-I am re-uploading the previous chapter—nothing changed in the story, just fixes and such. This site sometimes screws up my story's formatting real bad…
-I apologize for the… well, 'lack of action' on the previous chapter and this one. I need to set various things up first, before things in my story starting to get messy.
-My chapter posting schedule is usually one chapter per week. It'll probably be longer for this one because I have a Legend of Zelda fan-fiction to write too.
Enjoy
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.Hack//ReGather
-2-
A fan-fiction based on the video game series .Hack
Written and directed by: Pizza Blade
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-Arrival
(Loading…)
…
……
A new set of screen was displayed. There's a picture of a sword and a gun crossing each other in front of a multiple silhouette of various character classes. There were three flashing words available on the bottom of the screen.
…
(This is the Sub-Menus of The World: Three, a place you will be directed into every time you start your game and immediately after you logging out from the game. Direct your pointer to the following options to view their description—this message will not appear any longer in your subsequent visits to this screen)
…
……
(LOG IN—this will allow you jump in immediately to the marvelous adventure of The World: Three! This option will take you immediately to the last Root Town you visited, allowing you to prepare yourself for your next grand adventure!)
(FORUM—this is a place where you can discuss various things about the game with other players from all around The World. This is also the place to go when Players are wishing to contact the game's administrators. The Forum is divided into several sub-forums, each with their own specific purposes)
(CHECK MESSAGE—this is the place where you may check in-game private messages for your character. You can also send private messages to other players, provided that you have their Member Addresses.)
(EXIT—exit the program and return to your desktop.)
…
……
-Click-
…
……
-Phzzz-
(You have now arrived at the Root Town for beginners: Aqua Capital Mac Anu. This marks the beginning of your exciting journey! Please enjoy The World: Three!)
…
……
"…Whoa……"
…
That was the first word to come out from Frey's mouth when he first arrived at Mac Anu.
…
…He was now standing at the center inside a huge room—or, 'hall', probably, was the more appropriate description. It would appear like he was inside of a huge cathedral or something. When he looked up, he could see that the ceiling of this huge hall was so high it felt like it could touch the skies. It evoked some feeling of grandeurs watching a ceiling that high—it was like you were staring at the heavens itself…
When Frey looked down, the floors were all seemingly made from the finest ceramics in the world—they all looked so beautiful when they reflected the warm, fuzzy sunlight streaming down from the windows……
…And speaking of windows, Frey has never seen windows as magnificent as the ones he witnessed right now. For one thing, those windows were gigantic—each and every one of them was colossus in size. Not just that, but those windows appeared like they were made from the finest material in the world—Frey couldn't quite explain it very well, but the way they let the sunlight in…… he never quite expected that he could ever be mesmerized just by the sight of windows—of all things—in his entire life time.
…
The walls of the hall were no slouch either. Many parts of the walls of the hall were decorated by some of the most intricate and beautifully designed paintings Frey ever saw in his entire life…… well, not that he actually ever saw a lot of paintings in his life, but nevertheless, it felt like even the most jaded and cynical person out there wouldn't be able to not appreciate the beauty and magnificence of those paintings. The paintings depicted a lot of things—humans, birds…… even the more 'supernatural flavored' things such as gods, angels, and the like……
The programmer of this game went even further than that, though. They made the pictures moving somewhat realistically too! Watching those pictures moving around doing their own things incited a very surreal and dreamlike feeling…… It was like watching a movie so enchanting you just couldn't afford to close your eyes even for a split second…
…
……
After he finished admiring his surroundings, Frey took a while to examine his own character.
"…Pretty neat," he said to himself, observing the details of his character—since this was his first time trying this kind of thing, he felt kind of uneasy at first…, afraid that the result of his editing would turn out bad…… but in the end, it was pretty satisfactory.
It took him a few moments, however, to thinking in how amazing technology truly has advanced these days…… people used to play video games by assuming the characters' role through a controller and a television screen. Nowadays nearly all video games implementing virtual reality technology, and the age when you need to push buttons to see your character moving in a screen has long been deemed obsolete. In this day and age, you are the character that lives on the video game world yourself!
…
And right now, he was in the middle of a frighteningly realistic virtual world in the game, The World. This one in particular was an extremely popular game. Truthfully, Frey was never really a person to play video games—he'd rather play sports such as football or basketball. However, most, if not all, of his friends at school always talked about The World this, The World that……… so even though he didn't really like video games that much, he felt the need of at the very least knew what The World looked like, so that he's not going out of the loop too much (besides, he got the installation disc free as a gift from one of his friends, so why not?)
…
……And now, since he's already inside the game itself, he could sort of understand how this game managed to gain its reputation, and how many people were willing to devote so many time on their lives to take part on it. Frey just started the game for about a minute or so and he already getting amazed by many things!
…
……
"What should I do right now…?" Frey mumbled to himself as he watched many characters—some of which sported a rather 'exhilarating' sense of design—all around him.
It managed to instill a rather pleasurable feeling in Frey when all he do was to simply watching those characters doing stuffs all around him. Those characters do seemed very realistic, and alive—like he was seeing real life humans doing real life things. Although it still kind of weird seeing the fact that there's a player sitting behind every single characters out there, and there's a very true chance that their online avatar appearances betrayed their real-life counterparts.
……That big guy over there could have been very tiny in real-life. That very attractive female over there could have been very ugly in the real-life…… or worse, a very ugly big guy in real-life……
…
……In any case, he should be careful when dealing with people in an online game like this.
…
"Hey, watch it you noob!"
All of the sudden a Steam Gunner—followed by a Heavy Blade and a Wavemaster—shoved Frey out of the way, and quickly vanished after they're using the device behind Frey (not without the Wavemaster threw a very smug and condescending look at Frey first, though……)
Frey was surprised at the beginning, but then he suddenly realized just now that all he's doing since he started this game so far was just standing in front of that device, looking like an idiot.
…
……
"Uh right… sorry…" Frey muttered to an already gone party of three.
…
He looked around his surroundings again.
His previous question hasn't been answered yet.
…What should he do next?
…
…Come to think of it, he really didn't know anything about this game, except how to install it to his computer. He's never really a person that would look seriously at manuals for all things, and this game was no exception.
How to check his status? How to change his equipment? How to form a party? Heck, what's the weird-looking device behind him and how to use it? What's the name of the device?
And…
… and…
…
……
Frey shook his head while sighing exasperatedly—now he's feeling kind of stupid. One of these days he should make the act of reading instruction manuals a frequent habit to do every time he try something new…
He gazed at a big door at the center north part of the room—that should be the exit of this room…
…
……
…Perhaps it would be better for him to stroll around this place for a moment……
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-Request
"This is truly amazing…" Frey mumbled to himself, his expression showed a mixture of disbelief, amazement, and wonder.
No wonder almost everywhere he went in school people always seemed so excited talking about this game—like this game was the only thing in life that matters to them or something. Although he didn't really personally appreciate that kind of attitude, he at the very least could understand them better now that he experiencing the game himself.
…
He's now just strolling around the town of Mac Anu, and his eyes just couldn't help but to marvel at all the things surrounding him. The town was extremely—to the point that it's really kind of eerie—realistic, with buildings, houses, cables, roads, electric lamps, trash cans…… practically everything someone should expect to see available in a real-life town.
Not just that—the atmosphere was exceptionally life-like too. People waltzing around here and there… people buzzing…… people talking to each other… people hurrying to one place or another…… Shops, stores, with people bargaining deals in them…
There're even cars and bikes running on the roads, complete with their extraordinary details—even to the smallest things like the smoke they exhausted or the sound of their machines roaring (Frey even saw some characters riding those vehicles—was that possible in this game?)
The wonders did not end there, though. When Frey looked up, the illusion that there's a real sky up there was so strong that for a moment he forgot that he's inside a video game, that the sky above him right now wasn't real at all. The sun, the clouds…, even the birds…… and how they moved……
…
Frey just kept walking, and walking, and walking, and before he knew it, he arrived at the front of a bridge, built atop a river separating two separate parts of the town.
"…Huh…" he muttered.
He then strolled to the bridge, and looked down.
…Even the water looked outstandingly realistic. The way they moved, the sound they make, how they reflected the light cast by the sun…
…
……
…It's tremendously amazing that all of those things weren't real—Frey even felt the need to take a deep breath and exhale it slowly… just to give his mind time to digest all that he saw.
Really, they were all just make-believe—merely a computer rendition of the real ones in real life. Just the same—the fact that the town and the river were basically just a compilation of 1s and 0s made them even more astonishing, given how outlandishly realistic-looking those things were.
…
……
Now he felt kind of excited—he knew this game's genre was basically a mix between RPG, action, and adventure. The word 'adventure' wouldn't mean much if the only place the players could play was in a town like this—no matter how amazing it was. So, there should be a lot of other new places, locales, locations, and stuffs like that programmed to this game…… new things that should do wonder to his entirely newbie World self…
…
……
…And yet, he didn't even know the way to do the basic stuffs……
Frey smacked his own head lightly.
He felt kind of mad to himself that he didn't know anything while he was kind of itching to just start the experience already.
…
He sighed.
…Should he just log out for now to read the instruction manual for this game? One of the reasons why he didn't read the manual was simply because it's kind of huge—huge enough to quickly dampen his already not-so-interested attitude to read it carefully.
But apparently he's got no other choice.
…
Sighing exasperatedly once more, Frey decided that he should just log out and spend a quality time with the instruction manual first before coming back to this game—learning the basic rules and technicalities and what have you before logging back in.
……
When he was about to log out, however, he all of the sudden heard a conversation happening not too far from where he stood. At first he dismissed it as just another usual banter between people that he shouldn't pay any attention to, but then something about it caught his interest somewhat. He couldn't really explain the compelling feeling, but something, somehow pushed him to lend his ear to the conversation.
…
…….
...He postponed his logging out from the game, and instead he got off from the bridge, trying to look for the source of the voices.
…
……It would appear that the voices coming from a small patch or pathway on the riverbank, not too far from his original standing location.
It didn't take Frey a lot of time to locate the source of the conversation.
…
……
It was a group of three people.
"A… Twin Blade, an Engineer, and a…" Frey mumbled as he tried to remember the pictures of the characters he saw when the game directed him to choose a class before, "…Um…, an Adept Rogue? Yeah, that's it…"
Of those three, only the Adept Rogue was a female character, and also, the only one amongst them who appeared to be very flustered because of something.
……
…And is that a pink armor?
…
……
Frey didn't approach them too near—close enough so that he could hear what they're saying but at the same time far enough so that they wouldn't be suspicious of him or something. Thankfully, there're quite a number of people at this time strolling on the same pathway (although only those three were conversing), so Frey moving closer to them wouldn't be overly conspicuous.
"Thank goodness this thing is equipped with a sound amplifying feature…" Frey mumbled to himself as his real world finger touched a button on his fancy Virtual Reality Displayer SCREENER V.02. He touched it repeatedly, and with each touch the voices from the conversation gradually became louder and louder. Frey continued to touch the button until he was satisfied with the results.
…
He knew that he was practically eavesdropping on other people's conversation without permission, and he also knew that it wasn't what people would exactly call a positive way of spending a free time.
…But at the same time he felt like—he didn't know, but he just felt like he must hear this conversation, for reasons he couldn't really explain……
……
"…S…so…" the Adept Rogue said nervously, "……H…how about it, then?"
The Twin Blade exchanged looks with the Engineer.
"...You're an Adept Rogue, eh?" he said to the Adept Rogue lazily, "What's your name again, sorry?"
"I… It's Arianna, Sir!" the Adept Rogue answered hastily.
The Engineer laughed.
"Well that's a pretty cute name for an Adept Rogue!" he said, "And look at your character edit! I've never actually seen anyone ever chosen the color pink, of all color, as the color for their armor! Well, you're a girl, right? Girls are so strange sometimes…"
"I…I am sorry, Sir!" Arianna said nervously, bowing her head numerous times, "I…it's just that, I just love the color pink, a…and…"
"It doesn't matter," the Twin Blade responded matter-of-factly, "What's your level?"
"Um…" Arianna mumbled, looking at the ground, "…Th…three…"
The Engineer burst out laughing, while the Twin Blade seemed amused.
"…And do you have any idea who we are?" the Twin Blade continued his questioning.
Arianna nodded fervently.
"O…of course I know the two of you!" Arianna exclaimed immediately, "Y…you are the legendary Twin Blade, Sir FalconEye, and y…you are his partner, the famous Engineer, Sir M…Muroki! The two of you are known through-out the World as the 'Blazing Duo'! You two are the leader o…of one of the biggest Guild in this game, the Empire!"
"Hey!" Muroki crossed his arms, his face looked annoyed, "How come you are legendary, while I am just famous?"
FalconEye ignored Muroki's protest. Instead, he continued to talk to Arianna—but his tone becoming somewhat unpleasant.
"That's right, we are the Blazing Duo," he said, "And even though you know that we are the Blazing Duo, you as a level one Adept Rogue still have the guts trying to enter our Guild, the Empire? Are you aware what kind of qualifications a player must have before he or she even considered to become a member of our Guild?"
Arianna seemed really uncomfortable right now.
"…Y…yes, yes… o… of course I am aware of that, Sir, b…but…" she stuttered before she was cut short by FalconEye,
"And you expect us to just accept you, a level three inexperienced Adept Rogue to join our Guild, just… like… this?" he snapped his fingers, "Why don't you join other Guilds available throughout this game? Many of them would accept a newbie like you to join their ranks! Hell, there're even Guilds so desperate on getting new members they pretty much would do anything to make people join. Go to them!"
…
Arianna was fidgeting nervously.
"W…well…" she said, "I have tried to do that… I have tried to enter all the Guilds out there in The World except the Empire…… a…and, they all rejected me, because they said I am not the person they're looking for… o…or I failed all the tests they gave me, a…and…"
"You should level up a bit more before you take those tests," Muroki interjected, "Level up high enough, and those tests should be a breeze. Go invite your friends to a party or something and level up in this town's server. That should take care of your problems."
"Well…" Arianna was fidgeting even more, "…I… I've got nobody's member addresses on my list, to be perfectly honest… So it's kind of hard to level up…"
The look on both FalconEye and Muroki was priceless.
…
"...You don't have any member addresses?" Muroki said, his body lunging forward to Arianna, "How long have you played the game? It should have been a while already for you to know about us and our Guild, and to raise your level to three, right?"
"…Um…" she mumbled, "For about two weeks or so…"
"You have played for two whole weeks and yet you don't have a single Member Address on your list?" Muroki said in disbelief, "What are you, socially challenged or something?"
"W…well…" Arianna looked depressed, "I did have a couple of Member Addresses. I've been venturing to a couple of areas with some other people before…… B…but, you see, Sirs—I am a very clumsy person, a…and to be perfectly honest, not that all reliable……"
Her face reddened as she said this,
"…And many times I screwed up when my party members needed me the most… I used the wrong moves in battle…, I forgot to carry important items…, I got scared easily seeing big, terrible monsters……, I…"
"So basically, you suck," Muroki stated matter-of-factly.
Arianna nodded—her face looked miserable.
"…Yes…" she said, "…A…and, all of those people whom I got Member Addresses from suddenly never reply to my invitation anymore… saying they're always busy and stuff…… A…and, about five days ago, when I checked my Member Addresses list, I… well, I found them empty all of the sudden. It looked like all the people I've been adventuring together with have withdrawn their Member Addresses from my character, a…and…"
"Well, no wonder," Muroki said as he once again crossed his arms, "Not only you suck, you also—for whatever reason beyond me—chose pink… of all the color edit available in The World, you picked pink as your character's main color. Even the toughest looking characters out there would look silly battling in a party together with someone wearing a pink armor."
Arianna did not say anything as a respond to that, although her face was very flushed.
…
……
FalconEye seemed to be thinking about something.
"…So the only Guild you haven't tried yet is the Empire, and since you've spotted us traveling merrily in Mac Anu—an activity we very rarely do unless we absolutely need to, I assure you—you've decided to gather up your courage and come us directly to let you join in our Guild?"
Arianna was bowing repeatedly again.
"I…I know it may sound… sound silly, but, please let me join your Guild, Sirs!" she said desperately, "I… I will do my very best to live up to your expectations! Y…your Guild is filled with many of the best players in The World, a…and if you let me join you I will then be able to learn so many things from them, so that I can be a better player on this game, a…and people will start to letting me join their party, o…or people will come when I invite them, a…and……"
She shot off all of those sentences without drawing a single breath. She would continue doing that, if only FalconEye didn't immediately raise his right hand, signaling her to stop.
"Okay, stop," he said, and Arianna immediately stopped, "…Okay, I understand. Let me tell you two things ……, sorry, what's your name again?"
"Arianna, Sir!" Arianna responded hastily.
"Right…, right…, Arianna," FalconEye nodded his head lightly, "…First of all: your decision to pick Adept Rogue as your character's class is not wise—it may sound powerful, and indeed, Adept Rogue is a powerful class—but it takes a very dedicated and skilled player to make optimum use of its full potential. As you stated yourself, you are not a good player—I suggest you delete this character of yours, and reenter the game as a different class. Maybe a Heavy Blade, or a Steam Gunner—classes which considerably easier to manage compared to an Adept Rogue."
Arianna seemed shocked by that statement.
…
"…D…delete this character?" she said in shock.
"You are currently at level three, so it shouldn't be a big loss," Muroki added to the conversation, "I've known guys who deleted their characters when they already reached level 50 or something—turned out they didn't like their character after spending so much time playing with it. Believe me; the tears trailing from their eyes were not pretty."
FalconEye nodded in agreement.
"That's true," he said, "With another class, it should be easier for you to play this game…… but anyway, it's your call. Whether you do it or not is entirely up to you. Now, moving on to the second thing I wanted to tell you: all right, I promise I will consider you joining in our Guild…"
Both Arianna and Muroki was quick to stare at him in utter disbelief,
"But only if!" FalconEye raised his hand once again before both of them could even say a word, "…Only if you manage to pass my test first."
Arianna looked terribly excited by this.
"…A… a test?" she said, her face glowing, "O…of course, Sir! I promise I will do my best to meet with your expectations! I… I will not fail you!"
"That's nice," FalconEye seemed unfazed by Arianna's sudden spurt of enthusiasm, "…Well, here's the test: I want you to find me a very rare weapon for a Twin Blade called 'Wave Blades'…"
Muroki suddenly appeared like he was kind of stunned because of something—but he didn't say anything at all.
"It's not what you might call a very powerful equipment—but it is one of a kind, and I want it. It is believed that this weapon is attainable from one of the areas on this town's server. Get me that weapon, and I will consider you joining in our Guild. How's that?"
"…A… a very rare weapon?" Arianna said—the glow on her face was quickly dwindling, "U…um… All right… It's going to be…, difficult, to be sure………, but I'll try to do my best to find it for you, Sir FalconEye!"
"…Ask around in the Rumor section of the Forum," FalconEye added, "That's the first time I ever heard of that weapon. Surely… asking questions in the forum is not a difficult thing, even for you, to do, right?"
"O…okay…" Arianna nodded eagerly, "…I… I will ask around in the forum. Thank you for your information… a…and thank you for your consideration in this matter, Sir FalconEye… I really appreciate it, I really do!"
"Well, okay then," FalconEye nodded his head, "So, me and my friend here are going to leave now. Like I said before, we very rarely ever go to this town if we don't have any very important matters to take care of here. So, we will leave you right now, okay, Arianna?"
"S…sure!" Arianna nodded her head, "Sorry for taking up your time, Sir FalconEye… a…and Sir Muroki also! But… if…… when I do manage to find the item, how can I let you know?"
"Just go to our Headquarters' representative offices in this Root Town," FalconEye answered, "You know the place, right? Tell one of my guys there that I sent you to find that weapon, and they will immediately inform me of your success. Well, we have to go now. Let's go, Muroki."
Arianna hastily bowed again repeatedly to those two, but FalconEye and Muroki already turned their backs and strolling away from her.
…
Those two were now walking to Frey's direction.
…
"…Hey, about that Wave Blades…" Muroki said to FalconEye, "…Isn't that…?"
"Yeah," FalconEye nodded, "Don't worry about it. She won't make it. I never had the intention of letting a total beginner like her joining our Guild, anyway."
Muroki chuckled.
"…This is why I was against us walking around merrily in a beginner's Root Town like this," he said, "Too many distractions, and time we spend here is better off to use for us to explore all the sides and corners of The World."
"Can't help it," FalconEye said, his eyes turned grim, "They wanted us to meet them here. I don't know the reason, and I hate to say this… but they have in their possession a much bigger bargaining chip than us."
"…I suppose you are right," Muroki nodded quietly.
…
And they just walked past Frey, without realizing that Frey paid attention to all the words they said.
Although obviously, he didn't say anything to them, since he thought it would be weird if he spoke out to them. He just let them walked pass him, and stared at them from a distance until they vanished from his view.
…
Frey turned his head back to Arianna.
"…Hmm…, asking around in the forum…" she muttered, "…W…Well, I suppose there's no other way. I mean, they're already nice enough to give me the chance to join them…… I just can't afford to screw up…"
…
Her character all of the sudden was enveloped in a bright light, and after a brief flash, she's gone just like that.
Frey, who at first was surprised to see her… just disappeared like that, was quick to realize that all she did was just logging out from the game. She did say that she wanted to visit the forum to ask questions.
…
…Frey contemplated his options right now.
He could ignore what he just heard and saw before, and then continuing his exploration of the town. Now that he gave it a thought, he's sure that there's at least someone in this game nice enough to explain him the basic functions of this game so that he didn't have to log out and read the instruction manual (he hated thick books).
…Or he could just log out, exited the program, and read the instruction manual like he was planning to do before he eavesdrop the conversation before.
…
……
…Or……
…
Frey stood silent for a while.
…
"…Hey, about that Wave Blades…" Muroki said to FalconEye, "…Isn't that…?"
"Yeah," FalconEye nodded, "Don't worry about it. She won't make it. I never had the intention of letting a total beginner like her joining our Guild, anyway."
…
……
Well…
…
…Um…
…
Damn it,
…How to log out, again?
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-Rumor
After some tinkering with the controls (Frey was not in the mood of stopping someone in their tracks and asking newbie questions) and traversing through several set of screens that he wasn't entirely sure their purposes were, Frey has finally managed to log out from Mac Anu and made a way back to The World's Sub-Menus.
He quickly diverted his pointer to the FORUM section, and,
-Click-
…
……
(Loading……)
…
(Welcome to the FORUM)
(Please select your destination below and REMEMBER: THIS FORUM IS BEING WATCHED BY MODS AND IMPROPER CONDUCT IN THIS PLACE MAY RESULT TO VARIOUS ADMINISTRATIVE PUNISHMENTS SUCH AS FORUM BANNING OR EVEN CHARACTER DELETION)
…
There're various sub-forums available from the screen, from -General Topics-, -Administrators Central-, -Tutorial for Beginners- ("Hey, this seems interesting! At least it beats out reading a thick manual…"), -Rumors-, etc, etc.
Tutorial for Beginners seemed tempting, but Frey directed his pointer to the Rumors forum instead.
…
-Click-
…
(Loading……)
…
Hmm…
For a game with such meticulously created worlds inside it, its forum sure did look very casual and not so special. In fact, it looked just about the same with every generic internet forum Frey has visited in his surfing days.
…Well, it wasn't such an important thing anyways…
…
……
There sure were a lot of topics inside the -Rumors- message board right now, and Frey didn't even understand most of the terms the players used on their topic titles.
Well, it didn't matter though, because the thing that he's looking for was right at page one in the front.
…It was a still freshly created topic called: "Wave Blades: Please Help!", and the topic creator was none other than Arianna herself. It seemed like various replies have been posted there.
Frey clicked on the topic.
…
……
(From: Arianna. Message: I heard that there's a very rare weapon for a Twin Blade class called 'Wave Blades' somewhere in Delta Server. Anyone has any information about this? Any help is appreciated, thank you very much.)
…
(From: Hurricane. Message: If I knew the location of a very rare weapon, would I be posting it freely in a message board like this? The first thing I do is to get to that area first and snag that weapon for own collection first, so that I can rub in the faces of those looking for it, LOL)
…
(From: Typhoon. Message: Don't be such a jackass, Hurricane. The Mods won't let you get away easily with that kind of attitude, you know.)
…
(From: Hurricane. Message: "Don't be such a jackass, Hurricane."—Geez, lighten up a little dude! It's just a joke! A joke! The mods won't be out to hunt me or whatever for just a joke, right?)
…
(From: Typhoon. Message: Well some people might be working very hard to find this very rare equipment the TC mentioned, and what you consider a joke might not be so funny for those people. So just behave yourself.)
…
(From: Hurricane. Message: ……… : 3 Fine, fine, fine. I still think you need to loosen it up a little though, bro…)
…
(From: Jasper. Message: Hey, you two are getting off-topic, you know. The TC's is now all quiet and stuff, LOL. And what's with the names, you two? Typhoon and Hurricane? What, are you two working in Discovery Channel or something? LOL. Anyways, I am a Twin Blade, and I am definitely interested in this Wave Blade thing. Any useful information?)
…
(From: Hurricane. Message: "Anyway, what's with the names, you two?"—naah, it's just a coincidence. Anyway, before Typhoon gets mad at me again shudder, to the TC: I apologize. Now, about the Wave Blades—yea, actually the information of its whereabouts is pretty known amongst the members of this board. I don't know the person responsible spreading the rumor here in the first place, though.)
…
(From: Typhoon. Message: Hurricane is correct. It is not a very strong piece of equipment, but there's supposedly a special property equipped in it that is exclusive only to that weapon, so it's getting kind of famous around here. However, TC, you need to know this—this weapon may or may not exist in the first place. After all, this is the Rumor board we're talking in.)
…
(From: Arianna. Message: …So it's an already pretty well known rumor? T…then, can you tell me more about it? Please? Thank you.)
…
(From: Lancester. Message: Hey, mind if I join in? This topic seems interesting.)
…
(From: Typhoon. Message: Well, the supposed location itself has been known to many veteran members of this board. It's in, Delta Server: Forgotten Fated Battleground. Like Hurricane just said, I have no idea who is the person that first spread the rumor about the Wave Blade, and its location.)
…
(From: Jasper. Message: Waaaaaaait a minute. If everybody has already known the Area Address, than shouldn't someone managed to snag that weapon already? Then why the rumor about it is still circulating around in the board?)
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(From: Lancester. Message: I agree with Jasper. It doesn't make any sense.)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: Well, here's the thing. The spooooky part. The part that makes the existence of the weapon is still just a rumor. No one has been able to enter the area, like, ever. When the name of the area first surfaced, there're droves of players immediately went to go to that area to claim that equipment as their own. But so far, no one yet has been able to enter the area for some mysterious, unknown reason. It's a bit scary, isn't it? Like an X-File case or something)
…
(From: Arianna. Message: …What? What do you mean by no one was able to enter the area?)
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(From: Typhoon. Message: Well, it's just like what Hurricane said. No one has yet able to enter the area. Even I already tried it, out of curiosity. I could still see the description of the Area—it's a snowy field type area, level five, with treasure level seven—but when the I tried to enter the area, all I got was a message from the game's system saying this thing (sorry for the big letters): FORBIDDEN ENTRANCE. Repeated tries always resulted in the same thing, the same warning text like that.)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: Yeah, it happened to me too when I tried it. All I could do was looking at the Area's description—no further than that.)
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(From: Jasper. Message: Well, maybe it's still under construction or something. Perhaps the programmers of this game are still fixing bugs or some problems in that area? Has anyone contacted the game administrators through the -Administrators Central- board about this thing?)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: One of the frequent visitors of this board—Raven Claw, if I am not mistaken—has done that, and he already posted the only reply he got from the administrators on his topic long time ago. IIRC, the answer he got from OmegaGames was pretty formal and typical 'we are currently looking into it' kind of thing. People still tried to enter it after that, but no one has managed to do it.)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: Sorry for the double-post, but here's the juicy part of this story. IIRC, it has been approximately three months since Raven Claw posted the answer he got from the game administrators in this board. And yet, for some weird reason, the problem on that area is still there! Heck, you can still even access the Area's description through the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu. You might think that a company as big as OmegaGames had a programmer or two in their army that could rectify a simple error on the program, but noooo…… More interestingly, though, when this game is still in Beta Testing (hey, you might not believe it, but I was there during their first public Beta Testing. LOL, I know, I am a 'true' veteran of this game), usually they just deleted problematic, bug-filled Areas instead of trying to fix them. But Delta Server: Forgotten Fated Battleground is still here today…… it's just like the company wouldn't…… or couldn't…… do anything about it. How about it, pretty X-Files, huh?)
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(From: Lancaster. Message: Damn that's a long post. Usually I don't read posts that consists more than two or three lines but… that post is an exception. It's pretty interesting, huh?)
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(From: Moon Warrior. Message: Hey, sorry for suddenly joining this thread mid-way guys, but I have read all the posts from the top. I have to agree with Lancaster. This thing is very interesting. In your opinion, guys, why do you think the folks at OmegaGames haven't fixed the problem yet? Or what do you think caused the problem in the first place?)
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(From: Jasper. Message: Perhaps a hacker broke into the system or something? Many hackers would love to mess around with an extremely popular online game like this, right? Or maybe a virus? As to why it hasn't been fixed yet, maybe the programmers at the OmegaGames themselves that made the area, just for the purpose of playing practical jokes with us? I am not surprised if they're laughing their asses off seeing the puzzled look on the players' faces when they tried to enter the Area…)
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(From: Typhoon. Message: To Jasper—be careful about what you said. Although this is a Rumor board, spreading false information about hackers breaking into this game or viruses infiltrating the system may get you into trouble, you know. And besides, maybe the reason why the problem has not yet been fixed is just because they're still working on it. Fixing a problem on a game as huge as The World surely takes a lot more time than fixing a problem on a game in a cell phone, right?)
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(From: Jasper. Message: Geez, Hurricane, don't scare me like that… Please mods don't kill me!)
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(From: Lancaster. Message: Jasper is crying like a liiiittle scared kitten, LOL. Anyway, I think I might just try to enter the Area, just for a little fun. I am sort of curious about it…)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: ….Umm…, I wouldn't do that if I were you…)
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(From: Moon Warrior. Message: And why's that? I want to try it too…)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: Because… cue in dramatic music, the story didn't just end there. Personally, I've tried to enter the area only one time, and just one time. You want to know why? There's also been a rumor saying that players that tried to enter that area repeatedly although being continuingly rejected sometimes got something funky happened to their characters. Something funky, something funky…)
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(From: Arianna. Message: …Um, can you please elaborate?)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: Well, I've heard rumors that a player lost his entire items and equipment when he kept trying to enter the Area, due to some sort of unexplained error. There's also a story about a level 100 Element Warrior suddenly reverting back to level 1 when he tried to enter the Area… Some got strange stuff plastered on their character model… some lost all their money…… some poor souls even got their characters erased permanently! You know; those kinds of funky things. Thank goodness it didn't happen to me, though…)
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(From: Lancaster. Message: WHAT? For real? A level 100 players turning back to 1? And some people lost their characters entirely? O.O For real?)
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(From: Typhoon. Message: It's just a rumor. Nothing happened to me.)
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(From: Lancaster. Message: Well yeah, but where there's a smoke there's a fire. Sorry, LOL, but I am not taking any chances. Maybe you guys are just lucky nothing happened to both of you. I am a level 20 Long Arm, and some of the items and equipment I have I got it through difficult Areas and Trades. I am not willing to risk losing them just because I am curious… Yeah, I think I pass on this one—it's not like I can equip the weapon anyway, LOL)
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(From: Moon Warrior. Message: Well, I am a Twin Blade, but I think I pass on this one too. Too scary, LOL. I think I'd just stick to legitimate, error-free Areas for now…)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: So, how about it, TC? Do you still have the guts to try it out?)
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(From: Arianna. Message: ………I think I just try it nevertheless. I am just a level three Adept Rogue anyways… if something ever happen to me, it's not that big of a loss…)
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(From: Hurricane. Message: Good point, LOL. Heh, anyway, good luck! And you by some magic tricks able to enter the Area and find that weapon, you make sure you tell us, all right? You can brag all the way you want!)
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(From: Arianna. Message: I will… Thank you for the information. I will now lock this topic… Thanks again.)
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(This topic has been locked. No additional messages may be posted)
…
……
"Hm… that is interesting…" Frey mumbled to himself after he finished reading all the posts on the thread Arianna created, "…I suppose I should go back to town, then……"
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-Magic
(Loading……)
…
……
-Phhzzzzt-
…
Frey has entered Mac Anu again.
And just as he suspected, Arianna was standing not too far from the Chaos Gate (he now know the name of that strange device, without looking at the Manual, yey!), looking at it dubiously.
Her stare was so intense—it's like she didn't pay any attention at all to her surroundings.
…
……
Frey strolled casually to her.
At first, she didn't realize someone was approaching her—her eyes were so focused at the Chaos Gate it's almost scary.
…
He moved carefully to her behind, and gently tapped her left shoulder.
…
……She was so shocked by Frey's tap she literally jumped a little.
She hastily turned to face Frey.
…
"…Y…yes?" she said with a flustered face.
Frey smiled.
"I am sorry to disturb you, but are you the player with the name Arianna?"
"…Yes…" she answered with a surprised look on her face, "…Yes, I am Arianna… How do you know my name… I don't seem to know you…?"
"Oh, I apologize," Frey answered politely, "It's just that, I saw that topic on the Forum about the Wave Blade? That topic you created? It pinched my interest, so I have decided to check it out. It seems very interesting, to say the least…"
Arianna was looking at Frey suspiciously.
…
"A…and how do you know that the Arianna that created that topic is an Adept Rogue…? How do you now it's me?" she said, with her eyes squinted to Frey's direction/
Frey looked amused.
"Um…" he said, trying his best to contain his chuckle from getting out, "You said it yourself in that thread before you left… That you are a level three Adept Rogue… And you're the only Adept Rogue around here after the Arianna in that thread said that she wanted to check it out… so… I figure…"
…
……
A split second later, Arianna's face was so red Frey could almost see smoke gushing out from her ears.
"A…aaah, yes, yes… t…that's correct," she said miserably, "I… I apologize, Sir, I… When I have my mind set on something, I easily forgot about things that I should easily be remembered… I… I am sorry…"
She bowed herself repeatedly in front of Frey, making him feeling a bit awkward.
…
"It's okay, it's okay," Frey said, "I forgot about things too, sometimes. By the way, my name is Frey."
Thankfully, Arianna thrn got the cue and stopped her bowing.
…
"…S…so!" she said—her face still looked kind of guilty, "Um…Frey, right? You're interested in that rumor too?"
"Yeah," Frey answered as he stared at the Chaos Gate, "I like mysterious stuff like that."
Unexpectedly for Frey, Arianna was chuckling.
"Well, I like mystery novels too…" she said, "…You know, novels such as Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie… Nowadays, they mostly sell e-books instead of paper books, but I personally like paper books better… It feels more personal when you're reading a story from papers instead from a screen… and it is less taxing to your eyes too… I have a collection of mystery books—paper books, of course—in my house, when my…"
…
Frey once again had that amused look on his face, while it only took seconds for Arianna to realizing what just happened,
…Her face looked flustered yet again, and she hastily bowed repeatedly in front of Frey again,
"…I… I am sorry, I am sorry!" she said hastily, "…I…it's one of my bad real-life habits brought into this game… I… I sometimes blabbering about things before I'm realizing it myself, and…"
"It's fine," this time Frey laughed a little—truly, he didn't expect to meet a person this interesting on his first day messing around in The World, "I have a lot of friends who also have that kind of habit. It's cool."
She stopped bowing, and her face looked mightily relieved.
…
Frey moved closer to the Chaos Gate, and Arianna followed suit.
"So," he said, "Have you tried to enter that mysterious Area?"
"…Y…yea…" she answered, "Four times. And just like Typhoon said in my thread, all I got when I tried to enter was just a text box saying forbidden entry. Thankfully, nothing happened to my character, though…"
…She looked down to the ground.
…
"…And I suppose this means my chance of getting into The Empire is gone too…" she said quietly, "…Well, maybe Sir FalconEye never wanted me to enter his Guild in the first place anyways…"
"Hey!" Frey said, snapping Arianna out from his sad reverie, "How do you form a party with other players?"
…
"…Huh?" she said, "…What? Forming a party?"
"Yeah," Frey said with his eyes still looking at the Chaos Gate, "I mean, in this game, when you go out adventuring, you usually go out with a party right? How many people are allowed in a party?"
"Three people…" Arianna muttered, "…Although you can always go solo—a..alone… if you want… W…wait a minute, you don't know how to form a party?"
Frey nodded.
"I just logged in The World for the first time ever today, actually," Frey explained, "And I always hated reading instruction manuals, or things like it. Therefore, I am pretty much blind about almost everything in this game……Heck, I didn't even know what that thing was…" he pointed his finger at the Chaos Gate, "Before I read your thread and saw that thing mentioned in it…"
"…Then you should have gone to the Tutorial for Beginners board first… before you go to the Rumor board…" Arianna said—this time it was her turn to have that amused look on her face.
"…Well, like I said, I like mysteries, and Rumor board seems to be a perfect place to look for mysteries," Frey said the first thing that crossed his mind.
Arianna chuckled.
…
"…W…Well… It's pretty simple, actually," she said, "First, you open your character's menu by pressing -START- at your controller…"
"Like this?" the real-life Frey pressed start on his controller, and a menu immediately showed up in front of his eyes, "…Hey, do you see that?"
"A player's menu is visible to that player only…" Arianna said while laughing a little seeing Frey waving his hands around like an idiot, "That's why you got to see strange things when people just stand around in the street, seemingly doing nothing. Most probably they're just checking their character's menu… A..anyway, roll up your sub-menus, and you should see a 'Member Address' menu…"
"Yeah…" Frey muttered, "I click it?"
"Obviously…" she answered, "After that, you enter the character's name you wish to invite to your Member Addresses list, or if you want to request your name to be added to that character's Member Addresses list…… Once either way is approved and confirmed, you will have that person's Member Address and that person will have your Member Address."
"…That simple, huh?" Frey muttered again.
"…Yeah… that simple…" Arianna said, "And then you can then send requests to form a party to that person. If that person approves your request, he or she shall be added to your party, and… there you have it!"
…
She suddenly looked kind of down.
"…A…although…" she said quietly, "…Be careful not to make that person mad to you or something, because then that person may remove his or her Member Address from your list, and your list becomes empty again, and you can't have a party anymore……"
"Hm…" Frey muttered, "……Aaaand… click! There! I have sent my request to you."
…
"……W……what?" Arianna seemed surprised, "…Y…you sent a request to me?"
"Well, naturally," Frey said casually, "As per now, you really are the only player I know in this game. Like I said, I just logged in this game for the very first time today—heck, I am even still just a measly level one character! I need someone to teach me how to do a lot of things in this game, and you seem pretty knowledgeable…… So…why not?"
…
Arianna appeared kind of speechless.
"…W…Well…" she stammered, "…Thanks, I guess. Well, this is actually the first time I've been requested by other players… Um… wait a minute, here's your invite arrived. L…let me open up my character's menu……"
She opened up her character's menu, went to the Member Addresses sub-menu, and immediately approved Frey's invitation without even bothering to look it. While doing it, her face looked happy—like a child receiving an extremely delicious candy.
…
"…So, finished?" Frey said as he once again checked his Member Addresses sub-menu.
Arianna's name has been added to it.
"Excellent," he said, satisfied with the result, "Now, would you be so kind to invite me to your party?"
"W…what?" Arianna looked surprised, "I…Invite you? That means I am the leader of the party?"
"Well, duh," Frey nodded his head, "You are a level three character, and I am a level one character. It's only natural for the weaker character to follow a stronger character, yeah?"
…
For a moment, Arianna was gazing at Frey like he was some sort of alien or something.
But in the end she nodded her head.
"…Well…" she said, opening up her Party sub-menu and sending up a party invitation to Frey, "…J…just so you know, I am not a very good leader… In fact, I am not a very good player either…"
"It doesn't matter," Frey muttered, "…Wait…, what's that -cling- -cling- sound in my ears?"
Arianna giggled.
"That's the sound of my part invite arriving at your character's data. Just open up your party sub-menu and… well, approve my invite. You will then be automatically added as… um… my party member…"
"Oooo snazzy," Frey said, "You know, I am not really a video-game kind of person, but this is kind of fun…"
Frey opened up his party sub-menu and click 'Yes' when the game prompted him to approve Arianna's party invitation.
…
"…There…" he said, "Now I am in your party?"
"Yes…" Arianna replied.
"………" Frey was silent for a bit, "………Uh, it doesn't actually feel any different from before…"
"Well, yeah, for the most part," Arianna laughed a little, "…But now either you or me cannot teleport to other towns, or to an Area, without the others following closely behind. Also, when we actually go adventuring to an Area, our stats are boosted a little, and also we can execute team-based attacks and combos. The experience points given by the enemies increased too, and there're also various events on this game only available for party-based characters. Also the player character acting as a leader get various added party-based commands to use in the heat of battle, and………"
…
She stopped mid-way. Her face showed a rather silly expression.
"…See?" she said with her face reddening in shame, "…I am blabbering yet again…"
Frey just smiled.
…
He turned his eyes to the Chaos Gate.
…
"About that rumor…" he mumbled, "…Well, actually, like I said before, I am kind of curious about it. Care to explain how to use this Gate thing?"
"Just touch it with your character…" Arianna replied, "A menu should pop out, and from there it you choose Area words to determine the place you'll play in…… Um… just do it—it is a lot easier that it sounds…… "
"But now that I am one of…, well, your only party member, shouldn't you, as the leader, have the privilege to choose which Area I should be playing in?"
Arianna shook her head.
"Not at all… a party member can do it too," she explained, "…And if you choose to teleport to an Area, then I will be forced to teleport to that Area together with you, regardless of where I am in town or what I am doing at that time. That's why people usually send a message to their party members when they want to teleport to someplace else… to make sure they're ready…"
"…But you are here, so I don't have to send you any messages, right?" Frey erected his right hand to touch the spinning device, and a new menu appeared before him.
"Um…" Arianna said, "One of the benefits of being in a party is that you can also view and use your party member's warp history… Just click on the Warp History sub menu and you will see the place I've been going to… or, the place I've been trying to go to…"
"Hmm……" as instructed, Frey clicked Warp History sub menu, "…This is pretty convenient… So I just have to choose one of these weird strings of words, and then we will be able to start adventuring?"
"Yes… pretty much…" Arianna said, "Just make sure you check the Area's description before venturing out… Going out to a level 20 Area when your character is only level 1 is just…, well, looking for trouble…"
…
……
"The name of the Area in that rumor… what was it?" Frey said as he scrolled through Arianna's Warp History.
"Um… Forgotten Fated Battleground," she replied, "…But it's impossible to enter that place, I suppose. Like I said before, I have tried it four-five times, but I am still unable to enter… Maybe that Area really is ridden with bugs or something…"
…
Frey directed his pointer to Forgotten Fated Battleground.
…
……
-Fzzzzzzzzt-
…-Fzzzzzzttt-
…
"What the…?" Frey said as his real-life self knocked his Virtual Viewer softly.
"W…what happened?" Arianna immediately moved closer to the Chaos Gate, "…I… Is something wrong?"
"I don't know—screen noises… The screen kind of distorted for a while… it's fine now, though……" Frey answered, "Maybe this Virtual Viewer of mine is acting up…… damn, and I just bought it recently too…"
"M…maybe we should just go to another Area…" Arianna looked worried—she probably remembered about all of those rumored 'fancy stuffs' she heard on the Forum, "…C…come on , Frey, I know an easy Area to play with… Come on… no one is able to enter that Area anyway—perhaps locked by the Administrators for some reason or something…"
…
"Just for a second…" Frey moved his pointer to the -Enter Area- button on the Area description menu, "…I just want to see that big Forbidden Entry text box thing…"
…
-Fzzzztttt-
…-Fzzzzzzzzttttt-
…
……
He clicked the -Enter Area- button.
A text box appeared. But it wasn't a big Forbidden Entry text box Frey was expecting. In fact, it's a confirmation box asking him whether he really wanted to go in to the Area or not.
…
"That's weird…" he mumbled to himself.
…
……Feeling a little careless, and without consulting Arianna first, Frey just clicked the OK part on the confirmation box.
…
……
-Fzzzzzttt-
…-Fzzzzzzttttt-
…
-FLASH!-
The next thing he knew, his screen was enveloped by a bright light. All part of his screen turned white in a matter of micro-seconds.
It lasted only for a moment, though, because the screen turned back to normal almost immediately.
…
……
However, what he saw right now in front of his eyes was not the Chaos Gate at Mac Anu.
…It would appear like he's not even inside Mac Anu anymore. He stood on a beautiful white-colored snowy field, with majestic looking mountains standing proud on the view far away. There's a frozen lake nearby, and various trees of various sizes spread throughout here and there. Frey could also see various other weird-looking structures on the field.
His surroundings were very beautiful, and the fall of many soft snows from the skies further enhanced that dream-like sensation. Once again, Frey was amazed that all of these things that he observed with his eyes right now were nothing more than just a make-believe world generated by computer technology…
…
…But he didn't have time to marvel at the beauty all around him. Well, not right now, at the very least.
He turned around, and to his relief he found that Arianna was standing next to him.
…Although, she didn't appear very relieved herself.
…In fact, she appeared kind of horror-struck.
…
"Uhh… Arianna…" Frey muttered, "…Where are we, again?"
"………"
"Arianna?" Frey moved closer to her.
…
…She turned her face slowly to Frey, and still with that shocked expression intact on her face, she said slowly,
"…I…" she said, "…… I think we're inside the Forbidden Area……"
-To Be Continued-