AN: The first chapter of this fic went much better than expected, netting 11 favorites and 23 follows at the time of writing this AN. Definitely not what I had anticipated, but hey, I'll take it. Anyhow, onto the reviews.
Coolka121212 (amazing username, I must say): I agree. I don't like stories like that, where a regular human somehow is loved by and influences all of the goddesses within moments of their arrival. If I got warped into Gamindustri, I'd worry more about survival and a source of income than about getting to meet my waifus.
P.S: I love the profile picture. You're a man/woman/person of taste.
Porpol (the man/woman/person of the hour [well, one of them]):Please don't feel "compelled" to read my garbage just because you inspired it. If it's trash, then say so.
Onto your actual review: you're absolutely right about your point regarding the intro. I realized two major flaws with these first chapters a bit too late. The first is that, as you said, they're a bit too similar to Shattersoul's, and set up the story to be like his when I want to take it in a completely different direction. The second is that they're slow, and although they set the mood that I want, they don't do it in a way that's very entertaining to read and that forwards the plot.
Cobaltroid: Thank you for your review, and the positive message. I answer one of your wishes in this chapter, but the other...not so much. You'll see what I mean.
That's all for reviews. Please let me know if this format for ANs works; it seems like it could be a little awkward. Also, a request: if one of you lovely fellas could somehow give me a list of some VII monsters and their levels (no specific details are needed, but a general summary of their anatomy [just say size and if they walk or fly] will be appreciated), that'd be greatly appreciated. I need it for the future, and right now, the only source I have is the Bestiary page on the Neptunia wiki, which is...not that great (it's actually terrible, but I'm sure someone tried really hard for it). Thanks in advance.
With that out of the way, let's begin!
000
I drearily stumble out of McDonalds, holding my paycheck in the air. I now have exactly 11,000 Credits to my name, which should be enough to purchase a weapon and get my career as an Agent begun. After two months, my new life in Gamindustri can finally begin.
Oh yeah, the second month. It was a grueling one, which is why I didn't say much about it. I almost got fired from both of my jobs several times for my lack of sleep because it "offput customers", but I managed to keep them both somehow. Plus, unlike the first month, I actually got to wash my clothes regularly, so I didn't constantly smell like a wild animal. Unfortunately, though, I can hardly walk in a straight line, and even the dim light of the street lamps is giving me a headache.
I sit (well, more like collapse) onto a bench just outside the McDonalds and stuff my pay into my pockets. Looking up, I can actually see the stars; before, in my own world, I couldn't ever see them due to light pollution (or actual pollution). They're a mesmerizing sight, like little jewels on the abyssal black canvas of space.
The night sky of Gamindustri, I think to myself, awestruck. What a wonderful sight. I close my eyes and sigh, and it isn't long before I let myself drift to a restful sleep for the first time in two months.
000
"They're liars, cheats, and thieves, the lot of them. And they won't hesitate to betray you if it nets them some money."
"You can become smarter, faster, better than all of them...but at a cost."
"Look at yourself! Weak, cowardly, and pathetic! It's no wonder that they all hate you!"
"Love is a selfish thing. Whether it's for money, power, fame, or an emotional response, people only love others for something they can gain. I swore to myself that I would never again be deceived into 'loving' another person, and look at where that's gotten me."
I jolt awake, clutching at my head and fighting the urge to yell and scream. I look around in a panic, and see people looking at me with confusion and concern written on their faces. It's morning now, and the sun is high in the sky. How long was I out for? And what were those voices I heard just now? They almost sounded like...
I shake my head, tossing my wild hair about. It's nothing to worry about now; I'm sure those were just events in whatever crazy dream I was having. I've had some weird dreams before, so this isn't really anything new. I get up slowly but stumble a bit; it seems my lack of sleep is finally catching up to me. But I can't rest now, damnit! I'm so close!
I head to the gun store that I outlined on my map earlier in the month. It's on the northern end of Lowee, but a few shortcuts through alleys and back roads can cut the travel time considerably. With a renewed vigor, I start to fill my head with all of the possibilities once I get my Guild certification done.
I'll finally get to meet some people I recognize. IF will have to wait until I gain more renown, but I can probably meet some of the more minor Makers like RED. Actually, forget that—meeting RED is a curse, not a blessing. I think I'll hedge my bets until I become a more well-known Guild Agent, then move to Planeptune and try to coordinate a "chance" meeting with the Wind Walker of Gamindustri.
That sounded kinda creepy now that I think about it, but the point still stands.
000
"Welcome! Take a look around and see what you'd like. If you have any questions, just ask me, and I'll be right with you," the clerk of the gun shop greets. She's a young woman (of course) with medium-length black hair. For an NPC, she looks surprisingly nice, with well-tailored clothes that match her body almost perfectly. Granted, it's a simple hoodie with the name of the store printed on it and some jeans, but they look quite nice and the design is simple and appealing.
"Thanks; I think I'll take you up on that," I say with a nod, looking around at the selection. For a small shop, this place has a lot of choices. I can see shotguns, semi-automatic rifles, lever action and bolt action rifles, handguns, and even some training rifles, and those are just the ones I can name. I already have an idea of what I want, but it's good to have options for when I return later on. After a bit of perusing the goods, I ask the clerk, "I'm looking for a shotgun fit for a beginner going for no more than 10,000 Credits. Do you have anything like that?"
She gives a quick nod and takes a gun off of the shelf behind her, laying it on the counter. "This brand of shotgun is pretty popular with upstart adventurers. It's a 12-gauge that packs a punch, but with manageable recoil. It uses a drum magazine, so it has good ammo capacity, and it has a shoulder strap for ease of carrying." I can verify a lot of what she's saying with my eyes, but for some reason, hearing her say it makes me more willing to purchase this gun. "It goes for 9,000 Credits, and since it's your first gun, I'll include a cleaning kit and a handler's manual along with it."
That was just icing on top of the highly-lethal cake. "I'll take it," I agree, before I remember something that could toss a wrench into my plans. I nervously broach the subject, "So...I'm new to this whole 'weapon owning' thing. Do I need a license, or...?"
She shakes her head with a smile. "No, actually. Gamindustri's laws on weapons are pretty lax. You don't need a license to own a weapon, but if you commit an armed crime, you're put under very strict regulations."
I do a mental victory dance as she says that. It does make sense, though; if you needed a license to own a weapon, much less people would be willing to become Guild Agents, which could lead to a problematic influx in the monster population. I reach into my pockets and produce the 9,000 Credits, and slide them across the counter. "I'll buy it. Thank you for your business."
She nods and takes the money, handing me the gun. "Give me a moment, and I'll have the other included items." She ducks beneath the counter and comes back up a second later with a black bag with highly convenient strings to hold on my back. "This has the cleaning supplies and the handler's manual in it. Good luck with your weapon, sir!" She shoots me a cheerful smile, but I don't think I'm ready to be called 'sir' just yet.
Oh, well—I was called 'Master' when I went to a doctor's appointment once. I'll just roll with it.
"Thank you, ma'am," I shoot back as I collect my stuff, getting ready to head out. "I'll have a blast with it, I'm sure."
Game time started.
000
The Guild is a large, one-floored building, the outside of which is simply labeled "Lowee Guild for Adventurers and Questers". It has small square windows spaced with about a meter in between them, and a decorative glass revolving door. I stand outside awkwardly with a goofy smile on my face, staring at the building and taking it in.
This is it, I think to myself, my whole body shaking with excitement. My life as a Guild Agent starts now.
I take tentative steps forward into the revolving door, being careful not to embarrass myself by getting caught in the mechanism. I walk in and take in the inside of the building, which is a lot more impressive than the outside. It's split into two halves: the left side has what appears to be the reception and registration area, and the right side has computers that seem to be where Agents accept and return quests. Lots of people are heading in and out, so I move over to the left side as quickly as possible to stay out of the way.
"Welcome," one of the receptionists says to me. She's freakishly similar to the information desk workers I met when I first arrived here; she has the exact same appearance and everything. "Are you here to register with the Guild?"
I nod. "Yes. I'm assuming I need to fill out a form of some sort?"
She shoots me an affirmative nod back and hands me a clipboard and a pen. Attached to the clipboard is a rather lengthy form that looks a lot like those papers you have to fill out the first time you go to a doctor, asking me for my name, age, preferred gender (who knew Gamindustri was so progressive?), desired title, and a bunch of other odd stats that nobody really needs to know (why does it ask me for my shoe size?).
I start to fill it out as quickly as possible, anxious to get to the end. I cringe when I have to read "Othelius Zoroaster Graham Augustus" again, but my elation comes back as I fill out my age with a small white lie, as usual. How many people actually tell the truth on forms when asked for their age anyway?
I'm a comfortable male, so that's easy, but the title is where things get tougher. I've already given myself a terrible name, so I can either choose an equally terrible title for myself, or try and redeem my social standing and choose something passable among my future peers.
...I never cared about other people's opinions, anyway. I fill in the line with the first title to come to mind, and move on. After some mindless writing and a discreet look at the tag on my slipper, I hand the form back to the receptionist, who reads it over. She then scans it on her computer, and after an affirmative ding sounds, she looks up at me with a smile.
"Welcome to the Guild, Agent Ozymandias. Good luck." Poor lady, having to recite everyone's titles like that with a smile. I can only imagine some of the horrors she's had to say because of some prankster.
With nary more than a nod, I head over to the right side, where I stand in front of a computer. Before I can even reach my hand up to touch it, it starts to power on, displaying a charming welcome message with my name and title. After a few moments, it fully loads, giving me the option to redeem a quest or accept a new one. I click the latter, and it opens a long list of available quests, ranging from simple fetch or kill quests to the more advanced sneak or escort quests. Next to each quest is a level recommendation, and some quests actually require that I be above a certain level before I can take them on.
A quick look to the top left corner of the screen reveals to me that I'm currently level 5, so I can basically only do the most banal of quests, but I don't care. I worked two jobs for two months to get to this point; I'll take any form of quest that's available. I accept a kill quest in the field outside of 64 Town (fittingly named "Newbie Plains") and grin.
It's showtime.
000
After some trudging through the snow, I stop to look around once I reach my target. It turns out that Newbie Plains is where I spawned into this world, which is a bit odd—there weren't any monsters when I first got here, but there's Pixelvaders running amok now. And I can just make out the figure of a massive, red-furred monkey in the distance...wait...
"No," I deny, turning away from the monster. I refuse to allow it to contaminate my experience here; I know it all too well. I still haven't figured out how to access my inventory, so I have to manually draw my shotgun from my back, but that's fine; it makes me look cooler anyhow. I look around and spot a single Pixelvader isolated from its companions, and start to walk towards it.
Once I get close enough, a chime plays and it turns towards me, levitating menacingly on the spot. I pause for a moment and stare at the Pixelvader as I think: Neptunia is turn-based combat, but given that I'm actually in the world and not just playing the games, I probably shouldn't expect it to be like that. It's probably either real-time combat like in Xenoblade, or a more complex system that I shudder to think about.
My thoughts are interrupted as the Pixelvader lets out a cry and flies towards me, giving me barely enough time to dodge. It dashes past me and recovers about half a meter away, and it looks to be readying for another attack. Not looking for another close call, I raise my gun, take aim, and shoot. I nearly lose my balance from the recoil, but it seems to hurt the Pixelvader, at least enough to elicit a pained wail. Pressing the initiative, I shoot again at the monster and then rush in, finishing it off with a buttstrike to its head.
As it dispels into data, it drops some Credits and an SP Charger. I don't think I'll have any use for the Charger, but those Credits will do me great service in the foreseeable future. I pick them up and stuff them into my bag, then set my sights on the other Pixelvaders. They don't really seem to care that I just killed one of their own, since they're floating about as if they haven't seen me at all. With a shrug, I take a potshot at one of them, and it cries out in surprise. This time, though, it alerts its friend, and they both start slowly approaching me.
I back away from the two monsters, aiming at the one I just shot. They both break out into a high-speed charge towards me, forcing me to roll to the side. As I recover, I shoot at the one closest to me, then quickly get back up and shoot again. That does away with the first Pixelvader, but the second manages to get close and slam into my side.
"Gah!" I grunt, stumbling over and barely maintaining my balance. The monster flies towards me again, but I raise my arm to block the blow this time. As it impacts, I swing my arm to the side, tossing the Pixelvader off and dazing it. I follow up with a carefully placed shot, killing it. It drops only Credits, which I stuff into my bag. I was meant to kill three more, so I hop to it and rush towards the remaining enemies.
This is fun!
000
After successfully dispatching the Pixelvaders, I make my way back to the Guild and check into one of the computers, choosing the option to return the quest. Apparently I'm now level 6 and about halfway to the next level—I guess I didn't notice my level-up in the middle of the battle. I collect my reward of 750 Credits and a Healing Grass with a bit of a grumble; all my excitement from joining the Guild seems to have faded away.
"Would've been better to have this during the Quest..." I curse, stuffing it into my bag; I really need to figure out how to access my inventory. I return to the list of quests and sigh wearily, accepting all of the ones that seem to be in my level range.
I've changed my mind; this isn't nearly as fun as I thought it'd be.