PROJECT: BLADEWORLD
/Prologue: The Start of a New Game
The snow fell onto the blanketed pine leaves, the forest eerily silent, only broken by the sounds of clashing steel time and time again. Dancing through the snow were two blurs, one clad in black and the other in azure blue. Their swords clashed wildly, the clangs and crashes of steel on steel spoke of their determination for their quests. One on a quest to bring back his friend, the other driven to complete his quest to bring back the dead. The group of spectators stood in silence at the edge of the clearing, their mesmerized eyes lighting up with the sparks flying into the air, seemingly burning the snow.
Standing out in the crowd, a group of three did not watch the fight in awe, rather in sadness, a younger sister wanting her brother to be safe, a cowardly girl who just wanted to be brave, and a red haired samurai, solemn and silent as the battle ensued. The two blurs finally landed far apart, watching each other carefully. The one in azure blue sheathed his katana, dropping down to a sword drawing stance as he charged up a powerful move. Blue sparks and electricity fly as the black swordsman charged at him, flames engulfing and dancing on his longsword, the power of the skill screaming like a jet engine. The two roared at each other and swung their swords, two powers about to collide. At that moment, one thought passed through the group of three, solemn and quiet.
"How could it come to this?"
November 6th, 2022
"That's interesting...'' Akira Sakurai mumbled in his bed, flicking the round lollipop in his mouth absent-mindedly as he closed the light novel he was reading. "Sounds like it was written by a lame fanfiction author, same half-baked harem protagonist..." He sat up, running his hand through his long black hair as it hugged slightly past his cheeks, sighing as he pushed it to the side into a fringe and stood up.
He walked up to his desk where his desktop computer was running a download and sat down in his chair relaxing into it. He had played a few non VR-MMORPGs like Elder Tale Online and Glory on the computer before he was given the invitation to beta test a new game called Remnant Sword Online. He looked over at one of his two monitors to check his download of the game and sighed seeing that it was at [85%]. He switched to another monitor and opened a new browser window to watch the latest video of a streamer that he subscribed to just uploaded.
"Hai-Hai everyone!" A girl with tabby blonde bob hair jumps into her seat with a grin almost cheeky-like as she puts up a v-sign as the video starts "It's your favourite treasure hunting streamer, Philia-chan. Last week was the grand launch of the first VR-MMORPG Remnant Sword Online, however due to last minute developments, the official server launch was delayed until the 6th of November which happens to be today! For those of you who have been living under a rock and may be asking what Remnant Sword Online is, I'll let my beta tester friend; Argo-san, explain!"
An avatar pic of a hooded cat-girl with whiskers appeared on-screen.
"Yo viewers, Argo the Rat here to bring you some juicy info on what Remnant Sword Online is all about and it's for free, so listen up!"
"Please tell us Argo-san!"
"Remnant Sword Online is the latest VR-MMORPG developed for the NerveGear. It was developed by Kayaba Akihiko, the genius who was also the main developer of the NerveGear. It was a technological marvel. A new type of VR headset that revolutionised VR gaming and the gaming industry as a whole. Unlike its previous counterparts that simulated virtual reality by blocking the user's perception through usage of stereoscopic head mounted displays and binaural headsets, the NerveGear allowed the full simulation of the five senses in a self-contained virtual environment allowing users to fully immerse themselves in a virtual reality using specifically designed EM emitters, a "Full Dive" experience as they called it."
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Philia asked worriedly "Like putting on a device that can fry your brain on your head, isn't that a little risky?"
"Yes. While Argus; the company that helped design and develop the NerveGear, has discussed the possibility of that happening. They proved that the risk of that happening was less than 0.001 percent unless someone managed to disable the hard-locked safety which only the Director of Research and Development can do." Argo replied before going to another info dump.
"Even after that, many people still expressed their concerns over its usage of specially built EM emitters. But it didn't stop people from trying to develop games for it. like Asuka Empire, and lets not forget the infamous Sword Art Online."
"I haven't played Sword Art Online yet, was it that bad?"
"Oh it was bad, it was full of with bugs and glitches from the start, The some of the game mechanics was stupid and clunky, like seriously, Randomly generated characters? no support skills? Overly complicated menus to use? People only played the game because it was based off that of one over-hyped light novel back in 2011. It's own community was incredibly toxic and was unbearable. Even the developers gave up when it looked like they had no more ideas and they resorted to predatory practices, as a result they got a ton of backlash from the players and finally shut down in the end, Greedy bastards!"
"Ugh" Philia's face crinkled in disgust, "I guess it's a relief that I didn't play that game. I've only played Asuka Empire so far, He-he."
"Eh, Asuka Empire was alright, I'd say above average among mediocre VR games, but after those mediocre and bad games, Kayaba Akihiko wanted to make a game that could bring out the full potential of the NerveGear. So he announced that a brand new game for the NerveGear was being developed: a massive project under the codename PROJECT: BLADEWORLD, revealing it to be the VR-MMORPG: Remnant Sword Online. He said 'I have been a fan of MMORPGs, especially ones like Elder Tales Online, Glory, and Final Fantasy Online 2020. It has been a dream of mine to create a world where everyone can be a hero in their own story and it has been such a privilege and honor to translate that love over to the VR world with the NerveGear.' "
"Uwah!" Philia commented amazed, "He sounds really passionate..."
"Yeah, he really was, however the game developers themselves have been secretive of the project itself, there was only a closed beta that 5000 people participated, myself included The game was really amazing It had a lot of flexibility in the character classes and the combat system. And the world was incredibly detailed!"
"So what was the gameplay actually like?" Phillia asked.
"Well players start off by creating a character and selecting a region to start in, keep in mind that what Region you start in will determine what Race your are and the weapons and skills you can use and obtain. Once that's done your new life as gullib… I mean as brave adventurers start…"
"What are you watching?" a soft feminine voice filtered through the headphones and Akira felt two calloused hands squeezing lightly on his shoulders. He removed his headphones and turned his head up at his guardian and martial arts teacher looking down at him with a gentle smile. "Just an old livestream about Remnant Sword Online."
"Ooohhh, Interesting..." She said, her soothing laughter like the jingling of a wind chime, "Well, you can tell me all about it after I return from my kendo club activities. Do you want anything for dinner?"
"Hamburg steak." He immediately replied without hesitation smirking at her.
"Like brother like sister! We are having Hamburg steak for dinner then." She glanced behind her, spotting a flash of black hair at the doorway.
"Aya-chan, your brother's inside. Don't play for too long." She kindly warned him by rubbing his hair and planting a soft warm kiss on the top of his head while she got hugged from behind by a petite black-haired girl with two short twin-tails that hung slightly past her shoulders and black-brown eyes. It was Ayase Sakurai, his younger sister. She was a shy, quiet girl who loved to play video games like her brother, unlike him she played more single player RPGs than go online. But this time was different, she had a curious interest in RSO when she heard her brother talking about often and when she played a little on her brother's account, she got drawn into RSO and bought her own NerveGear. Ayase giggled as their guardian patted her hair and she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and leaving the two to their own devices.
"Aki-nii!" she called hugging her brother from behind "Hurry up and get ready, servers gonna launch soon! C'mon C'mon C'mon, let's go!"
"She must be excited that I wanted to play a game she likes too. she's not usually noisy like this, normally she would be shy and introverted; being very apprehensive when she asked if he wanted to play a game with her." He muses internally and laughs as she starts to tickle him.
"Okay, okay, Stop being so noisy." He swiveled his chair around; lightly poking her on the forehead, "Ah!" making her pout and playfully punch him.
A chime from his computer distracted her and he took the opening to playfully tickle her back but she escaped skipping away, her laughter filling up his room as she hopped on his bed and rolled around, he smiled and looked back at his computer opening up his chats. There was a new message from a group chat he made with two of his best friends he met while playing online games.
/Gu TianYi: "Yo man, Bout to log in, You comin?"
/Aki-R: "Gimme a minute buddy, sis is pestering me."
/Gu TianYi: "Lol feelsbad man, GL with that XD"
/YU_Ran has joined the chat
/YU_Ran: "YO! ."
/Aki-R "Yo"
/GuTianYi: "Sup"
/YU_Ran: "Nothing much :3"
/Aki-R: "Where's Ran?"
/YU_Ran: "…"
/Aki-R: "Yuuki-chan…I know it's you."
/YU_Ran: "..."
/YU_Ran: "HOW DID U KNOW! Σ(･口･)"
/GuTianYi: "LMAO"
/YU_Ran: "Shut up, Aho-Yi! (#｀皿´)/"
/Gu TianYi: "Excuse me?! XD"
/Aki-R: "Your chat patterns gave you away. ;P"
/Aki-R: "So why are you on Ran's chat account, where is she anyway?"
/YU_Ran: "Nee-chan forgot to log off, Seeing that it was still open and saw u guys talking, I decided to join in (^.~')"
/YU_Ran: "She's already logged in ahead of you guys, Anyway heading off, ceeya losers later ingame!"
/Gu TianYi: Bye
/Aki-R: Cya
/YU_Ran has left the chat
/Gu TianYi: We should probs dive in the game soon
/Aki-R: "Right! We should."
/Gu TianYi: "I'm starting in the Hong-Leng Region, you?"
/Aki-R: "You should know me! Akatsuki Region."
/GuTianYi: "Fair nuff, hey man, Why don't you come over and meet [The Scrub Squad] whenever you have time."
/Aki-R: "Nah, will be too busy playing."
/GuTianYi: "Since when has anyone been too "busy" playing a video game"
/Aki-R: "Gamers, nuff said XD"
/Gu TianYi: "Point XD"
...
Akira glanced at the clock on his computer: 12:50 PM
...
/Aki-R; "I'm logging off, need to set up, cya buddy"
/Gu TianYi: "Cya ingame, bro"
Akira closed the chat and he felt a cool plastic press into the side of his face. He turned around to see Ayase holding his NerveGear out to him. Taking it, he rubbed the top of her head affectionately, making her giggle and blush.
"Go dive in, I'll catch up in a min," He stopped his rub, making her pout in annoyance, "Remember, We'll rendezvous in the Akatsuki Region, level up until level 10, then head off to meet Yi and his so-called guild in the Hong-Leng Region."
"Do we have to meet Yi-nii and his guild?" She grumbled, pouting even more.
"Probably, you should socialize a little more, you know." he smirked. Chopping her head lightly.
"You're one to talk." She snarked back before relenting, "Fine… I'll go, it's either this or practicing alone in the dojo." She became gloomy at the mention of practicing alone in the empty dojo. She absolutely hated not being around her brother, it would feel like a part of her would be missing. But as if he felt that she was about to go to a gloomy place, He reached out and hugged her tightly and kissed her on the top of her head softly whispering, "Nii-chan won't go away and leave you behind, Never ever." She smiled, softly murmuring, "Aki-nii." and hugged back tighter. That was the nature of their bond, they were truly inseparable.
They stayed like that until he pulled back and flicked her on the forehead, "Let's go." he grinned. "We probably shouldn't delay or all the good spots will be taken"
"Right!" She smiled, her excitement coming back to her. She got up, pecking his cheek and hopped away, humming a nonsensical tune as she was leaving his room.
He chuckled softly, placing a hand on his cheek where she pecked him. His gaze lingered on the door before turning back to the video he was watching which was ending already.
"...That's all for now guys, I hope to see you in the game! I'll be streaming the game as well so be sure to pick up your copy of the game and join in on the fun. Jia ne~!"
He closed the video stream and threw away the depleted lollipop stick. Before he shut down the computer though he noticed another ping from his PMs, but unfortunately he wanted to play as soon as possible so he swiftly typed out; "Sorry I gtg now, will talk later." and shut down the desktop.
He picked up his account card on his desk and looked it over. Unlike most systems, usage of the NerveGear were linked to account cards with a specialized log-in card reader, one account was linked to one card each, without the card the NerveGear won't start up. It helped for a quick secure login, but removal of the card while the user is logged in will not cause the user to log off or the NerveGear to shut off. He inserted his card into the reader and the indicator flashed a solid bright green once it successfully read the card. Picking up the NerveGear on his lap, He ran his fingers over the cold sleek dark blue helmet before he placed it on his head, the soft coolness of the internal padding a comforting feeling as he laid down on his bed to get comfortable.
He stared up to the ceiling where he had a poster of the game's cover stuck on it, it was a lone knight riding on a horse, staring out into a vast vibrant landscape with some ruins scattered in the distance and off in the horizon; a massive crystal Spire-like tower stood in the distance almost like it was inviting the knight to challenge it.
He grinned at thought of it with the whine of his NerveGear being fully powered up, he exhaled outward and closed his eyes. His mind racing at all the things he could experience and do all over again. With excitement and anticipation, he spoke the words that would launch him back to that world. The new world of fantasy where the possibilities were endless and your imagination was your limitation, the new virtual world which he craved for.
"Link Start!"
Well This is the actual first chapter, Hope you guys enjoyed the new prologue to my first fanfic: [PROJECT: BLADEWORLD] and this new start to my endeavour to write more. the next parts will come soon. so I hope some of you are looking forward to that, or don't. That's fine lol!
Feel free to leave any of your thoughts about it in a review or message me if you want, I'll probably respond...maybe.