2022-12-14 15:56:10Chapter 5: The Admin
The hall (training arena) fades out of view and the next moment, I’m in a booth that looks like the inside of a spaceship. I move my physical body, attempting to walk around the spaceship but my avatar doesn’t move. I can rotate on the spot to look around though. When I’m starting to think the game is bugged, I get a notification.
[Choose your starting point]
A sphere appears in front of me. It’s a globe but just not earth’s globe. I’m guessing it’s for the Utopia world.
I look all over the globe. Anywhere should be fine, right? Nope. Different areas have different terrains, beings, natural resources and so on. So, the area you choose will influence your future development. Just like how those living in the tropics will develop resistance to heat and will want to die if they found themselves in the arctic areas without adequate preparation.
I want to gain a lot of power, but I don’t want to be some recluse whose only hobby is levelling up in some mountains. I guess we’re going the adventurer route? Will give me the opportunity to find more vermin to eradicate.
N/B: We use ‘Vermin’ to refer to those players who just can’t help themselves but to hunt other players for experience points and loot outside where it’s legally allowed. They end up ruining the game for weaker/newer players sometimes leading to them abandoning the game. I hate them. Why? I’m just like that. I don’t expect everyone to be fair and/or equal but at the very least, don’t make it your day job. You want to fight? Pick on someone your own size.
Ugh…I want to slap myself for how cliché that sounded but I meant it.
Back to the map. Hmm…Where do I spawn?
“Are there any hidden locations that are habitable and also not too far from cities?”
[Checking hidden locations]
[Results: 17,206]
[Streamlining based on proximity to areas estimated to become densely populated]
[Results: 3,158]
Ugh. That’s still quite the list.
“Hidden locations that can be mastered.”
[Adding keyword ‘master’]
[Searching]
[Results: 11]
“That many? They really went above and beyond. From the map of the globe, I’m guessing the Utopia world is no smaller than earth. And it’s very detailed and diverse. Whew.”
I look through the 11 choices and one stand out to me.
[Hogon’s Invisible Floating Castle]: Floating castle cloaked in invisibility magic belonging to the head of the Vampire Knights, Hogon]
There isn’t much more information about it. Maybe I’ll get more when I’ve mastered it.
I choose it.
[This is an artifact that only permits its master or those permitted by its master to reside in. You can only take the test once and will be permanently barred from entry upon failure. Would you still like to proceed?]
[Yes] Or [No]
“Hell. If I fail, it’s not the end of the game. Proceed.”
[Preliminary Procedures Complete]
[Updating Player Status]
[Transferring]
The scene before my eyes fades out and I find myself in front of a 25-foot-tall door with 14-foot-tall stone statues on either side (2 on either side adding up to four).
The first one from my left is a man with an apple in his right hand (my left) and a dagger in his left (my right). He is dressed in casual robes with a crown of flowers on his head (all made of stone). He appears to be just about to peel the apple.
Next to him is a female knight with her helmet in her hand as she kneels before him like she’s reporting something to him.
After her are the doors.
First from my right is a woman with an apple in her left hand and a knife in her left. She also appears to be about to peel the apple.
Next to her is a female knight with a sword and a shield standing upright but he seems to be looking in the direction of the kneeling female knight and man peeling the apple.
“What the?” Why do I get the feeling this scene actually happened somewhere back in time and I’m there right now? Hmph. Forget it. It’s just a game after all.
I take a step forward and the male knight turns his gaze to me before striking at me with his sword. I manage to narrowly dodge as I jump back.
“Ha. Ha. That was close.”
The male knight turns his attention to the female with the apple and then back to his original posture.
No other statues have moved so far and he’s not attacking.
That strike alone was enough for me to have died ten times over.
I try again but the result is identical. Why is only this gu attacking?
The other statues aren’t looking in my direction…Do I have to beat only him?
Hmm… “Status.”
[IN-GAME PROFILE]
[PSEUDONAME: DEXTER BLOOM]
RACE: DEVIL ELF
ROLE: DEVIL GOD SUCCESSOR
AGE: 17
GENDER: MALE
TIER: NOOB
TIER RANKING: 000064852/000064852 [STILL RISING AS MORE PEOPLE JOIN]
LEVEL: 10
FORM 1: HUMAN-LOOKING
HEIGHT: 5’9
HAIR COLOR: RED
HAIR STYLE: SLICK BACK
EYE COLOR: BLUE
BODY TYPE: RECTANGULAR
UTOPIA COINS: 1
[STATS]
STRENGHT: 14
AGILITY: 19
STAMINA: 17/17
DEXTERITY: 29
DURABILITY: 13
INT: 19
IQ: 128 [STATS CANNOT BE ASSIGNED TO THIS]
HP: 55/55
MP: 50/50
SKILL POINTS: 1
SKILLS/SPELLS
[TRANSFORMATION (Active) (LV 1): Transform between form 1 and form 2. Duration of transformation decreases with proficiency. Duration: 6 Mins]
[30% Additional boosts on all stats at transformation]
[Singularity Of The Devil (Active) (LV 9)]
Size: 1280 cm/41 ft 11.9 In
Duration: 55 seconds
Cooldown: 4.7 seconds
“Ok. I should have listened to the system. The test has probably already begun, and I’ll have to either let it go forever or fight to the death.” I got myself into this and I’m not giving up. If I die and have to redo training all over again. It’s worth it. At least I tried. “Any hints?”
I receive a notification.
[Choose Administrative Voice}
[Adrian] Or [Melisa]
“What the…?”
I look through the explanation and to sum it up: The system takes care of the initial setup of all players and when they are through with training, they are transported to their age-designated servers where administrators of that server take over.
It’s basically like: The system is the teacher that welcomes all the students irrespective of class back to school in a large auditorium (training ground) after which, the teachers(administrators) of each class (server) takes over.
That explains that but why do the two voice options bear the names of my folks…don’t tell me. No, they did not!
I select Adrian.
“Hello. Welcome to Utopia.” That’s my dad’s voice but it sounds a little unnatural. So, it’s programmed.
Ugh…it’s going to get weird around here.
I then choose Melisa.
“Hello. Welcome to Utopia.” Yep. It’s as I guessed. My mom’s voce.
Hmph. As much as I miss my ever bus parents, I didn’t want to hear their voices like this.
Well, here’re no other options. I’ll just go with mom’s voice then.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
XVIII
Chapter 18: Beginning Hand To Hand Combat TrainingTeam B, Marcus and Juliet's team ended up wining the second round and took the victory. I left after their match and started heading west. I couldn't find an opponent that is in my tier so I couldn't participate. The rules state that in 1v1s, none of the competitors should be more than 2 levels higher than their opponent. As for teams, the average level of the teams must have a difference no greater than 1 and the difference between the highest levels on each team should be no greater than 2. Which means, even if I found a teammate with a low enough level to get the team average level to be lower than 21 and equal to our opponents', their team must have someone that's up to level 19.Speaking of which. I am currently fighting a level 19 beast in hand-to-hand combat. I usually just levelled up by staying at a distance with my scythe and the singularity skill but few fist fights.It's a red monkey-like beast with
XVII
Chapter 17 The dual swordsman, Francis stays in the ring while his partner heads out and Juliet the female orc stays in with Marcus stepping out. "Start." The two of them cautiously walk in circles looking for an opening in their opponents. This goes on for about seven seconds before Francis throws the word in his right hand at Juliet's neck before charging at her. She ducks and comes back up with a leap towards her opponent. Whilst in mid-air, she pulls out a club from her inventory and swings it down at him which he blocks with the sword left in his left hand. He manages to parry the strike but staggers a few steps backward. Her strength seems to have overwhelmed him. She dishes out a kick towards his right knee, but he slides his leg backward causing her to miss, hitting the air before landing on the ground forcefully. Before she can retrieve her left leg, he steps on her left foot with his left foot, pining her in place and hitting striking her wa
XVI
Chapter 16: Cangue City's Arena "Phew." There are more people than I expected. There are many seats in this stadium. Stadia actually. The arena is split into multiple stages of different sizes and shapes for different types of matches which can be run simultaneously. You pay 0.2 U coin for a regular seat and 0.5 for a VIP seat. Well, there are technically no 0.2 or 0.5 U coin currency but that is what is charged to your Arena Ticket. I don't know why, but I got two tickets and paid for a VIP seat. [3 U coins → 1 U coin] [2 Arena Tickets → 1.3 Arena Tickets] I paid for a regular seat first but after getting uncomfortable while seating amongst others, I got a VIP one and the previous ticket is non-refundable. The most interesting matches are the ones fought by teams that have gotten popular in the short time the game has been released. I could wipe them out alone but learning how they fight will get me knowledge to be more effective. I may not need to care right now since I will
XV
Chapter 15: Boom Not Boon For Humanity "Is there any way to tell who is and who isn't?" I ask. "…Hmm." She seems to be in thought. "At the moment, we can only check through the system, which is taking some time to check all the servers but as for regular players? I'm not sure you can differentiate them unless they have their memories. Some of them usually suffer amnesia. And those with their memories are usually freaking out. Some weird ones were slightly happy though. Anyway, all the ones we have found so far have been moved to a separate server." "…" My heart is pounding crazily at the moment. Elise may most likely be a player who has amnesia. Wait. The admin said she was an NPC. "Can the admin tell if a player was sucked in? Is it possible for it to mistake players as NPCs that have gained sentience?" "This…I don't think so. The admins should have records of the NPCs that were generated before the players logged in. So, it should be easy to compare." I sigh in relief. "But, wi
XIV
Chapter 14: I'm Not A Real Person "Elise…hello." Why am I panicking? Scratch that. Why shouldn't my heart pound? If she has really realised that she is not real and this world is virtual, how do I appease her? How do I make her come to terms with that? "Real…world?" "You don't have to lie to me. It's fine. I've learnt a lot the past few days while listening to the Admin. She's not a real person either, is she?" "…No." I really didn't think this would happen (her finding out). At least not this fast. "But the fact that you're not real doesn't mean you're insignificant to me." "…" She doesn't respond. I can't tell what the meaning of the expression on her face is, but I thinks she's pouting? I don't know. I might be wrong. I walk over to her and look hr in the eye. "You don't believe me?" "…" "Come on. Please answer. You're making me nervous." She doesn't answer but kisses me on the cheek before turning around and by the time I snap out of the trance I entered after the kiss; sh
XIII
Chapter 13: Harvest Function "Huh?" It dawns on me what this means. With the ever-dwindling food and housing, this is quite good for the real world. Clothing…shelter? Urbanization has mad high-rise buildings really common. The norm even. With the reducing landmass available due to flooding (from global warming), buildings with more floors are a wiser choice since it will accommodate more people with the same piece of land. That's good and all but why am I jumping the gun? Bringing loot to reality? Is that even possible? I know man's technology has grown by leaps and bounds but this concept and be likened to creating something from nothing. Can the in-game stimuli be counted as a form of energy? VR loot as energy convertible to real life objects? I doubt that. Maybe they mean something like, you can bring it out to the real world as a hologram or something. Let's move on for now and try it out when the update is complete. "Thanks for the cake." "Are you leaving?" "Yes…" Why do I f
