Monday, November 25, 2013

Chapter 3: Black Out of the Night

What? A guy just logged out from the menu? What the heck is going on here?

I tried to open my menu and hit the log out button. Nope, it doesn't work. I thought it was only possible to do so from the place that guy logged out from. I tried, but still no positive results.

How can he just simply logged out like that? It can't be that he used a 3rd party application, the game should be banned when the news hits about players being stuck in Blademasters Online.

A gust of wind blasted from my back. Next thing happened, I dropped down to the ground.



4 hours earlier...

The lively city of Stoneridge. Known as the capital city of the 1st floor. It has been about a month since the bug happened, but even then the players hadn't made any progress yet. Lots of players had been blabbering out about the theories they came up with. Theories to be able to beat the game. Still, a certain obnoxious idiot won't believe in any of them, as for him they were just theories with no proof and simply can't be fully trusted.

Most players enlisted themselves into clans. They believe with numbers, it is possible to get more information and hunt easily. Some clans escalated to popularity quickly, simply because a famous RPG gamer from another game was in it. The clan was called Chivalry. The famous player used the in-game name Havok. No one knew his real name, and he seemed to intend it to be that way. Chivalry was known for their expert tactics in combat. They divide their members into squads with a very tight training schedule.

Pugna pro incentia. Fight for freedom. That was their motto. The Chivalry was known for their expert tactics in combat. They divide their members into squads, attackers, blockers, supports, and even special operatives. They have harsh training routines, believed to be the source of their power. However, X simply thought that it was all simply because they had an admirable commander, the one and only Havok. He sets every single strategies, knows the best way around things, able to make quick decisions in a matter of seconds. Lots of people were talking about them. A lot of them wanted and have tried to join them, but they only consists of players who were noted for their special... skills.

It was about 6 p.m. X was getting hungry and decided to head to a quite famous tavern in Stoneridge, Ridgeview Crest. The place was known for it's delicious toasted sandwiches, beautiful ridgeside view, and a beautiful chef.

Ring!, The bell on the door rang as soon as he entered.

"Welcome!", X was greeted by the infamous beautiful chef most people were talking about. She has slick dark brunette hair which is tied up on the back and a pair of beautiful light brown eyes1. X was speechless at first, but he thought she wasn't his type and averted his gaze.

"Table for one please", X replied to the chef's friendly greeting.

"I see. This way please.", X was shown to his table. It was at the edge of the balcony on the ridgeline. The golden sunset rays caught his eye and gave a moment of real world feeling since entering this virtual world. After gazing off for about 5 seconds of staring at the sunset, X was brought back to consciousness by the chef waving her hand in front of my face.

"Are you okay?", she asked.

"Err... Yeah. I was just caught up by the scenery here.", X replied.

"You like it? I picked the spot for this restaurant myself.", the chef said with a huge smile.

"I see. Wait, you picked this spot?"

"Yes. I know a lot of people was thinking I'm an NPC, but I'm actually a player", X could've swore she was an NPC, but hearing that she is a player caught him off guard. He then realized she wasn't lying after seeing a diamond above her head, showing that she's indeed a player.

"You can actually own and run a restaurant?", X asked while walking to his appointed table.

"Yes. Apparently there are a lot of things that work like real life in this game.", the chef said while handing X the menu.

"And you manage everything here?", X asked while looking over the menu.

"Yes I do. The stocks and suppliers work just like real life. My father owns a restaurant so I might know a thing or two about managing this place hehe.", the chef replied. Knowing this fact, X thought It seems like you can simply take a break from the war and settle down.

To X, it can be a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing is, the players can simply take our time and feel like the real world. Which brings him to the bad point, people might get accustomed and just simply start a new life here, which means less players will be on the front line trying to finish the game.

"Umm... I really can't pick what to chose. I'm not exactly that picky on eating", X said as he scanned the menu and found nothing he really craved for. The chef gave a confused look at X as if not expecting it to happen. X could only narrowed his eyes even more and try to pick an order.

"Most people order wild meat sandwich. It seemed to be the customers favorite here.", the chef said encouraging X to take an order.

"Hmm... You know what, surprise me.", X closed the menu and gave the chef the menu.

"Surprise you?", the chef gave an even more confused face as she isn't sure what X meant. X gave a brief glance at the chef and sighed.

"Just make any type of toasted sandwich you want, but not from the menu.", X replied in a calm manner, as if he really didn't care that much.

"I.. I see. I'll try my best", the chef said with a stuttered smile, caught off guard by the fact X chose something out of the ordinary. After the chef left, X stared at the view even more. The sunset rays starting to fall fade behind the mountains on horizon.



"Hey! Wait up!", a little girl shouted while chasing a boy.

"No way! I'm gonna go to that place first!", the boy shouted back while sticking his tongue out towards the girl.

BUMP! The boy crashed into a tree while he wasn't looking at where he was headed. The boy fell down in a sitting position.

"Oww... My backside...", the boy grumbled.

"That's what you get for not waiting up.", the girl said in an angry tone. She held out her hand towards the boy. "Come one, we'll go to that place together.", she said with a pleasant smile.



"...xcuse me", a voice startled X. He opened his eyes as he jumped backwards. He saw the chef trying to wake him up from his nap.

"You must've had a tiresome day. You wouldn't wake up at all, even your food went cold.", the chef continued. She gave a sigh, but wouldn't press even more of her annoyance at X more than a single sigh. X looked around and realize that it was night.

"Whoa... I'm so sorry I slept", X said while he facepalmed. He never thought that a view could've soothe him so much. He thought it just has been a long time since he saw a beautiful view like that.

The chef sighed. "Well, I'm reheating your food at the moment.", she said. X looked around again and realize that the whole place was empty.

"Umm... Is it already closing time?", X asked in the most polite manner he could manage, although knowing X, he doesn't really understand what manners is.

"Yes it is.", the chef said while laughing. "But since you ordered something special, I guess I'll give you an exception. Come inside, it's getting cold outside.", she said with a smile. X followed her into the restaurant and sat down on the counter. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is quite simple but has a nice feeling to it as it gave off a feel like a tavern in the 1800s.

"Did you design the place?", X asked as he's curious about the place itself, since it was run by a player.

"Not really, I just picked it out from a basic store template and added a tiny amount of decoration."

"I see..."

"Here you are!", the chef said while handing X the reheated toast sandwich. X looked at it and everything was neatly placed, just like what you would get in a 5-star restaurant. He looked up at her, but she had a shocked expression.

"Something wrong?", the chef startled even more due to X's hideously scary looking eyes.

"Umm... Well... I was just startled that I forgot to ask you for your drink.", she said as she averted her gaze.

"It actually slipped off my mind too.", X said with a straight face as he closed his eyes. The chef laughed after a certain pause, leaving X dumbfounded by why she suddenly laughed.

"It doesn't really matter though.", X said, leaving the chef to raise her eyebrow. "If I did order a drink earlier, it will probably thaw out already.", X continued.

"It definitely will", she said with a playful smile and gave X the menu again. "So, what will you have?"

"Umm... Is there any C**a-C**a2 or the sort?", X asked.

"I'm afraid no one had found out the way to make soda in this game", the chef frowned as she looked as X. X simply sighed and asked the chef if she had any suggestions. "I might suggest the Zuto berry tea though. It is a lot like sweet tea, and it's rather popular here."

"I'll have that.", X said. The chef went to the back to prepare X's drink. X stared at the sandwich in front of him. He decided to open the top toast to see what's inside, he found some kind of patty, some fresh vegetables, and some kind of sauce. He then closed the top patty and held up his sandwich preparing for his first bite. Suddenly the chef went out from the back with his drink.

"Haven't had your first bite yet?", she asked.

"Yeah. I was just checking the ingredients you use inside.", X  took his first bite. His eye widened just from the first bite. The sandwich had an amusing taste. Although it might look like a regular sandwich, it's taste is just simply can't be put into words. The crunch of the toast and vegetables, the rich taste of the patty, and the velvety taste from the sauce really hits the spot.

"It's good!", X said still with his eyes wide open. The chef looked surprised at X's reaction, but eventually smiles afterwards.

"What's inside of it?"

"The vegetables are fresh from the batch that came this afternoon, the patty is a smoked wild meat patty, and the sauce is a special sauce I tried to make just now.", the chef said. She sighed afterwards and continued, "I'm glad you like it", with a smile.

"I see. You have got yourself a very satisfied customer.", X said while trying to put a grin on his face. He quickly finish up his food, although deep down he really do want to savour it's flavour even more, but he felt bad it was already past Ridgeview Crest's closing time.

After finishing up his food, X drank up the Zuto berry tea. It wasn't too sweet, but not too plain either, in addition it had some kind of cooling effect afterwards.

"Do you like the tea?", the chef asked.

"Yeah. It has a very... interesting taste.", X said as he picked the right words for it, although he could only came up with the simple ambigious word of interesting.

"I see. Can I take the plate away?"

"Yeah sure. How much should I pay?"

"Err...", the chef paused thinking. She came up with her answer a couple of seconds later, "This time it's on the house."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. But next time you will need to pay"

"Isn't it obvious?", X said as he averted his eyes. "Thanks again... err..."

"Valeria", the chef held out a hand to give me a handshake. "Val for short"

"Thanks Val. I'm Extorsion, but you can simply call me X.", X shook her hand.

"Sure X. Come again!"

"Duh... I still have to eat something tasty you know", X said as he walked outside.

Night has fallen on Stoneridge. However, X didn't felt like going back to his inn yet, so he decided to go out on a stroll in a forest near the south-western part of Stoneridge. He was looking for a place for him to think, but apparently he found a suspicious looking guy using a grey hood. X followed him due to his uneasiness by using his Stalker skill. The skill allows a player to stay invisible as long as the player is able to stick to the shadows. X decided to follow the suspicious player from above to make him less suspicious and use the leaves' shadows for cover from the bright moonlight.

The suspicious guy stopped in a middle of some trees in a circular formation. X stayed on the tree while trying to see what the guy was doing. He opened his menu and pressed his log out button. He suddenly glows and breaks into pixels.

Did he log out?, X asked himself. He tried to log out but nothing happened. It just shows the same bug notice like the first time he tried. But how is he able to do it? X tried one more time, the result is just the same.

X thought that the place where he stood on might be a place where a player might be able to use the missing script from the log out sequence. He stand on the spot the hooded guy stood when he logged out and opened his menu, followed by pressing the log out button. It still failed. X had no idea how the suspicious guy did it.

Although X was preoccupied by figuring out why can't he log out, he was able to hear rustling of bushes behind him. His right hand prepared one of his throwing knives while his left hand prepared to close his menu interface. In a split second, X closed my menu and threw the throwing knife towards the bushes. Suddenly X felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. He was able to realized that he had been ambushed, but before he was able to do anything, he dropped down to the ground.

1 Try picturing an anime styled image from the start to the end. Count this thing as a light novel
2 Yes... the infamous brown colored soda beverage

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Chapter 2: The Lone Wolf

It was 11 p.m. X1 was on a bed in the inn he rented trying to get some rest. It was raining outside, and the city itself appears to be sleeping. Although the sound of rain usually calms him down, but this time it's making him very uneasy.



(2 days before)
After X discovered he can't log out, he immediately went back to Beginner's Town to see if anyone else was having this problem. He saw a passing by defender and decided to ask if he could log out.

"Of course we can! It's a game you know. You just open the menu and press this button here.", the huge defender said in a very confident way. He put on a confused face at first, but then he agreed to do it. 

"Must I really do this? You owe me 50 GP for wasting my time you know". After X nodded as a confirmation, he pressed his log out button. Nothing happened. He panicked out and immediately spread out the news with his insanely thundering voice. Every single one of the players around them checked if they could log out. No one could.

"This is impossible! How is it that I can't log out?", a girl said in a panicked way. She freaked out, and apparently it got the crowd going too. Every single one of them simply lost their hopes. Some of them simply just sat down and mourn, while others are making a big fuss.

"We got to tell everyone about this. Most people are in the town square, lets go there", the defender X asked to log out at first insisted. He thought that it would just bring more harm than good, since it would just discourage everyone that plays this game. However, before X could talk out his thoughts, he was already being dragged to the town square. Well, the guy's enormous and also a defender class, so resistance is pretty much futile. But one way or another way, everyone will find out anyway, X thought.

As soon as they were at the town square, the defender looked for a place where he could stand and get the crowd's attention. There was a nearby small stage at a corner of the square. The defender thought it would suffice, so he stood on the stage and got the crowd's attention.

"Excuse me everyone! Can I have your attention for a moment?", a crowd soon formed in front of the stage.

"Thank you. I would like all of you to try to log out of the game.", the defender said.

"Why would we do that?", a random person asked him.

"Because my friend here...", the defender paused his speech and pointed at X, "...found out that we can't log out of this game", the defender explained. A huge murmur by the crowd occurred.

"I can't log out!", a random guy exclaimed. The crowd grew anxious and more of them tried to log out. More and more testimonials were shout out, and thus it became clear to the crowd that all the players were stuck in this game. Most of the crowd panicked. Some seems to try and act calm while persistently trying to press their log out button.

"This is a message from the game master! Everyone is to gather at the Beginner's Town Square now! We are in need to inform every single player an announcement!", suddenly a voice emerges from somewhere. It was the game's system message. Every single one of the players were able to hear it since the sound is basically like their own voice playing in one's head.

After quite some time waiting, the town square suddenly was locked down by some kind of barrier. Everyone panicked when they realize they're trapped. A hologram of a huge man appears. He was tall and slender, he also wore a full metal framed glasses. Some of the players recognized him immediately. The person was Kiyoshi Hayate, the head developer of Blademasters Online.

"Welcome to the world of Blademasters Online. I am Kiyoshi Hayate, the head developer of this game. I know that all of you here are gathered to know why is it that you can't log out. The reason that you can't log out is not because of a programming error. I intended to make this game like this. The only way you will be able to log out is to take the Blademasters' Title at the 100th floor.". A lot of complains can be heard, but it does not seem like Mr. Kiyoshi could see or hear all the complaints thrown at him, or he was acting as nothing happened.

"Oh yeah, there's also another thing I would like to say before I forget. If you die here, you will also die in the real world.", after those words the crowd grew silent. All of them in shock of able to be killed for real. Meanwhile the man shown as a hologram smiled from ear to ear.

"By the way, if your room isn't locked, you might be in danger. If you were disconnected of your BrainStorm in the game, your brain will be overloaded by the electrical discharge and you will also die.", most of the players were looking down at the ground, knowing that any of them could be killed at any moment by a certain accident.

"Everyone, I would like you to fight as your real selves, so by tomorrow, your appearance will be the same as how you look in real life. But don't worry, your names will still be your in-game username. Thank you for your cooperation and happy playing."

As the hologram disappeared, so does the force field around the square holding all the players in. No one moved an inch, shocked by the reality they refused to believe. Among the sea of shocked players, X was the first one to move. He calmly walked towards the square exit but was stopped. It was the defender.

"I can't believe this. Please tell me this is all a dream, or at least a joke."

"I don't have the power to do so. I did not created this world. I'm sorry but you just have to accept reality.", X said without care to him. The defender looked at X straight in the eye, unable to believe the words X just said. X could see hopelessness and desperation just from a look on his eyes. Those eyes are also easily seen on other people around, which were staring at X for being so laid back and calm.

"What are you going to do?", he asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to fight. I'm going to fight and reach the top floor."

"How can you still say that? You don't know what lies ahead. And you can't respawn in this game, Once you die, you die for real!", the defender caught X's collar and shook him.

"You won't know what lies ahead if you don't try. To put it in another way, mourning for your life here wouldn't do you any good. I'd rather die trying than die mourning for nothing", X gave a sharp reply. X released the defender's grip as his hands weaken from X's sharp comment. He faced the square exit and left without any other hindrance.

X looked for an inn to stay in for the night, and he decided on a decent inn to stayed in. The inn's room was simple. There was a bed and a desk beside it, and a toilet in the opposite side of the room. Pretty much everything X could ever thought he needed. He unequipped all his weapons and holsters and went to sleep.



X woke up somewhere at 8:30. He went to the toilet and washed my face to wash off all his drowsiness. When he look at the mirror, he saw his regular self. He widened his eyes at first, but he finally remembered what Kiyoshi Hayate had said, all the player's appearance will be the same as they are in the real world.

X had probably just a normal face, although back at high school he used to be feared for his dangerous looking obnoxious eyes. The front left side of his hair was spiked up towards the right, leaving an emo-like right pony which almost covers his right eye. Meanwhile the backside spiked up towards the middle and the sides of his hair was shorter compared to his hair at the top.

He rushed to equip his gear and went to the border of Beginner's Town. The situation was still sort of gloomy, but there were also some players who had found their fighting spirits back. X thought that it was a good thing to see, at least he won't be fighting alone to finish this game.

"Hey assassin!", a voice called out from somewhere. X noticed that voice. It was the defender yesterday. His appearance had changed slightly. The only thing X could notice was different from the avatar he saw yesterday was just the defender's face and hairstyle. Yesterday, the defender had a more western face and a mohawk hair, but today he seemed like a regular Japanese guy with a simple short spiky hair.

"Your real self seems to be rather small and skinny.", the defender said in a rather jolly way. X could only gave him an unimpressed look.

"Hahaha! Calm down. I'm just kidding. By the way, I haven't really introduced myself. I'm Barrios", the defender said. He puts out an arm to shake X's hand.

"Extorsion", X said while he shook Barrios' outstretched hand. "You can call me X for short"

"Hey, can I add you to my friend list? I'm sure we can be great friends.", Barrios said. X didn't expect to immediately be asked to be added to the friend list. He isn't someone who enjoyed a social lifestyle in the real world or any of the other games he had played. But after thinking about it twice, he thought that to make friends in a game like this might prove to be useful. Most of the players had the same goal, to finish the game and get back to the real world.

X gave Barrios a slight nod. Barrios smiled and opened his menu. He went to his friend list and sent an invitation to be friends with X, which X simply accept.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to the next town before nightfall."

"Alright! Let's go!"

"What do you mean 'we'?", X asked. He looked rather puzzled but then smiled.

"We're going to the next town, what else?"

"I'm sorry, I'd rather go alone."

"Is that so? Okay then. I'll probably rally up my own team and then go to the next town. Best of luck, lone wolf!", Barrios said and left.

"Making friends with the likes of him might be a good idea, especially in this game. We could exchange information since we don't know anything ahead of us.", X thought to himself. Barrios gave off a playful nice guy feel according to X. However it's pretty much in X's nature to work alone, like X always preferred to.

1 I will refer to Extorsion as X for short. This will also be his nickname

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Chapter 1: The Bug

WILL YOU FIGHT FOR HONOR, OR FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE?

The very same question that is stuck on my mind every single day in here. What does it mean? I don't know yet. With all the blood I shed and all the fight to survive, I'm still clueless to answer this. To be honest, I don't know anything in this world, except for one thing. This game is the fight for survival.



"Today is a big day for every single Japanese gamer. After launching the BrainStorm, the virtual reality game platform, Himitsu Corporation is ready to release it's first game for the BrainStorm, Blademasters Online. Every game store is packed with gamers from all over Japan, awaiting the release of this game. The head of Himitsu Corporation, Mr. Himitsu Akira, said in the press conference that Blademasters Online will push the boundaries of gaming beyond our recognition. I'm Miyako Manaka reporting from Akihabara-", I closed the tab of my internet browser after that news report.

"Good thing I pre-ordered this game. So much for a neet to be able to get this game. At least I still have time before the next university entrance tests begins.", I said to myself. Soon after, I layed down on my bed preparing to boot up Blademasters Online on my BrainStorm.

"Here we go", I said before starting the game. My whole vision turned black and before I knew it, Himitsu Corporation's logo showed up, followed by an opening of the game. The opening itself was pretty decent as it showcases the world of Blademasters Online. Soon after, I was on the loading screen.

I was greeted by a sound asking, "Will you fight for honor, or fight for your life? Welcome to Blademasters Online, warrior. You will be directed to the create-a-warrior screen". The create-a-warrior screen is pretty simple. You're simply asked for your in-game username and pick a class for your warrior. I wrote down my username by using the virtual keyboard right in front of me. Extorsion. Yes, this is the username I used on pretty much every other game I played.

"Please select a class", the same voice commands me. There were 4 classes:
  • Defender: A class that highly relies on strength. This class is able to use longswords and backswords
  • Fencer: A class that relies mostly on dexterity of the user. This class is able to use broadswords and rapiers
  • Rogue: A class that relies mostly on the user's reaction. This class is able to use katanas and sabres
  • Assassin: A class that relies mostly on agility. This class is able to use butterfly swords and daggers
I chose the assassin class pretty much on any other RPG games, so I went for it on this one too. I am then redirected to the character creation screen. The character creation screen basically lets you create the character you will be using in the game. There were thousands of combination that you can use for your character, but I stick to what I usually use; jet black spiked hair and moderate body build with no accessories.

After creating my character, I was sent to a loading screen to the game. The first sight I saw was a beautiful city. It's something sort of like what you get in the medieval ages, but it just simply looks elegant. As I looked up, I saw a sign saying 'Welcome to Beginner's Town'. Well, we all started somewhere. I talked to a nearby NPC. That NPC turns out to be a quest giver.

The quest was pretty simple, I was to accompany him to gather some apples. On the way there, we were attacked by a bunch of rabbits. The NPC told me that I was given a basic weapon to use from the start of the game. I opened my inventory menu and saw that I was given a 'Basic Assassin Set'. I opened that set and it gave me 2 daggers and some throwing knives, including their holsters. So I used them and start attacking back to the rabbits which attacked us. The controls was a lot different from what we get from regular games, since this is a virtual reality game. I was able to do some combos, but I was hit by one of the rabbit's attacks. I do feel some pain, but it isn't something I would worry about, since my HP bar was still 9/10.

After quite a while battling those rabbits, I did manage to kill them all and finished the quest from the NPC. I liked the idea where you were given a tutorial by a mission as it simply give you quite some instinct of what to expect in this game. I was given some GP (game points), which was the currency of this game.

I checked the time which was on my menu screen. It was getting kinda late, and I have to wake up early tomorrow to visit a university's open house. I decide to log out. There was one problem. I can't log out.



Well, that was quite a first chapter for me to write. I do realize that my English isn't so good and I do have problems in making names haha. Please do write a feedback to me about my writing. If you like this story, be sure to subscribe. Sharing this story will really help me. Thank you for reading!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

READ ME BEFORE READING

Hello fellow readers

You might be wondering what is this blog. Well, this blog is dedicated to a story that have been in my mind for quite sometime, and I have decided to finally put it out as a blog. This blog will not be updated regularly, since this is a blog for me to put out all my boredom hehe. This blog will be fully in English, but be warned that my grammar isn't exactly the best, since I'm not that good in grammar.

The story is about a boy who played a MMORPG game. The online game is called "Blademasters Online". As you can tell, all the weapons in this game consists of blades (and some projectiles as in throwing knifes, not bows and arrows). When a player logs in into the game, the players will not be able to log out, unless someone finishes the game. The rest of the story will be explained via the story itself.

Well yes, I do admit that the story itself is like an adaptation from Sword Art Online. Not only that, you will also be able to find some reference to other animes or mangas. To be honest, I'm not that good in coming up with my own idea for a story. If there are anything close to anything at all;

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything in this story that might take reference to other things, except for the story itself

Well, without further ado, happy reading :D