Today is the biggest day of my life so far : The day I become the Best Gamer the world has ever seen. Of course I am a normal human being but, Today is also the day I was born. Year 2020, 9th of September marks the Beginning Of A New Era. Also the day I just turnt 20 years.

The Era I intend to lead, as a normal human being, in search of a way to escape this Boring world. This is where I decided on being a Gamer. I love playing games. As a young boy growing up, games has been one of my best talents. A side from drawing which I also like.

Alright enough about me time to get to Action. On the 9th of September 2020. My brother Justin and his best friend Tyler and my self decided to celebrate my birthday, by looking for a new VR-Game to play. But this VR-Game has to be different and better than most games.

Now a Virtual Reality Game is like, a world where gamers can fully immerse themselves into millions of games with an uncountable amount of Action, Adventure, Romance and lots of thrilling experiences. Thanks to Virtual Reality Technology this is one of the most dying wish of all gamers around the world. Not to mention gaming is one of the best things ever created in the History of the world and Mankind.

Unfortunately such technology does not exist yet. But that does not stop one from diving into stories featuring virtual reality.

As a Dare Devil, I constantly seek thrills that can bring a spark into my boring life. I came upon the news of a VR-Game with the penalty of having a player killed in real life, if the game character dies. I decideed to seek the game out.

The name of the vedio game was called Sword Craft. Its a three player game that requires our real information, such as our, Name , Age  Emails and Experience. As we proceed with the game to our surprise we saw something popped up on our gaming screen that said place your hands here.

So out of curiosity we followed the instruction. Without knowing we would eventually be sucked into the game. First went Tyler, second was my brother Justin and last was Me. As we entered into the game there was two words needed to start the game, "link start".

When we said the key words we felt as if we were being sucked into a next dimension. Not knowing what would be waiting for us on the other side. Before the game started I began to see flashes of lights in various colours. I even saw a glimpse of a, "Hundred Storey Dungeon", where the winner of the game would receive a glowing golden egg. Then suddenly the light began to fade away. I felt as though I was knocked unconscious. All I could hear was the voice of my brother and Tyler.

I didn't know how long I was knocked out, but I felt like I was being paralyzed and could not move. I felt like I was floating in darkness. I felt my body Began to Twitch as my feelings of my body began to come back. It was like being hit by a wave of anxiety and excreting pain.

Yet I  could finally breathe, despite the feeling of being suffocated. When I finally regained my body, I tried to gain sense of my surroundings. Although I could still hear the voices of Justin and Tyler in the distance, calling out to me.

A speck of light appeared before me, glowing like the first glimpse of sunrise. The light grew until it was a circle, with a diameter as wide as half of my body. As confusing as I was, it wasn't half as strange as the feeling of my eyes having already adjusted to it. Four similar lights appeared around it. Forming words I could not make out.

I focused on the words, of the four lights "New Game" glowed the brightest. The other three read, "Settings", "Continue" and "Accessories".

"New Game?" The sound of my voice was jarring after the silence.

    Wait... Continue? Settings?. I had played enough games, so I would recognise a gaming menu when I see one. The icon flashed and the words were eventually sucked into the circle of light, like being drawn into a whirlpool. I followed them soon after, my body seeming to stretch as the light engulfed me and a brief sound filled my ears.

When the light faded, I was standing on a dirt pathway, surrounded by the most greenest field of grass I had ever seen, filled with dandelions and daisies. I expected to smell the grass, but when I sniffed the air. I couldn't identify a single distinguishable scent. Hearing the silence, I also noticed that the only noise came from my body movements. Something was wrong, like I was standing in a beautiful botanic garden, filled with plastic flowers. Everything from the clouds and the beautiful sky to the trees in the distance, were as if they were that of a CGI wallpaper, every object had been so neatly arranged that it only highlighted how unnatural it all was.

My face filled with excitement and joy. I said to my self, finally I escaped the real world, with a smerk on my face I was very happy.

Bending down, I touched the dirt of the pathway, feeling it's rich texture under my fingers. It felt so real, like if such sensation was possible. The edges of the track were clean cut, despite the high grass surrounding it. This reminded me about the Anime Series called : (Sao - Sword Art Online). As I looked around I saw a crossroad in the distance and a wooden sign pegged into the grass on the side of the pathway.

I walked forward, details of the environment up ahead becoming clearer with every step, as though I had suddenly become near-sighted. When I finally reach the crossroads, the sign had a carving in block lettering, it had the word 'tutorial' carved into it. Under the carving was a map of a square shaped path. At each corner of the square was a title. The Northern Point was called 'Community', the Eastern point was called 'Actions', the Western Point was called 'menues' and the Southern Point had a red box with 'You are here?' written in it.

  "waw?" I murmured startled again to hear my own voice echo back to me.

Wondering where I was, I guessed that the direction marked 'community' would be my safest place for finding answers. I ran down the dirt pathway, taking a left at the Cross road. Less that a few yards past the Y-junction, an animated circle appeared before me and I stopped. It was continuously filling up and emptying with blue liquid.

  Wait.... Its a loading icon. I hears the chirping sound of a successful Internet Connection. Five bars rose and then vanished only to be replaced with a red window that had three blank spaces for a 'Username,' 'Password,' 'Email', and one more saying, 'experience'.

I stared blankly at the window for a moment before deciding to just go along with whatever trick the universe was playing on me. I said "Email", and the word began to glow. I verbally spelled put my email and password. Both were accepted but when I tried to  create a username it rejected it. Each time I tried a new name the window would shake and the words "Existing username. Try something else." would appear in the red box above it, I wasn't surprised. So many gaming accounts had been created in the past few years that it was almost impossible to find one without numbers or alternative letters. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the system finally accepted 'TriniGhoul'. I immediately typed in my experience.

  Now that I was registered, a chat window appeared and another invitation window immediately popped up on top of it. I was surprised to see my brothers name followed by his best friend's name I did not hesitate to accept it.

  "Stephen?" my brothers voice rang out in my head, wracked with worry". "Stephen? Is that you?"

    "Yeah, Justin, it's me". I moved my head and the window followed my vision. "what's going on? Where are you?"

   "I'm at the Community."

Community? Or yes. We are there too, we are located not to far from there. But before you meet us we have somethings to discuss. This game is an awesome game, you picked the right game Stephen. The details and graphics in this game is literally out of this world.

I said in my mind ; you have no idea brother. He then said : " You have to get some gear." "Gear?" I said with excitement. "Sweet". Where do I go? "You have to go down the back alley make a right and you'll see a sign saying Black Smith." Okay!" cool ill do that." "Also, you need to equip some New Skills. See you soon big brother." I said to my self. Wait.... Justin and Tyler now came into this game and they are further than me. Well what did I expect he is my brother after all.

After I had talked with my brother, I went to the black smiths store. But before that I looked around the village to get familiar with it. I saw lots of thrilling and exciting stores and lots of different people that were quite similar to the people who we had on earth.

Also they are more better looking than the average person. With lots of discriptive details from their heads to their feet. Even the ladies looked better, I felt like if I was in an Anime series where the main character is being smothered by lots of cute girls.

After I toured the city I went back to the black smiths store. As I opened the door I saw lots of various Weapons and Armour and lots of skills. So knowing that I am a total weeb. I looked for two swords, to my excitement I saw a nice black sword and a very nice slim and sharp red sword that was very much alike the ice-sword from kiritos world. But it was red and I love red very much.

  As I looked under the swords there were something engraved into the butt of the swords. Under the black one were the words : "Sharp two edged sword with the skills to take other players magic and power". Also allows you to use any skill set that you desire. Under the red sword were the words : "Sword of fire and magic". The red sword was more detailed, it had a diamond shaped butt with a nicely grooved handle and at the mouth of the handle was a rose with thorns.

  I said to my self "Waw". With excitement this sword is just like kiritos ice-sword but better. At the back of the red sword were words engraved saying : "The wielder of this flaming sword is one that is not of this world". In shock I felt as if the sword was speaking to me. So I quickly took the two swords and placed them on my back.

  Next I went to look for some Armour, to my surprise I saw a black Leather jacket with  in-despicable detail and with it were some red gloves. The black leather jacket was a very hard yet light material and it's power Is just great. This jacket has the power to withstand any distructive power, and transfer damage to other players.

  As I approached the counter table I was at a great sight of shock. Because the person that was in charge of the store and is the black smith resembled a girl who looked just like my girlfriend from the real world. Her name was Sade. I was so overwhelmed that I even asked her to join me on my quest to defeat the game. She was soo hot believe me when I say hot. Like hot times one hundred, she had the same features as my girlfriend.

  I immediately payed form my equipment and with relief she said : "yes", I will join you on your quest to defeat the game. Being so happy and filled with excitement I surpassed the fact that she said yes. At the same time Justin notified me saying : "There is a trainer opposite the store, go check him out". He will also act as your body guard until you get the hang of it.

  The next day I was ready to do some training. "Alright, I'll do the tutorial now."

The chat window blinked out and I was left staring down

the dirt path. A window appeared saying: I felt anxious, afraid. I needed to move. I headed for the

'Actions' section of the tutorial loop.

I arrived at the next window at the northernmost corner.

It read 'Basic Movement' in big, blocky lettering, and a tick

chart underneath listed a few actions. 'Communication' was

already ticked off as well as 'Walking, "Arm Movement,

Speaking,' and Identification. One of the points I had missed

was called Jumping' I leaped up and waved my arms in shock

as it took me six feet into the air. I had to bend my knees to

cushion the landing, but still, being able to jump that high

was enough to put a smile back on my face.

Whoa, it's like I'm on the moon!

As I straightened, a wooden crate appeared beside me

with the word 'Climb' glowing above it. I touched it, feeling

the rough texture of the grain. It only went up to my chest

and I climbed over it easily enough, though I thought I could

have simply jumped over it. As soon as my feet touched the

ground on the other side, a window appeared with the option

'Next.

I said, "Next," and the box vanished.

In its place appeared a double-edged sword under

another action title: 'Swing' I grabbed hold of its leather-

woven hilt. Like the crate, it was solid and heavy enough that

it felt real. I swung it from side to side and then spun it in my

grip.

I can finally put to use all of the practice I did when pretending

my broomstick was a lightsaber.

As I went to strike it down, another 'Next' window

appeared. I said, "Next," again and, with a flash, the sword

turned into a long spear with the word 'Stab' hovering above

the tip of its curved blade. I obliged, spinning the spear in my

hand before deliveringa few quick thrusts.

I said, "Next," as soon as the third window appeared,

transforming the spear into a long bow, an accompanying

arrow and the command 'Shoot' hovering beside it. I grabbed

the arrow and pulled the feathered end against the taut

string, aiming for a distant tree. I was surprised by how

realistic the resistance of the bowstring was. I let go and

watched as it missed completely.

Seems like I'm not going to be an archer in the game.

Agitated by this, I said, "Next," despite another arrow

flashing into existence beside the text.

With yet another flash, the bow and arrow shrunk down

into a small throwing knife. A Throw' command appeared

above it. Like the sword, the knife had a leather grip and a

razor edge that curved up to a sharp point. I tossed it at the

same tree I had missed with the arrow. This time the

projectile stuck and I grinned in success, pumping my fist.

Another knife appeared and I tried again with less

success, prompting me to once again say, "Next."

A heavy circular shield appeared on my forearm and the

knife transformed into a metal ball that began to float around

me. A blue arrow with the word 'Block' hovered above it. The

arrow turned red and the ball flew quickly toward me. I

raised my shield as, with a loud CLANG and an impact that

nearly knocked me off my feet, the heavy metal ball

rebounded off. I looked over the shield's rim to see the metal ball floating around me again, moving quicker this time.

The 'Next' option appeared, and, not wanting to be hit by

the thing, I quickly said, "Next!"

Safe to say I'd prefer to be on the throwing end of projectiles

than the receiving end.

Both the shield and metal ball vanished in a flash, and a

new window appeared that said 'Spell Casting.' This window

was replaced by another, showing me a video of a featureless,

white avatar raising its hand as a 2D image of a flame filled

the empty space inside its head. Above the image was the

line, "Think of fire and repeat the following motion." The

avatar raised its hand, palm out. A ball of flame shot out of its

hand and the spell name Fire Ball" filled the window before

the video repeated itself. I tried it and gasped. My

outstretched hand recoiled as the mere thought of fire caused

a roaring ball of flame to fly from my open palm, the

crackling heat turning a nearby bush black.

"Woah!"

A similar window replaced the first. "Think of lightning

and repeat the following motion." Below the text, the avatar

raised its hand above its head and a fork of lightning

appeared where the fire had been. I raised my arm. There was

a flash as I triggered a bolt of electricity to shoot down from

the sky, leaving the ground before me blackened.

Hah, that's clever! If it was just the thought that triggered the

spell it would be a lot harder to control. Okay, I've got this.The next movement showed the avatar raising up the

palms of its hands, and, thinking of dirt, I copied it as a wall

of earth rose up in front of me. It crumbled as the next

instructional window appeared. I laughed in amusement as I

used a sweeping hand gesture for the next spell and sent a

blast of wind in the direction of a grove of trees. Leaves and

small sticks went flying. I waited for the next window to pop

up, but it seemed that this was the last spell to be shown on

the instruction video.

With the second part of the tutorial finished, I continued

down the path to the third and final part of the diamond-

shaped pathway, the one I was expecting to be the most

boring. As I walked, I noticed the destruction I had caused to

the surrounding bush vanish behind me, my magical

onslaught of little consequence to this place.

Four menus popped up as soon as I reached the corner.

When I looked over them, each of their titles highlighted:

'Status, "Items, "Abilities,' and 'Key Triggers.

I said, "Status," and the window expanded.

The menu was gray, deactivated during the tutorial, but I

could see that it had a green health bar for my Hit Points, a

blue Mana bar for using spells and abilities, and a red Stamina

gauge. Those stats were labeled as 'Visible,' and below them

was a section labeled Invisible' telling me that those stats

couldn't be seen by other players. They were represented

with symbols, one for each basic stat: a sword for strength, a

shield for defense, a boot for speed, and a downward pointing

arrow for weight.

Trailing down parallel to them were two other symbols

that looked like a flame and a snowflake. I thought that

perhaps these represented the strength of my fire and ice magic, but, considering there were no icons for the other

spells I had used, this was only a wild guess. Below them were

icons for the status effects of weapons and the defense ratings

of armor that I would eventually be able to find in-game. One

was an icon resembling the downward pointing arrow,

showing that weapons and armor added to my overall weight.

As expected for the beginning of the game, my items

menu was empty when I pulled it up, so I closed it and

checked the abilities menu. It was filled with the four tutorial

spells I had already used. They were called: Fire Ball,

Lightning Strike, Earth Mold, and Wind Blast.

The last menu, 'Key Triggers,' was the smallest and

remained floating at the bottom left corner of my vision

opposite my Hit Points, Mana, and Stamina bars. Its layout

indicated that it could be used for assigning shortcuts for

abilities and in-game options, such as the hand gestures used

for spells or tapping location options that appeared in the

menu. This made sense considering how the size of the other

menus could block a player's vision, which would make

fighting enemies a whole lot more difficult. I used my finger

to drag some of the mock abilities to my Key Triggers and

noticed there was a limited number you could have to begin

with.

Once I had filled out the Key Triggers, another 'Next'

popped up.

said, "Next," and a video window appeared displaying

how a player could use what were called Skill Points to learn

new abilities and increase their Hit Points, Mana, Stamina,

and other stats.

So, you raise your stats with these Skill Points instead ofleveling?

Experimenting with the drag function, I used the Skill Points provided to decrease my weight, allowing me to jump

even higher. However, as fun as it was to propel myself into

the air, the graphics in the tutorial didn't allow me to see

very far past the trees. All I could see were uniform fields that

blurred into the distance.

I quickly realized that doing all this would be a lot more

enjoyable while actually playing the game, so I closed the

menu. Another message unraveled across my vision with a

trumpeted fanfare.

I recalled that I had to

choose one of four specialty Niches. Each of the Niches could

utilize every skill but the Niche you chose determined what

skills you could more easily gain skill Points for.

A window appeared with the Actions I had completed

listed in four columns. At the top of each column was the

name of one of the four Niches indicating which Niche

specialized in each Action. The options were Warrior, which

focused on basic movement and melee weaponry; Range,

which focused on the bow and throwing weapons; Heavy,

which focused on the strength to both deliver and defend

against heavy attacks; and Spellcaster, which spoke for itself.

Calculating the very real risk I would be putting myself in

if I chose a Niche that needed me to be close to my opponents

to kill them, I decided either Range or Spellcaster would be

my best options. Considering ld had the most fun castingspells during the tutorial, the decision seemed obvious. If I

had to pick only one while trapped in here, it might as well be

the one I found the most fun.

I followed my gut and said, "Spellcaster."

A circle of light appeared before me as a voice said,

"Welcome Spellcaster TriniGhoul!" It was jarring to hear

the username spoken in my own voice. It must have been

recorded when I had chosen it.

I walked into the circle of light, and, like moving through

a sci-fi portal, I stepped into the Dream State. I was in a town

square, and, judging by the buildings around me, the in-game

world was far more detailed than the tutorial I had just left. I

stood in an open, orange-tiled area that looked to be the

center of a city. A flying banner caught my attention,

announcing, "Welcome to Galrinth." Multiple paths branched

off from the courtyards, and groups of conversing avatars

congregated around as though waiting for something. I

looked around the platform I stood upon, seeing that the

empty blue void inside the Gateway resembled the clear sky

above me.

My new Starter-Mage Boots clapped on the stone-tiled

platform as I made my way down onto the path. The streets

were full of people and I heard one player loudly insulting

another. Then again, with the way it was played out, it could

have been a dialogue programmed for two Non-Player

Characters.

"I can't believe how badly you screwed up that mission!"

one yelled.

"Me?" the other exclaimed, sounding like he was nearing

the end of his patience. "You completely missed the Rare Metals in the Penance Mines!"

"Ignore them, they're NPCs," I heard a man to the left of

them saying. "I suppose you're him, right?"

I turned to see a dark-haired, dark-eyed, humble leather-

clad Warrior leaning against a nearby wall. His worn-leather

clothes had thick protrusions covering his shoulders and

thighs.

"T'm Stephen . Are you the Hero rank my brother hired to

help me?"

He nodded, trying to seem professional. "Yup. I'm

Datalent. It's a combination of "the talent' and "data lend'

considering, as a Hero rank, I can endow and relinquish a

player's beginner abilities." He then ruined his built-up

persona as his eyes ran over my beginner's gear. "Tsh, you

just had to choose the Spellcaster, didn't you? You just had to

make this a challenge for me. I guess that's alright; I don't

mind a challenge."

"Are Spellcasters particularly difficult to master?

Datalent smacked his forehead and groaned, "The worst."

"So?"

He pushed away from the wall and then began making his

way through the city, gesturing me on with the wave of two

fingers. I followed as we moved down the Galrinth road,

between buildings of relatively uniform height. The place was

somewhat mundane, rows of shops and orange tiles under a

clear sky.

"As virtual worlds go, this place is pretty impressive."

"Tsh, Galrinth is as plain as a bread sandwich compared

to some of the other areas in the Dream State." Datalent tilted

his head, looking at me over his shoulder, "It's designed to fingered a rusted blade.

Datalent smirked. "That's the first mistake all of you rich

newbies make. You spend all your money on the prettiest

weapons, and, when it breaks in the first few hours, you

complain about how much it costs to mend because you

haven't built up the Forging Skill yet. By starting off with

these kinds of weapons, you can build it up very quickly and

easily."

"But..a Copper Sword?"

Datalent pulled out a worn blade from the wooden rack

that was both tarnished and bent like a question mark.

"Copper is the best starter sword as it only takes a moment to

fix and it will help you level up. Once you've learned to fix

weapons, it will save you a lot of Moola later on in the game."

He presented the sword to the vacant-eyed storeowner and

handed over the coin for it. "This way when you move onto

Spellcaster staves or wands or whatever, you can spend more

money on spell upgrades, abilities, or experience boosters.

But for now, yes, we start with this piece of crap."

After we walked out of the store, he threw the sword to

me and a menu window opened to showcase its predictably

terrible specs. All were low, save for its high repair-ability. I

could definitely see the method to his madness. It was the

"buy a man a fishing rod rather than a fish" approach.

Nevertheless, I couldn't help but sigh at how incredibly

shabby it looked as I put it into my items pack.

Hopefully Datalent's advice doesn't kill all of the fun this world

has to offer.

"Now that we have a sword to work on, the next step is to

find a Rock Demon or some other weak monster to break it on." He began down the road and I followed after him again.

"When we were first talking, I coded the beginner spells into

your menu. Have you put them in your Key Triggers yet?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You've been with me since

the time I arrived. Did it look like I've done it?"

"I can't see your menu, idiot."

Well, how was I supposed to know that?

Datalent shrugged. "If you want to last in this game for

more than a day, you're going to have to learn to quickly

choose your Key Triggers before you get into a battle.

Otherwise, you'll have no abilities to protect yourselt. Not a

very good situation for someone like you from what I've been

told."

"So you know about my condition then? I have to say I'm

a little nervous about all this, but you're here to protect me,

right?"

"Yup, that's why your parents paid Wona so much. For a

game that involves a lot of trial and error by learning from

dying, it's going to take a lot of Moola to keep you alive while

we're training. Honestly, you're going to have to listen to me

very closely if you want to survive in this place."

Datalent's matter-of-fact tone was grating, but he was

right. While I listened, I put my lesson from the tutorial to use

and shifted what abilities he had already endowed me with

into my Key Triggers. They were the same four spells I

learned in the tutorial. With the amount of time l'd had in the

game, they were probably the only ones I could use now

anyway. I guessed that I would be able to use other spells

when I completed some quests in the world, like one of the

water dungeons would give me a water spell or something Man... It really sucks that I can't show this to Sade.

I bit my lip, my shoulders slumping in the guilt I felt from

this thought.

Who am I kidding? She would be upset with me for letting

myselfbe sucked into the game so quickły.

Datalent appeared beside me. "Don't wet yourself now."

This prompted an odd thought, and I laughed as we made

our way across the grass. "Even if I did, I probably have a

catheter to stop me from making a mess."

"Lucky you." His voice was thick with dry sarcasm.

"Either way, be cautious but have fun. After all, why else did

you decide to play?"

"It was either this or remain in the tutorial to sulk."

He shrugged. "It seems you made the right decision

then."