Reality Break Ch. 03

Note: In the previous chapter, I showed some of the character's game stats. While I think that's a semi interesting concept, I'm not going to bother doing so anymore, though I'll keep doing the health and mana numbers for fights. It's too much information to keep a handle on and consistently update with every chapter. Hell, I even hand my own little algorithm for the stat increases, I guess I have my own personal demon of sloth residing in me.

Reality Break Ch. 3 - Blood Savant

"Wow... You're right. There really are some neat spots in your hair? Are you sure those VR systems are safe?"

"That's a GOOD question, Hailey." Glasie exclaimed as she allowed her head to be perused by her friend's fingers. "I looked it up, when those needles enter your head, they loosen up inside your brain and they get all wriggly! Like worms!"

"Ugh, don't give me that image. Whenever you mention worms, I can't eat gummy worms for a week."

"Uh, maybe that's because they, y'know, LOOK like worms?" Glasie asked with an excessive amount of sarcasm.

"Still, it's scary to think about these needles entering your head and can play with your mind at will. I mean, what if they control your mind to go rob a bank or something?" Hailey pushed away Glasie's pet ferrets after talking. She didn't care for rat-like creatures.

"First off, there have been less than two percent successful bank robberies in the past decade thanks to MH security and the near impossible to hack software. And second, that stuff only happens in movies, like the Matrix." Glasie rolled her eyes.

"I should watch that again... Well, whatever. Think I should give Rebellions a shot? I should be able to borrow or rent out my brother's virtual system." Hailey rolled her eyes to the back of her head as she relaxed her body. "Maybe we can play together or something."

(Uh oh...) "Well, I fully recommend the game. I found virtual reality an extremely thrilling experience. However, I've joined a group of some really interesting people, so if you do join the game, we'll have to play separate." Glasie found her excuse very awkward and unreliable, but it was all she could come up with on the spot.

Thankfully, Hailey's simple thought process looked past the excuse. "Eh, whatever. Well, you don't work today, do you? And you're on vacay from class. Looks like you get to spend some time with your Red Set VR system. Don't go all Reality Break on me and Natasha! See you later."

Hailey grabbed her gear and dodged the ferrets dancing around her on the floor as she escaped Glasie's apartment.

Glasie also said her goodbyes and brought back both ferrets, Sock and Kitty to a comfortable pillow that they soon fell asleep on, intertwining their tails.

There was nothing interesting on the news. Much of it was a recap on the level three Reality Break case found the other day. Everything else concerned local news and the fresh onslaught of anti-virtual reality groups.

Eventually, Glasie's thoughts turned to her new friends in Rebellions: Blossom and Scarlet. Since the three of them were all heading to a brand new city to find four more teammates. What kind of unique personalities would she find? After all, her other two teammates consisted of an advanced virus AI program and a personality with an odd mix of confidence, optimism, and somber energy. Of course, not that she could say much in that regard. After all, she was playing the games only transgender character, it was impossible for a player to play a character opposite of their gender.

Glass, her persona in game, was a male High Elf with the rogue class. Whenever she entered Rebellions, it almost seemed as if a different personality took over, a jovial and naturally curious male personality. And she just had to stress the male part...

-

"We managed to find out a digital footprint left behind by the infiltrator's access." The voice sighed. "We could at least pinpoint the basic location of the virus AI program. Just pull out the in map and you'll see the relative area of the program to you. The signal should get stronger the closer you get to it. While there have been no problems yet, we cannot be optimistic enough to believe that nothing will happen."

Aria relaxed her body and opened her eyes as she logged in to Rebellions. Currently, the moderator was sleeping in a bed in a lavish home she purchased.

All players could purchase private property. There were many player run shops that sold all sorts of items from potions to soul stones. Others bought lodges close to ingredient rich areas like hunting grounds, lakes, flower fields, mines, and even farms. Some player organizations pooled cogs together to purchase large fortresses or landmasses that other players could congregate in. Any player who purchased property could designate it as private, public, or accessible to only a select few like friends or guild mates.

The best part of the whole property business was that all SonataCorp employees that played Rebellions had a number of benefits, a piece of free, extravagant, and personal property was given. What Aria chose was a quaint two story home with the basics as well as all the tools needed to fuel her interests. It was situated by a beautiful waterfall that diverted into four different falls at irregular points. Nearby was a lovely farming village named Vibrant Shine filled with NPCs of all varieties and frequented by numerous players who visited mainly for the resources.

"That's a lot more than I expected. So this large circle shows the general location of the virus? And the closer I get, the stronger the signal gets and the smaller the circle gets. Yea, I pretty much got it." Aria hesitated for a moment before adding in some more. "Do I get overtime for this?"

"PUHAHAHAHAHAW! Thas' a good one... We'll see." The voice disappeared and the connection vanished.

Aria spit out of her window, imagining the owner of the voice getting spat on. "Damn you, Riktor. You give us moderators this job and SAY we'll get benefits. But most of them are only in the game!" Aria lamented. She wouldn't quit, god no, why do that? This was actually a well-paying job compared to the majority of work out there. Still, it wasn't like SonataCorp wasn't screwing over its employees in some way.

Aria looked at her map, seeing the visible virtual circle that enveloped a good portion of the map. "Let's see... The virus program is definitely in Atarea... Though the circle also borders Orinta."

The names of the seven continents modeled after the ones outside of the game were: Atarea (North America), Satarea (South America), Orinta (Asia), Europa (Europe), Targeya (Australia and Oceania), Lumisia (Africa), and Icea (Antartica). There were other islands and areas that were not a part of the continents, but the majority of game activity happened on the seven continents.

"Most likely, if it wants to stay inconspicuous, it should reside in the major towns and move around. Right now the circle encompasses these four major towns in Atarea and one in Orinta: Sandy Oasis, Castle Port, Vance Line, Dead End, and Grand Fall in Orinta." Aria mulled her choices over until she decided on a course of action. "Let's start in Castle Port since it's closest. If the circle gets smaller, then I simply know I'm heading in the right direction. Tooooo Castle Port and mayhaps I find the source of overtime pay and a hot new guy to boot!"

-

"Tooooo Castle Port and mayhaps we find some good income and teammates to boot!"

"Uh, Glass..."

"Yea!"

"You're in public transportation, people still notice you."

"Oh! Ok. Ah, sorry folks!"

Glass waved apologetically for his random outburst inside the train.

Many complained that there was no easy fast travel transportation except for hard to make portals. Those cries soon died down when they saw the worthwhile experience the developers made public transportation. Currently the trio consisting of Glass, Blossom, and Scarlet were garnering gazes galore as they rode the train.

Girls flocked their eyes to and fro from Glass to his companions, either cursing them for hogging the handsome player or congratulating their luck for teaming up with him. Guys did the exact same, but switching Glass' position with the two girls.

A couple of times, male players tried to talk to both Blossom and Scarlet. Blossom simply rebuffed them, even subtly insulting them much to the audience's amusement. Scarlet answered their flirtations with confused looks and words, eventually those who tried got too frustrated to continue and left her alone. Blossom shot intimidated gazes towards all the female players who even thought of approaching Glass, thus eliminating that threat to her possible future romance.

Now that she thought about it, Blossom did feel a bit pitiful. (Still, how can I when I can't even get cured and wake up?)

As she grew depressed, she failed to notice Glass staring at her from the side.

Glass saw that his friend was gazing mournfully at the scenery out of the train window. Currently, the train was stopped in a farming village situated on a cliff with a beautiful waterfall. "Hey, Blossom, what's wrong?"

Blossom, shaken out of her bleak trance swung around to find Glass' face only centimeters away from hers. "Ah, G-Glass! W-What are you doing?" Surprised and embarrassed to be put into that situation, which to prying eyes could look like a pair of lovers kissing.

"Well, you were looking depressed... C'mon, just smile! Even a simple smile can turn the foulest of moods!" Glass revealed a wide smile on his handsome face, a smile that would melt even the most frigid of nuns.

Blossom couldn't help but smile in return, though it took a good couple of seconds to compose herself. She laughed at first, but she quickly flashed a genuine smile back.

"See? That easy! Your turn Scarlet, c'mon, smile for Blossom." Glass pointed his finger at blank Scarlet.

As always, it was hard to read her expression. Scarlet tilted her head, clearly baffled in how to accommodate Glass' request. It was almost as if she had never smiled in her entire life, at least that was what Blossom thought.

"Hahaha, well, maybe next time then." Glass, watching Scarlet's comical attempt in smiling patted her on the shoulder to reassure her. "Hm, I'm hungry. Considering this is a train, there must be a dining cart, right?"

Blossom quickly answered, "Yes, near the middle of the train there should be dining cars and a bar."

"Right then, I think I'll have myself something to drink. Would either of you like something?" Glass asked politely with the grace of an elite butler.

Alcohol was served freely in this game, anyone underage (In the past decade, the age of consent, drinking, smoking, and drug use age was all lowered to seventeen) would, when drinking the game's alcohol, taste and experience alcohol free drinks. Basically, instead of water to wine, it was wine to water.

"No thank you."

"Same."

"Well aren't we cheery? Remember to smile girls, beautiful ladies like you look ten times better with a charming smile on your face!" Glass mocked an army salute and gallivanted towards the dining car.

"He is certainly a character, right Scarlet?" Blossom wasn't too sure on how to converse with Scarlet yet. Certainly she helped her out in defeating Demonz and his entourage, but she was still a strange fellow. Her skills were no doubt there, but Blossom was still suspicious in how the red haired player dealt the finishing blow on Demonz.

"He is... Interesting."

...

"And what's this concoction named?" Glass asked the bartender.

"An Ectoplasmic Burst." Being an NPC, the bartender replied nonchalantly at Glass' handsome player model. However, the fellow patrons could not say the same.

The bar car was filled with players enjoying a good drink while conversing about in game events. Glass managed to hear a snippet of a conversation between a female Hawkman player and a male Dwarf player that went like this:

"I heard that a guild in Lumisia got one of the godly weapons."

"Seriously?! Those are the rarest weapons in the game! You can't even get them from the strongest bosses out there!"

"Well, this guy, Gallagher, I think he's supposed to be at least level fifty something Pyromancer. He got the godly weapon called Surtr's Sword."

"There have only been five godly artifacts found so far... The Ruyi Jingu Bang and Kusanagi Blade in Orinta, the Smoking Mirror in Atarea, Apollo's Bow in Europa, and now Surtr's Sword in Lumisia. Jeez, I'd love it if I could just find one randomly."

Glass pondered what he heard. From what he learned, the highest tiered magical items were called godly artifacts. The second strongest, which really could be called the second strongest considering the rarity of godly artifacts, were mystical artifacts. Then from there were legendary, draconic, holy/unholy, runed, musical, elemental, magical, and finally common. Glass' Fang Sword was a member of the runed family.

On the subject of godly artifacts, there were only twenty confirmed names which could only go to twenty people including the five already found. Whether there were more than just those twenty, no one would know until they found one that was not on the confirmed twenty.

"AH! MY APOLOGIES! I AM INCREDIBLY SORRY!" A strident voice rung through Glass' ear canal.

"Seriously? You made me trip like that and embarrass me on purpose. Sorry my ass!" And the other voice cried with great annoyance with a hint of playfulness. She was likely enjoying this exchange.

"YES! I PROSTRATE MYSELF BEFORE YOU TO SHOW MY REGRET!"

(What the hell?) The strident voice said something odd which caused the majority of heads, including Glass, to turn around to see the spectacle.

A male Tiefling player was doing as he shouted, prostrating himself before a female Catfolk player.

"Whatever, I need to get on my work." Actually, now that Glass thought about it, the voice and appearance of the Catfolk player seemed very familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on it. The player left the car and moved herself to the back of the train.

(Well, I guess it doesn't matter. About that guy...) "Uh, hello."

The previously prostrating player stood up and resolutely sat next to Glass with the straightest posture he had seen in a long time (Glass hasn't seen his own posture yet).

"Hello my good sir! Allow me to introduce myself!" The Tiefling player was overly friendly, though Glass, strangely enough, wasn't turned off by it.

"No, you don't need to-"

"MY NAME IS SONG HA-SUP! I am the greatest player EVER! Well, I hope to one day. Since you're obviously not from my country, just call me Song for short. What might your name be, good sir?"

Glass actually found himself quite interested in the player. While he didn't respond with the fervor of Song's extreme, he replied in the same way. "My name is Glass! I may not be the greatest player yet, but I plan to be even better than me fellow hopeful greatest players to be!"

"Ahah! Glass-Nim is it? Very good! Where might you be headed Glass-Nim?"

"To Castle Port, my group and I, which only consist of three so far, were hoping to find some good teammates to advance through the game."

"Kakeh! I see! That is good news indeed for this Hyung! Please let me make my pitch, I am sorry to say I have no resume to give, but please hear me out!"

Glass raised his eyebrows and leaned back while sipping the Ectoplasmic Burst. "By all means."

"Song Ha-Sup! I am not very high leveled, only sixteen so far! However, I am an able healer for any team! I am a base class Priest with the Blood Savant classification." Song proudly puffed out his chest and splayed out his hand and placed his fingers on his bosom.

Glass, Blossom, and Scarlet decided to grind up their levels for a little while before deciding to head to Castle Port. The main reason was that each of them were close to level fifteen which is when a player could create a new special skill. A player could create a special skill every five levels until they reached level fifty where a player could only create a special skill every ten levels until level one-hundred, the highest level a player could reach.

As for the process of creating a skill... A skill had to be related to the class a player chose. The example in this case will be Magister class, a cross Mage and Ranger class. The main purpose of this class is to provide long range and widespread magical attacks. Suppose a player with that class wanted to create a skill called Earthquake. The player chooses the type, which is an AOE (area of effect) Earth spell. They then balance out the damage output, duration, range where the epicenter can be placed, casting distance, mana usage, extra effects, and for some spells the level of pain. None of the effects can be too over powered or the player will risk decimating the other stats of the skill. To most players, creating an ability seems daunting and complicated at first, but the majority had found it quite easy the second time.

As of now, Glass and Scarlet were both level sixteen with Blossom being level seventeen.

Glass had created an ability he called Lunge Leap, it allowed Glass to instantly close the distance between him and his opponent while making a sharp lunging stab to a player, NPC, or random spot in the game.

Blossom created a skill called Fairy Zap which allowed her to toss multiple balls of electricity in the air which flew around. The balls did relatively little damage, but a player that ran into several would find his health bar severely depleted. It was designed to hinder enemy movement. And the more electric balls she tossed, the more mana she consumed.

Scarlet, under Glass' guidance considering her hidden nature, created a skill named Ground Stalagmite. Though wordy, it allowed Scarlet to create one or more stalagmites from the ground to attack her opponents. The more she created the more mana she used.

"So, um, Song, how does a Blood Savant heal then?" Glass asked curiously.

"We Blood Savants are honorable and find that in order to heal blood and flesh, we must donate it with our own or that of the fallen enemy! While it is not a pleasant thing to think of, yes, Blood Savants do not need to worry about wasting mana stores when it comes to healing! That is why we are superior to the Priest classes that use light magic as compared to our dark magic!" Song gave a short enthusiastic description of his strengths.

"Why do you want to join my group anyways, Song?"

"Mainly because nobody else wants me to join theirs! Hahaha!" Song laughed at his slightly pathetic answer as if it was his intention to sound that way. "Well, if I had to give a more serious answer... It would be that you're kind of like me. Because this is a virtual reality game, people experience living a second life and treat it too seriously. They don't realize that this IS virtual reality, it isn't real life. You're like me in that we don't seem to take virtual reality too seriously." Song had abandoned his cheerful voice for a more solemn one.

"I guess I understand what you're getting at. This is a game; we should treat it as such and just enjoy what it has to offer." Glass nodded knowingly.

"EXACTLY! I mean, I was looking at some international news one day. Through Naver (Korean search engine), I just happened to see an article about Rebellions. Since you're American, you've probably heard about that level three case of Reality Break, right? It's people like those who take the game too seriously and look where that got him."

(Demonz, that mean guy. I only saw him once, but I didn't know him enough to know if he took the game seriously or not.)

"Well, depressing stuff aside... I, Song Ha-Sup, would greatly enjoy the chance to join you, Glass-Nim, in your quest for all things bountiful!"