bows, Shade bought numerous arrows, not really bothering to check the condition and quality of most.
Finally, Shade grabbed some of the potions offered to him, not checking any of them, knowing that there was no obvious way to discern a good potion from a weaker one. Along with the arrows, he managed to grab some of the many gold pouches being offered up from the many ladies.
Once Shade had gotten all of the necessary items, he said to all the women around him, "Thank you all for your help, however, at this point I have all the items I need and I have to get started on the game. So, if you ladies will please let me through, and I'll be on my way…" Those words died in his throat though, because when he said he had to get going, they all started screaming again and trying to latch onto him.
"He's better than PRINCE!"
"Mr. Elf here is OUR Bishie! 3"
Such opinions were continuously voiced through the crowd, many comparing him to the Central Continents Prince. Shade had heard Prince mention a few times back at school, perhaps a bit more than would be expected, seeing as his teacher was a member of Prince's team.
Thanking God for the stats he invested in, Shade was able to maneuver himself out of the ferocious mob, and make his way to the nearest store.
As he walked into the non-descript store on the outskirts of the city, Shade contemplated the items that he had gained.
He knew that he had many more daggers than he needed, so he could make a profit off of that, as well as perhaps selling one of the two bows he collected. Lastly, judging by the size of the pouches that he received from the more generous ladies, he was quite affluent, possibly having around 100 gold coins. Unheard of for a beginning character, seeing as he started out with automatically having only a few coppers, enough for a crumby knife.
The first this that Shade decided to do, was have the shopkeeper appraise his items. He had read in the manual that that was a skill the NPC shop owners possessed, for the players convenience.
"Hello sir, what can I do for you today?" The shopkeeper asked, as soon as he saw Shade.
"Hello, yes, I was wondering if you could appraise some of my items for me?" Shade replied to him.
"Of course, just hand them to me for a few seconds, if you will."
*I'm making my own value system with the money in the game, but still using the originals currency*
Shade handed all the daggers and the bows over, not really bothering, once again with the arrows or potions, seeing as arrows were cheap and potions weren't something to be appraised.
The shopkeeper examined all of the items for a few seconds each, and then stated, "Well, all of the daggers you have here are well made, but relatively cheap, so you will need to buy more once these wear out or if you get stronger. That is, all except for these ones," the shopkeeper held up two of the fancier daggers he picked out. "These ones," the NPC said, "are rather expensive, they are worth 200 gold coins as a pair."
Shade gasped, 'on of the girls on the street had those and was willing to give them up? The people in this game have no common sense', he thought. "Can you tell me more about those daggers, please?" Shade queried of him.
"Of course, they are from the thieves class, give 15 extra speed and agility, and increased damage by multiplying your level by the regular damage." The shop owner informed him, "You are one lucky guy."
Shade pondered this fact for a short time, wondering if he should sell the daggers for other equipment, or work being a thief, or at least having thief's weapons, into his character. He decided in the end that a thief class could work with his plans for a character, and as far as he knew there were no restrictions on the amount of classes one has.
Either way, Shade decided to ask, "Is it possible for a person to have multiple jobs?"
"Yes, it is, however most people assume not and only choose one. This may be because people don't want to fulfill the requirements of multiple jobs."
'That could become very valuable information, I have to remember that.' "Thanks for the information, oh, and can you buy those daggers?" Shade asked, pointing out some of the worse ones that he didn't need.
"Yes, and for the information about the bows, the yew one you have picked up is not valuable, put is a very competent bow, especially for someone starting off. You're other bow is considerably weaker, but it is fancy and I can buy it from you for 12 gold pieces." The shopkeeper held up each bow as he described them.
"Ok, that would be fine, and once that transaction is done, can I see your weapon catalogue?" He wanted to find out soon what weapons he should be working to, he had the daggers down with two good main ones, two boots knifes and two throwing knifes in his sleeves. He also had a good bow and enough arrows for quite a while, now he just needed to know what his starting weapon would be, or if he would get one from his job.
"Well, I have collected the gold for you any you have made 26 gold coins and 12 coppers from this sale. I have the catalogue here for you." He handed it over to Shade, who opened it up to take a look.
Inside he saw there were categories on bows, arrows, knife and daggers, swords, staffs, harps, potions, and priest augmenters. Shade quickly glanced through the bow section and the dagger section just to see what he may be getting in the future. Some of the things there were just stunning to a beginner's eye, the stats over-whelming. What he had now was only for the beginning; he would get those weapons some day, maybe even better.
However, when Shade looked in the staff section, he was severely disappointed. The staffs offered in this game were all for mages or necromancers, the game makers didn't seem to think of the option of them being used for melee weapons, but he couldn't fault them, it was an obscure field. He was still disappointed though; he couldn't go through completely with his ideal character. 'Well, that's too bad,' he thought, 'guess I'll just check out some other weapons.'
Lastly, Shade opened up the catalogue to the sword section. In that section, he saw many nice swords that he wouldn't mind, but it wasn't until he got into the rare items section of the swords, where they show weapons they don't own, but are in the game, that he was excited. On the second to last page, a sword caught his eye. It was a double-ended sword, like a staff with bladed ends. It was practically what he was thinking about with a staff, but this had a blade. As he continued looking at the sword, a description of it popped out at him. 'This double-ended staff sword can be separated at the hilt into dual blades.'
'I wonder if all double weapons are this way' thought Shade. To test it out, he took the daggers out of there sheathes on his side where he had placed them, and put their hilts together.
'CLINK!' The two daggers touched hilts and all of a sudden! Nothing happened…
'Well, I guess that was to be expected' Shade thought, 'I'm not that lucky.'
"Thanks so much, I think that I will buy this plain iron short sword here. Here's the gold." Shade told the owner.
"Thanks you for the purchase, and here is your sword." The NPS said, handing the sword over to Shade.
He thanked the NPC for his help and walked out of the store.
'This game is turning out to be more intricate than I thought," Shade pondered over this game and all the things running through his head that needed to be done.
Before he even thought about getting jobs in the game, he had to train to a high enough level to complete the entrance quests. He knew that for warriors, he had to collect 10 wolf claws, however, not all wolves dropped fangs so he had to be prepared to fight numerous wolves, and something he was about as close to being able to do at this point as he was getting girls to stop thinking he was a Bishie.
Shade set off to the caves right off the border of the city where he could find rats to train up some starter levels. The walk from the store to the caves was relatively short and he was there in almost no time at all.
Shade saw the caves first as he walked over a hill, and really, they weren't intimidating or anything, just small little caves in the hillside. However, Shade was excited by the prospect of his first real game play and speed to the caves as fast as he could.
As soon as he took his first step into the caves, a horde of rats jumped straight at him! And our brave hero… He ran.
Shade noticed as he ran out of the cave, the rats seemed to hit an invisible force field right on the border of the cave. 'I can use this to my advantage…'
When we return to out brave hero, we notice that he is standing on the border of the cave and the grass, with rat bodies piled up all on one side of him in the cave, not on scratch on his body. For this cave, Shade has his bow out and has been picking off rats as they came to the wall. It seems that Shade has taken advantage of the barrier and killed them once they hit the wall.
Finally, Shade turned around and looked away from the cave. 'I wonder if level 27 is enough for the jobs, I've only been training for two hours or so, I don't know if that's enough.'
"Well, I guess I should go to 30 to make sure!"
Right as he was about to walk back over to the cave, this time to go in to get a better feel of combat, 2 players; a girl and a boy, walked up to him hearing what he said.
"Level 30 for what? You only really need to be a level 10 for the jobs. And you're dressed as a noob, why haven't you gotten armor is you're close to level 30?"
"Only 10! I've been killing rats for hours to level up to 30, just to find I only needed level 10?" Shade screamed.
"You got to level 30 just on rats? How long were you here for, that's got to have taken a while." The girl in the group exclaimed.
"Only a two hours, I just found a glitch and took advantage of it so that I could kill more rats than usual, this is my 5th cave, and the other ones have completely filled entrances."
"Good Lord! Why don't you fight other monsters that give more experience?" The man asked.
"I don't know where to find them, and I got caught up in the moment." Shade replied.
"Well, why don't we all go back into town, you can get upgrades and then we can show you the more advanced monsters," The girl stated, and Shade quickly agreed.
The trio walked back to the town, and Shade took the chance to get answers to some much-needed questions.
"So, I've been thinking about what jobs I want to take, but the problem is I don't know most of the types."
"Ok, well the main classes in this game include Thieves, Warriors, Mages, Priests, Archers, Bards, Assassins and Bounty Hunters." The girl, who's name turned out to be Rose, stated.
"Hmm, quite a list. I was thinking about being an Archer, Warrior and a Thief, but I really don't like using a bow so that's out. Maybe I'll just combine the Thief and the Warrior." Shade said, startling the other two by informing them that he wanted more than one job.
"Two jobs? What do you mean! You can't have two jobs, it's unheard of!" The man- his name being Olaf- shouted at him. "No one has EVER done it, so why do you think that YOU can?"
"Just because no one ever thought about it, or tried it doesn't mean it can't be done, just that I will be the first. And why not, isn't it a good idea?" Shade asked him, "Don't you get more money from having two jobs, more skills?"
"I guess you're right, but, but it's just inconceivable!" Rose said.
"Yes, inconceivable," Olaf agreed.
"I do not think that word means what you think it means," Shade chastised the two. "And I think it's more like mixing the jobs for a single class, the mixture kind of reminds me of a Rogue, wouldn't you agree? A battle-ready rogue."
"Yes, so it does. But this game doesn't have Rogues, the closest thing is an Assassin or a Thief." Rose informed him.
"I know, but if this game is so free reign, then why can't I pick two jobs and combine them?" Shade logic-fucked them.
"Ok, you win. Can we just get on to getting new armor and tools so we can go grind some monsters?" Olaf asked.
Shade looked back at him, he was looking impatient. "Of course, we're already back at town so lets get a move on."
The group first walked into the general store near the middle of town to sell all the junk that Shade picked up from the rats. In total, Shade had collected 132 rat claws, 23 knives, 1 gem and 327 gold coins. All in all, Shade was happy with his progress into the game.
Shade took the items to the counter and handed them over to the NPC, who valued each coin at a little less than one gold coin each, and each claw as ½ a gold coin. The sum of that adds up to 86 more coins to Shades wealth, and the gem itself is worth 65 gold.
Shade counted up his money and found that he had around 500 gold coins. He could buy anything that a beginner could covet. Then he realized that he wasn't a beginner anymore and he needed non-beginner weapons.
"Well come on, I need to get my armor and a new sword before we go." Shade told the two who were talking quietly in a corner.
"Huh? Oh, ok. Let's get going." Olaf said, relieved to do something.
The trio set of once again to find a weapons shop with stronger weapons than Shade possessed.
"So, why aren't you getting a new bow or daggers?" Rose questioned him.
"Well, I found that I don't feel comfortable using a bow, so I'm giving that up, and my daggers are 20 damage average, and the damage gets multiplied by my current level. So the damage is now at about 550-600 damage. Adequate, don't you think?" Shade asked, enjoying their stunned faces.
"600! You're serious? How does a beginner like you own that?" Olaf yelled! Both their astonishments were clear on their faces.
"Very." Shade replied.
"Jeez, where in HELL did you get that?" Rose asked him.
"Oh, all the girls in the game wanted to give me items when they saw my face, and this was one thing… Say, why don't you scream and yell at how handsome I am?" Shade said, wondering what was different about Rose.
"Umm, you see… well… I'm Lesbian." Rose finished quickly.
"Oh… Well that answers that mystery… Is that the weapons shop we're going to?" Shade asked, happy to change topics.
"Yes, that's the one," Olaf responded, "Best in the town."
"Does it sell armor as well?" Shade asked him.
"Armor, weapons, potions, you name it, they have it." Rose answered him.
Shade opened the door to shop with the other two following behing him, "Time to start an adventure!"
A/N: This is my first story so read and review. I hope you enjoy. If you are going to criticize, make it constructive. I know I ended this at a bad point but I could think of how to keep going right now.