.Hack//Sign: Virus Hacker

Chapter 1: The World

"The World" is an online game called an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game). In "The World", a player can design a character with specific jobs and specific features. The character jobs help determine what kind of equipment the character can or can't use. The features help determine what the character looks like, the player can only choose the features the game will allow.

There are only seven jobs in "The World" that a player can choose from. These jobs are Twin Blade, Heavy Blade, Blademaster, Heavy Axe, Long Arm, and Wavemaster.

After assigning your player a job you may then edit your character design with what the game provides. WARNING! IF YOUR CHARACTER IS EDITED WITHOUTH THE PROPER DESIGNS, YOUR CHARACTER WILL BE DELETED!

In "The World" you play as your character. You fight monsters in Keyword Generated Fields. Defeating monsters will result in experience points; there is also a chance that treasure chests may appear. The keyword system is where.

"I'll take it!" These were the words of a 15-year-old boy named Kensuke Unikawa. He had been reading the box of the game known as "The World". Kensuke had dark brown hair, short on the sides and short in the back, he had blue eyes, his eyebrows were thick, he weighed 132 lbs. And had the height of 5'11.

"The World" is the first online game that he will have ever played, and unknowingly to him, his last. Kensuke was at his local game shop in an area that he liked to call "Little Tokyo", although he happened to live in the United States the city he lived in was very oriental, so he decided to give it a new name, since then, everyone else has been calling the city "Little Tokyo" only because no one remembers what the original name was. He just wanted to browse around when "The World" caught his eye - also the special price of $10 instead of the usual $50 caught his other eye. Kensuke walked up to the young, nerdy-looking cashier.

"I'd like to buy this please." He lay the $10 - that he just happened to have in his pocket - on the counter. The teenage nerd laughed. "What's so funny?"

"That sign over there says $10 of the normal $50 price." The boy snickered.

"Oh, I see." Kensuke looked down at the floor in disappointment - he noticed that in most of the movies that he watched that you end up getting whatever you want because the others will feel sorry for you, in this case, it did work. The cashier leaned close to Kensuke's ear.

"But lemme' tell ya sumthin' kid. There's a secret sale going on right now, if you subscribe to our newsletter you get to have the game for free." Kensuke opened his eyes wider while still looking at the floor. "Rumor has it that after you subscribe and we send the notice to our supply store, some executive from the CC Administration may read the notice and let you play the game for free. But, as I said, that's just a rumor." Kensuke was filled with excitement once again.

"Give me the form for the newsletter." Kensuke demanded. The cashier jumped over the counter and grabbed Kensuke by the shirt and brought him over to a computer terminal.

"Actually, it's online." A screen flickered and a few questions appeared. Kensuke finished all twelve questions within 43 seconds. All screens minimized and another popped up reading "Subscription has been sent." Then the pop-up minimized as Kensuke was pulled away from the terminal and placed in front of the counter again. The cashier thrust the game box into his hand.

"Enjoy!" The boy had an unusual smile as he said his paring words. Kensuke stared into the darkness which boy entered - as if he were floating backwards like in some scary movies. After a few seconds he ran passed the door and rushed home.

***
Meanwhile, in the game store, another pop-up appeared on the computer screen. "Purchase notice of "The World" has been received by the CC Administration, model number and identification of purchase confirmed, positive confirmation of subscription of newsletter, free playability now available.

*** Kensuke burst through the door to his room and speedily inserted the CD into the CD drive. The screen on his monitor switched from the ALTIMIT screen to "The World" screen.

"Hmm, username? How about WeirdGuy?"

"Username accepted."

"Good. Character name? Blink."

"Character name accepted."

"Now what?" he asked himself.

"Please choose your character classification." Kensuke had to think long and hard about this. Are you sure you want this character?" Kensuke pressed enter. "Please select your character design." Kensuke's eyes opened wide as he saw the huge selection of character designs.

"God, there's so many, yet none that I like!" He scrolled the screen all the way down until he came to a question mark. "Random huh? Hmm. Let's see what it says in the manual about this." He emptied the box on to his computer desk. A little thin booklet fell out. He skimmed through the pages until he found what he was looking for. "Okay, so random will pick one of these designs and pick different colors that fit the design. That'll suit me just fine."

"Registration complete." The screen went back to the ALTIMIT screen.

"Weird." All of a sudden a window popped up reading "New Mail". Of course he had to click it. There were only two entries. One was about registering with the CC Corporation. The other was titled "FREE!" He clicked the "FREE!" entry.

It read:
We, the CC Administration, welcome you to "The World". We have been notified that you have subscribed to the gaming newsletter. IN case you did not know, the CC Corporation manages the newsletter. Unfortunately, you are the subscriber. Fortunately, since you are the first, you will play the game for free for an unlimited amount of time. To keep this privilege, you cannot tell anyone about this, or you will be terminated. We will be watching you.

After he closed the message, it self-deleted.

"That's pretty odd. Oh well." He clicked out of the mail window and clicked "The World" icon.

He was now on "The World" menu screen. He now had three choices: login, message board, and exit.

"Its only best to do the most logical thing." He said aloud as he clicked login.