Hello dear readers. Welcome to another chapter of KWO.
Author here is very grateful for the reviews and support. You all seriously make me very happy.
Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke does not belong to me~
Chapter 2: Class & Weapon
Sky-colored eyelashes fluttered open, revealing the sapphire-hued eyes lying dormant underneath. For a few moments, Kuroko stared up at the ceiling, but he tired of it quickly and sat up, removing the head-gear in the process.
This was the man's first time playing a VR game. He had never been the type to play things like these in the past, but this year he'd kept hearing of the game from one of his few close friends–very much insistently. Since the game had come out, he couldn't start a conversation (though Kuroko's conversations usually consisted more of the other party talking and his giving affirmative nods and throat noises) without hearing something about Kiseki World's amazing variety or class system or graphics.
To say the least, actually playing the game was rather addicting.
Though he was only killing Slimes, it had felt good to experience running like that–feeling light as air as he hacked jelly to pieces.
The bluenette walked into the apartment's kitchen as he hadn't eaten since that afternoon.
Sitting at the four-sided kitchen table was one of his two flatmates, the very one who had introduced him to the famed game in fact. He seemed to be too immersed in lazily eating curry from the day prior to notice Kuroko's arrival.
As of now, the other man still hadn't noticed him walking towards him. Not even when he was right next to him, which honestly put Kuroko's mind in a slight state of worry.
You see, ever since he was younger, Kuroko had always had a lack of presence. He also had grown up rather reserved, which only served to amplify his "invisibility". Even when right in front of someone–in their immediate field of vision–they wouldn't know he was there until they walked right into him. Actually, sometimes they wouldn't know he was there even after they ran into him.
One of the main reasons the bluenette had become friends with the dark haired man at the table was because the latter had an unusually attentive eye for detail, as well as an extremely chummy, out-going personality.
Who is this man?
To most, he is known as Takao Kazunari.
This unlikely pair of friends had met one day in March, during their college entrance exams. Takao had pulled Kuroko out of the way of being trampled by the college sumo team, which, by the way, was strangely popular at the time. The shorter of the two had actually been about to step back out of harm's way as he had grown accustomed to this kind of event, but the other had grabbed and jerked his arm back until he was safely out of the overweight team's destructive path.
The blue-haired man had been more than surprised that the other had noticed him. In the past few years of his life, only a handful of people could; namely his parents and other close family members. When I say a handful, I mean he could literally count them on the fingers of one hand. It had been better when he was a child; he had talked a lot more back then and the scarcity of his presence hadn't yet been full-blown.
Ever since that first meeting, whenever Takao would spot him, the dark haired male would say a cheerful greeting to Kuroko. He would repeat one back to him (albeit not so cheerfully).
Somehow, throughout the course of their first year of college (after they had both passed the entrance exams), the two acquaintances had become very good friends . "BFFs", as Takao had called it, though the other had never figured out what it stood for.
After that first year, the two, along with another friend they'd made while in a shared course of their's, moved into a decently-sized apartment complex a few minutes away from campus. Since then they've been living in cohabitation like this.
"Takao-kun", spoke an impassive voice.
The dark haired man jumped in his seat, letting out an undignified mix of a yell and a squeal: a manly shriek if you will.
"Geez, Tet-chan, don't scare me like that", he said, trying to calm down his rapid heart rate.
Because of his above-average perception skills, he could usually spot the blue haired man before he had a chance to do something like this.
"But you did not notice I have been standing here. You would usually have seen me as soon as I arrived", Kuroko replied blankly, walking to the fridge to heat himself some curry as well.
"Sorry, just preoccupied with thought."
"About what?"
"Umm…work and… stuff?"
The dark-haired man looked to the side and back. He had never been good at lying to good people, and especially not the room's other occupant, who was now staring at him.
Takao could see that Kuroko rarely blinked, and even though they were friends, his unending stare was still unnerving.
The silence went on for about a minute, only being broken by the microwave's resounding "beep". The bluenette rose to grab his curry and a spoon before sitting down.
staaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrreeeeeee
"…Will you promise me not to judge?"
Not that Kuroko would, but it's just one of those things one says before telling a confession. And so, the blue haired male nodded as he spooned curry and rice into his waiting mouth.
"Umm... do you remember two weeks ago when I told you about that in-game tournament?", Takao paused for a second."I found someone I like from there. An Archer around the same level as me, though he was a lot stronger."
The shorter man took a moment to recall the fact that Takao, his one-and only "BFF", was actually gay. Not that he was against it of course. He didn't discriminate, especially because he had never even been in any explicit relationship himself. All genders overlooked him most of the time and he had never really been remotely interested in any other human being past elementary. He had once contemplated if he was asexual.
Takao continued on while Kuroko drew in his thoughts to listen."I saw him again today, but not in the game–it was in real life. I don't think he recognized me though. Anyways, I'm not exactly sure why, but he came into the store I work at and bought just a stuffed frog. I got his real name when he took out his wallet though."
The dark haired man averted his eyes and slightly shrugged his shoulders, as if trying to convince himself that the next thing he said was an every-day activity for the majority of the populace of India. "…And I'm kind of stalking him right now."
If possible, Kuroko's stare was blanker than usual.
"Don't look at me like that, Tet-chan. It just sort of happened, okay?"
"Tet-chan" finished his curry. "I am actually happy for you, Takao-kun, though I am confused as to what prompted this."
Takao let out another sigh. "I'm not sure either. He seems really kind and cool and really hot and just something about him draws me to him". The man's silvery-blue eyes had a dreamy look to them as he thought back to that afternoon.
For the next few moments, the two let in a comfortable silence.
Soon after though, the black haired man jumped from his seat and smiled. "Well, I feel much better after telling someone about it. It feels nice to have someone to confide in", he confessed energetically.
Kuroko felt relieved seeing the other man more like his usual cheerful self. He just wasn't used to Takao doing things like thinking too hard or stressing himself out. In the time he'd known him, the other had always danced and ran through life the best he could; he never really stopped moving forward with anything he did and so never had enough time to worry about anything. The blue haired man would often hear him say a phrase along the lines of: "Those who enjoy life are winners."
His lips twitched upwards just the slightest.
The smaller man placed his dishes in the sink and the two bid each other adieu, the taller of the two leaving the room first while Kuroko washed his tableware.
When he was done, he left the room to unlight itself and returned to his room as well, retiring for the night.
The next day, Kuroko had gone through his usual Tuesday morning routine. He had gotten up early, five o'clock to be exact, to go on a brisk morning jog. When he finished, he returned home, prepared a simple breakfast, and then walked to one of his classes the following hour.
He had returned to his abode around nine and quietly shuffled to his room.
The bluenette placed the helmet on his head, turning it on and waiting as it completed its validation.
When it did, he uttered the phrase; the words that would connect him back to world of virtual reality.
The now-familiar white space appeared, as well as the loading screen. In a matter of seconds, they both dissipated into nothingness; replaced instead by the visual of the Beginner Town.
The man (now-Elf) watched the scene unfold as he as well materialized from the air.
He walked towards the town port, once again letting that weightless feeling sink in.
The blue-haired man paid fare to an NPC and boarded the ship that would bring him to the next island in the game.
Kiseki World Online's world map consisted of many islands of all sizes, separated by wide expanses of ocean. That meant that most traveling had to be done by means of boat. Certainly there were items or skills one could use, but these types of things were unattainable by newbie players like Kuroko.
Speaking of Kuroko, he was sitting dazedly on the ship's deck and watching the virtual waves roll by.
Takao was right about the amazing graphics.
According to the NPC he had interacted with earlier, this ship ride would take about five minutes. Until then, he and all the other beginner players would be stuck riding the large wooden vessel. There was an option of jumping off, but that was really a stupid thing since high-level monsters lurked in the sea below.
It didn't happen often in his life, but the Elf felt a bit of impatience drawing near. The game had so much to offer. So much that he wanted to try out.
But of course, he just had to wait until the time he could choose his character class.
Now, as I've written before, KWO is an extremely complex and developed game.
As such, the class system is also somewhat confusing.
Though there are only four basic classes in the game, each one tied into a series of arch-types. Some of these arch-types even branched out into further miscellaneous sub-groups. They worked in a way that you could advance in your class every certain set of levels. If one counted all the possible classes together, there were currently about thirty available in Japan with more rumored to being made.
In addition to classes, there was also a factor of something called "Elements". The game had eight main elements that could be mixed and matched to create further specialized elements. Choosing an element to use greatly affects the way a player could fight, for better or worse. Some chose purposely not to use them in lieu of focusing on improving their fighting skills, though they were usually disadvantaged against the ones who possessed them.
Though any number of elements could be utilized by a person, there was also a limit to the amount of skills or spells they could have.
For each level, a person gained a max of four skill slots and five skill points. Each time they chose to specialize in a class arch-type, that number lessened by one each. Unless, of course it was already at one.
The reason people specialized was because the more obscure classes, although not having a greater amount of skills, had more powerful ones. Besides, being specialized also means you're good at that one thing than anyone else; party groups in this game are usually built up like this.
Moving on, each class had a set of weapons they could use (though some were limited to just one.) This also affected how a person could fight. In a broad view, the game had more than a hundred different types of these; of course, many of these were also unique items.
With all these different factors, along with race, there were hundreds of thousands of different combinations that could be made.
Kuroko skimmed over this in his mind as the ship finally docked at the port of this next island. He could see his destination towering over all the other buildings in the vicinity. Its black, stony walls stuck out sorely among the simple white structures and wooden stands surrounding it.
The Elf walked towards the grand castle, a bit awed by its sheer size and majestic appearance. Many other beginners had also started towards the great arrangement, not noticing the blue-haired man even as one of them bumped shoulders with him. His ghost-like presence hadn't left him in the slightest, even in cyberspace. If anything, he thought it had gotten even worse. Sometimes, he felt like even the NPCs took longer to respond to him than all the other players.
The bluenette regained his balance after being pushed to the side and continued forward. In about a minute, he arrived at the castle and made his way into its stone threshold.
He was surprised when all the other players suddenly disappeared.
At this point, the game automatically gave each player a separate reality. Though they existed in the same space, their data couldn't overlap with one another in areas like this. Once they left it however, it'd be the same as it was before entering.
"It must be one of the game's functions", the elf concluded.
And yes, he was right.
He found his way down the castle's main hall, arriving in what seemed to be a ballroom. At the far end of it stood four gallant figures–the class change NPCs.
He approached them slowly. When he was a certain distance away, one of the NPCs spoke.
"Halt! Who goes there? How did you get past the guards!?", said the one who looked to be a Warrior.
"….."
.
{I am here to seek an apprenticeship!}*
{I was merely sent to clean the dancehall}
.
I wonder who makes the dialogue.
.
{I am here to seek an apprenticeship!}*
{I was merely sent to clean the dancehall}
.
"Ah, you must be the adventurer the king has informed us about. In that case, I'd be happy to instruct you." The Hunter class NPC smiled at him.
.
"Please select the class you would like to become."
{Fighter}*
{Hunter}
{Rogue}
{Mage}
.
{Fighter}
{Hunter}
{Rogue}
{Mage}*
.
{Fighter}
{Hunter}
{Rogue}
{Mage}*
.
"Are you sure you would like to become a Mage?"
"Yes"*
"No"
.
"Yes"*
"No"
.
{Kuroko has become a Mage!}
{Kuroko has obtained: Magician's Robe, Magician's hat, Magician's Guidebook}
.
The blue haired man was about to open his inventory to equip his newly-gained items, but another selection window appeared.
"Please select the weapon you would like to use".
.
{Staff}*
{Wand}
{Book}
{Random}
.
The Elf didn't know much about weapons in this game. What he did know was that he'd probably change his class again after this. He decided not to dwell on it too much as any of the weapons would be compatible, and he'd probably get a new one later on.
.
{Staff}
{Wand}
{Book}
{Random}*
.
{Staff}
{Wand}
{Book}
{Random}*
.
{Kuroko has obtained unique item!}
After hearing those words, the bluenette quickly swiped a finger vertically across the screen; the motion that would open the item inventory. He pressed equipment.
There in the third slot, next to the Magician's garb he'd gained, was the weapon he'd just received.
"Equip {Phantom's Staff of Arcane Shadows}"
The weapon appeared in his pale, clenched hand.
Kuroko studied it. The item in his hand didn't look as impressive as the name had made it sound.
It was a long wooden staff, about a head taller than its owner. The weapon was a light mahogany in color, and was mostly straight except for at the top which curved left and right before aligning itself once more.
Overall, it didn't leave a very strong impression to the passive-faced man.
Then again, he didn't know how this game worked.
The blue haired man equipped the other equipment given to him and swiped his hand across the screen.
The skill window opened up.
For a beginner Mage, there were few options for spells.
The reason was that Mages, being a Magic-based class , couldn't start getting many of their skills until they chose an element to use.
Kuroko analyzed the skill archive, reading the descriptions of each one. He weighed his choices carefully before choosing his first spells.
{Kuroko has learned magic ball!}
{Kuroko has learned magic circle!}
{Kuroko has learned heal!}
Now that he had filled up his skill slots, Kuroko set out, mind racing at the prospect of being able to test them out.
Author's Notes:
Now you readers know one of my OTPs. (Not Takao x Kuroko if you somehow got that out of this)
I have a lot of ideas swimming in my head, but I am so slow at writing.
I'm trying to update about twice a week but it's a bit difficult since this author is still a student. Unless some kind of huge project comes up though, I think I can at least write one of these a week. I'm also trying to write longer chapters, though I am actually very slow.
Anyways, currently I'm deciding which characters to introduce into the story next~
And again, I appreciate constructive criticism.