CHAPTER 1 PART 1

"Ezec, this is the final prototype for the latest RPG game that our company is currently developing" Freyson handed him a package, on the front of the package, it was labelled, "Kingdom of Hartedvast". 

Ezec take the package excitedly and check the content inside the package. There's a manual book inside the package, and the word "The Manual of Kingdom of Hartedvast" is written on top of it. He open the book and read the content inside. It's a thoroughly written manual book, explaining about the world inside the game, the characters, the different type of races, occupations and so on. He browse the book slowly, complete immerse in the fantasy world inside the book. There is a section on the book with foreign writing and scripture, yet somehow it look so familiar to him.

"This scripture…?" Ezec lifted the book and show it to Freyson before continuing, "Isn't this is our secret language that you make me learn since I was a kid?"

Ezec remember when he was five, Freyson teach him a new language and briefly tell him that this is their special language and they can share tons of secrets when they use this language. A language so special that only the both of them can understand and speak. Freyson would teach him how to read, write and speak diligently everyday. With Freyson strict teaching and Ezec enthusiasm, soon he was able to master the language as if he's speaking in his own mother tongue. 

"Yes, that's our secret language. For other players, its just a random meaningless scripture but since you're able to understand this language, naturally it's a different case for you. I've decided to integrate some of the things I've taught you in the past inside this game. You might find the world inside the game to be quite familiar to your knowledge."

"So, its like a cheat sheet, huh?" Ezec hold his chin and nodded his head, recalling back all the stuff Freyson has taught him in the past. 

If there's a word to describe Freyson and his way of raising Ezec, he would describe it as 'living in hell'. Freyson was overly strict with him ever since he was a child. His daily life is no more than studying and training all kind martial arts, learning all sorts of knowledge and training his body endurance and strength. As a result from Freyson hellish training, the child grows up into a fine, handsome, genius, strong and muscular young man. It was only after he turns 15 years old that Freyson let him slack off a bit and pass him the responsibility of testing new game prototypes developed by his company.

Freyson Mizael is the CEO of a Hartsoft Studio, a well-known gaming company that is popular with RPG games and apps development in the country. His nephew, Ezecrain Mizael is an avid gamer whose main responsibility in his uncle's company is to try out every single prototype they make and give them his feedbacks. His uncle raised him single handedly ever since he was born. Ezec never meet his parents, nor did Freyson ever speak about them. All Freyson ever said is that he found him near a ruin in a foreign country, almost eaten by wild wolf. It has been 18 years since Freyson took him in.

"You can say so. A cheat sheet. I decided to design the game based on the games we used to play when you're young," He took a sip of black coffee from the cup as he speak, reminiscing the past, "Consider it at your birthday present. The whole game is built especially for you."

Tint of excited can be seen from Ezec's face. He flipped the book once again and then put it down on the table in front of him before picking up a cup of iced mocha and slowly sipping and savoring the sweetness in his mouth.

 "This game is different from our previous project that you tried before. I would say, it's the most high-tech game on the market. It's a virtual reality game that take you inside the game, utilizing all your senses to make you feel as if you're living inside the game's world. You can even touch, taste foods, smell and feel pain inside this game."

Ezec stare at the man in front of him eagerly, "Seriously? That much?? This game is epic!"    

Freyson smile at him and speak, "Seven days from now at 10am in the morning, come to my apartment to test out the new prototype. The set up for this game is different from the normal games you used to play. We will need to try it on a specially built gaming platform. Within this few days, you need to study the manuals thoroughly."

"You can count on me, Uncle Frey."

***

The seven days passed in a blink of an eye.

Freyson's apartment 

8.30 am

The doorbell ring nonstop for few minutes. A young guy can be seen standing excitedly in front of the door, pushing the doorbell few times while sipping his tall cup of iced mocha.

Freyson walk to the door grumpily. He was staying up all night working on the new gaming system and only managed to finish his work when the first rays of light shine on the horizon. He went to bed at 6.30am, only to be waken up by the annoying ringing sound of the doorbell. He open the door and the next thing he saw is his nephew barging in and rushing to the toilet. After a few minutes later, he come out with a relief look on his face.

"I thought I said 10am," Freyson stare at him with annoyance written all over his face.

"I can't fall asleep at all last night, so I thought I just come here first thing in the morning. What's with that annoyed face?," He study Freyson's annoyed face for a while before continuing, "Wanna order some breakfast?"

"Whatever. Let me sleep for one more hour." 

Freyson left him alone in the living him while he went back to his bedroom for one more hour of sleep. Ezec turns on the TV, scroll his phone and order some breakfast delivery. 

By the time Freyson comes out from his bedroom, he saw a spread of breakfast on the dining table. He walk over to the fridge and pour himself a glass of orange juice before sitting down on the dining table, with a serious look on his face as if his company is facing a huge crisis and going bankrupt. 

Nonetheless, Ezec start pouring himself another cup of coffee and start munching the foods in the plate, waiting for his uncle to come to his sense.

Breakfast time passed by quietly without a single word. Freyson look at the clock on the wall for few second before turning to Ezec.

"Are you ready?"

"I'm all ready since seven days ago." 

"Alright, come with me."

Freyson lead him inside a big, white room. Ezec study the room as he enter. The whole room is painted white. There's several big monitor with control panel and a chair facing it. At the center of the room, there are four pillars with strange drawing all over it. It looks like an ancient script from an unknown race, different from the language his uncle taught him before.  Although he used to live in his uncle's apartment until he move out a year ago, he never enter this room previously. Its a forbidden ground in his uncle's place. 

Freyson hands him a cordless headset. It looks like a more complicated and sophisticated version of VR headset, looking more like a helmet than a headset. Ezec study the helmet in his hand, eager to put this on and try this new game.

"How does this works? Any brief explainations?" Ezec ask as Freyson turned on the system in front of them and start tapping on the keyboard. 

"Welcome to "Hartedvast". A computerized voice can be heard coming from the speaker.

"Just put on the helmet and walk over to the center of the pillars, we call it the Portal. The system will activate the game and take you inside the game world. When you're inside the world, a hologram screen will popped out in front of you and guide you over there. It's the same concept as all the RPG game you've tried before, only more realistic."

"Else than that? You said that I can feel pain inside this game, how is the pain level? Very painful?" Thinking about what his uncle said previously, his uncertainty rise along with his anxiety and excitement. 

"…" Freyson keep his hands busy tapping on the screen, ignoring Ezec anxious look.

"Sigh… Alright then, I'm off!" He walk to the center of the pillars and stand at the center of the portal. The portal beneath his feet looks sophisticated with all the strange writings and character on it. The four pillars around him start to glow in white light, and the strange ancient character beneath his feet slowly turned into a hologram characters, floating around him like a laser light. Excited, he put on his helmet.

CHAPTER 1 PART 2

"Ezecrain Hartell, welcome to Hartedvast."

Suddenly, his vision blurred for a few second and he feels like he's floating in the air. Blood rushed to his brain, he has a sudden urge to throw up. It feels like riding a roller coaster, aimlessly falling down a cliff. What a horrible portal experience. They need to fix this portal, Ezec remind himself.

The next thing he knew, he was standing among the ruin of what seems of be like an old temple. A statue of a dragon as tall as 10 meter stand mighty on the highest platform. On his feet where he was standing is the same circle he see at his uncle's place. Four broken pillars surround the Portal. 

He look down from where he stand, there's a stair going down to the lower ground. Two disfigured statue that once stood proudly is now lying on the floor, broken into thousands pieces. The broken statues lie on the floor on the each side of the lower platform. There's a pool of water in front of the lower platform, all the way to the entrance door. Connecting the lower platform and the entrance door is a pathway as wide as 2 meter and around 15 meter long. 

Vine creeps on the walls, green moss covered almost half of the exposed bricks on the walls and floor. Wild grass and bush grows among the ruin. The sun rays enter the temple through the broken walls, illuminating the interior of the ruin.

'This should be the Portal.'

He look down on his feet and realize he is now wearing another set of clothes. Brown boots that looks like its made from animal's skins, a roughly made black pants and a plain brown blouse. Apart from that, there's nothing else on his body. He wiggle his toe, pat his head and pinch his arm, 'Ouch..!' This level of pain is too real!'

Still standing on the Portal, a hologram appears out of nowhere in front of him. He touched the screen with his finger but it passed straight the screen. 

'So how do you control this panel?' 

He try touching it several times but failed to click on the image in front of him.

A line appears on the screen.

____________________

WELCOME TO HARTEDVAST KINGDOM

EZECRAIN HARTELL

RACE: HYBRID 

LEVEL: 1

EXPERIENCE: 0/200

HEALTH: 150/150

STAMINA: 150/150

ATTRIBUTE: 

STRENGTH         10+

DEXTERITY         10+

INTELLIGENCE   10+

AGILITY              10+

MAGIC                10+

SKILLS: 

COMBAT ART

HERBALIST

He study the information on the hologram screen.

'Is that all? Any other information? How about the map of this place? Maybe this thing is voice activated.'

"Open map."

Nothing happened.

'Maybe with my thought?' 

He focused his thought on the hologram image floating in the air in front of him, giving out instructions to the system as he focused on the word, 'MAP' inside his head.

Suddenly, the screen changed into a series of map. 

"Aha! I knew it!"

Based on the map, he is now located in Hartedvast Kingdom. Zooming in the map with his mental command, he scrolls the entire Kingdom and finally reach his current location. There are several province in the Kingdom, and the one he's currently standing at is Kurbatov province. Based on the map, he's currently standing at the outskirt of a town, within an old ruin surrounded by forest. It seems that he need to get out from the forest to reach the town. Several spot on the map are covered in black spot, seems that he need to discover that area himself to activate the map, he thought to himself.

'I've seen the character sheet and the map... What else do I miss?'

'Quest' 

'Mission'

He give a mental command to the screen in front of him, but nothing happened. 

'Uhhhh…'

Suddenly, a thought crossed his head.

"Uncle Frey, can you hear me?" 

'This is a prototype, so they should be able to communicate, right?'

He waited for a while, but nothing happened. Did his uncle just dump him there with no further instructions? He left out a big sigh and decided that he should just make do with his situation.  

Sigh… This prototype really need a lot of improvement.

Ezec walk down from the Portal, walking through the pathway. He look down inside the pool, surprisingly the water was crystal clear, and he can see inside the pool, red and golden fish swimming inside the water. He counted them, there's around 10 of them inside the pool. Occasionally, a radiance golden light can be seen shining from the fish's head, illuminating the pool like the firefly at night. 

He walk outside, surveying the exterior environment around him. The old ruin is surrounded by giant trees, roots and vines creeping on the ground, climbing its way up the ruin and the giant trees.

He walk a few round inside and around the ruin, scanning the area hoping that he might pick up some treasure or artifact. Maybe pick up some weapon or magic potion? Looking at his condition right now, if a monster comes up, he probably have to fight bare handed. The ruin area is relatively small, it only take him less than 10 minutes to complete one round. 

After turning the ruin upside down, he couldn't help but to feel disappointed when he didn't manage to find anything useful or valuable. 

'I need to out from here.'

His eyes were fixed to the forest in front of him. 

Ezec open the hologram map and search for the direction to the nearest road or town. Walking to the north side will only lead him further deeper into the forest, the west and south area seems to be another dense forest. On the east side, there are river not far from the ruin and there seems to be a road there? A large area of the map seems to be locked, it can only provide either general map of the kingdom or left a patch of black spot here and there. 

'To the east then!'

He close the map and walk to the eastern side of the forest, determined to face whatever challenge he will faced inside the unknown forest.

'Nevertheless, I'm still a level 1 player. Based on the game logic, if a monsters come out, it should be equivalent to my level right now.'

Ezec take a big breath and path his way into the forest. The view around him changed as he walk deeper into the forest. At the beginning when he enter the forest, he was surrounded by giant trees and bushes growing wildly everywhere his eyes can see. The forest are slightly wet and humid, wild mushrooms in various brilliant colors not bigger than his palm grows on the dead log on the ground,  some thorny vines climbing their way up a trees while some found their way sprawling all over the ground. 

Ezec realize that as he walk deeper into the forest, the mushrooms size start to increase from palm size to knee height, then to the same height as his head, and not long after he found himself surrounded by mushrooms as tall as a house. The mushrooms come in different colors, and they illuminate a greenish light. 

Ezec was about to walk further when he suddenly hear a sound coming from the bushes on his left side. He stood frozen for a while, preparing for the worst of whatever might happen. With his body positioned ready to fight, he keep his eyes fixed on the bush.

"Ke ke ke" 

A faint giggle of what sounds like an eerie laugh come from the bush, his heart began to pump rapidly. After waiting for a minute or so, nothing comes out from the bush.

 'Shit… I hate suspense'

He pick up a stone from the ground and throw into the bush. Out of nowhere, a small red fury animal that looks like a rabbit come out from the bush. The red rabbit is as tall as his knee. Red eyes and bloody jaws, with a pair of sharp claws ready to jump and attack him.

"Damn!"

The red rabbit leap forward with its mouth open ready to take a bite of his fat thigh. He dodge to the left and the red rabbit fall on the ground. He kick the red rabbit with full force towards the log lying on the forest floor, sending it flying a few times before he knocked it out. 

"Hah! Easy kill!"

A screen popped out after he defeated the monster.

YOU HAVE DEFEATED BOORAH, LV 1

10 XP GAINED

Ezec keep his eyes fixed on the corpse as the rabbit monster rapidly melt as if its drenched in acid, its body vanished like a water evaporating into the forest floor, leaving a small shining object behind. He walk over and pick up the object left by the monster. Its round, opaque and about the size of a blueberry, shining with a faint tint of purple light. After observing it for a while, he keep it inside his pocket.

His lips slightly curved upward. 

'One rabbit is equal to 10  XP point, I just need to kill 25 more to level up.'

Feeling good, he walk around looking for more rabbit monster to kill. After killing another 7 more rabbit monster in that area and gaining more XP point, realizing that there's no more monster left there, he move forward to the river side. 

'Walk through the mushroom forest, cross the river and walk forward, I should reach the road soon.'

Walking forward, he realized that the view has changed and the mushroom has gotten smaller. There are less trees surrounding him and he can see the sun clearly. Judging the sun's location, it should be around 3pm now.

'I almost reach the outer side of the forest, coming closer to the river.'

CHAPTER 1 PART 3

The sound of water flowing can be heard not far from where he is. After walking for around 10 minutes up and down the terrain, he reach a cliff by the river. A stream of azure blue river can be seen below. Grabbing the tree roots tightly, he walk down the slippery cliff as he descend down. He jump down when the distance of his feet and the ground below him is about a meter high. 

Ezec walk over to the riverside. The water is crystal clear, with round stones all over the river. He squat down and wash his hands. The water feels nice and refreshing. He wash his face and using his palm, he quench his thirst as he drink the water in his hand. As the water goes down his throat and further down to his stomach, he was shocked to find that the water taste so real and his stomach feels full as if he really eat some food.

'The special effect of this game is truly unbelievable! I wonder what else can I do in this world?'

Ezec saw few fish swimming in the river. He was excited at first when he thought about grilled fish. The last time he eat was this morning's breakfast which consist of two eggs, bacons and sandwich. He can feel his energy draining after walking for a while inside the forest. Suddenly recalling that he didn't have any means to set up fire, he give up his thought of having grilled fish.

Ezec walk over to the other side of the river, deciding which direction he should take next. While thinking, he sit down on the rock, his left hand inside his pocket playing with the purple core he obtained before from killing monsters. His right hand holding a piece of stick, drawing a random circle on the ground. 

Suddenly, his body freeze for a second before he suddenly leap forward and jump to his right. A black fury monster that looks like a mini version of a wolf land on the spot where he sit previously. The black fury wolf who was pissed off because it didn't managed to capture its prey, turned to Ezec and attack him once more. He kick its stomach hard, and as the monster fall down flat on the ground, he knock it down a few more times with his bare fist. 

YOU HAVE DEFEATED WARTH, LV 2

20 XP GAINED

'Huh… That was satisfying… Luckily I saw its shadow before it managed to eat me, or else who know what might happened to me.'

After waiting for a while for the corpse to disappear, the same purple core was seen on the ground. He pick up the core and keep it in his left pocket together with the core he collected before. With his hand fidgeting with the round cores in his pocket, a voice suddenly ring inside his head.

"Ezec? Are you there? Still alive?" A devilish laugh can be heard on the other side.

"I'm not gonna die that easily, uncle," He sound a bit pissed off, "Ahhh… Right… I try communicating with you previously but I didn't received any response from your side. This prototype allows us to communicate, right? Should be…"

"It is possible to communicate with each other. Though I won't be here all the times, but from time to time, I will check on your progress," Freyson on the other side of the portal, holding a cup of black coffee in his hand, still sleepy and just wake up from his sleep. Right after Ezec enter the portal, he went back to sleep and totally forgot about his nephew whom he just throw away to another world.

"So what should I do now? Any mission? Quest?? The hologram screen didn't give out much information. Just a few basic information from time to time."

"Tell me your current status and what you've done since you reach there."

Ezec explain his situations to Freyson, while keeping his eyes alert on his surroundings. The whole forest is in tranquil silence, occasionally the sound of birds chirping can be heard from the trees, the river flows sounds like a lullaby to his ears. Ezec, the city boy who grows up within the buzzing city that never sleeps, feels a sense of peace he never feel before. 

"How do you like that place?" Freyson asked.

"This world is too good, beyond expectation. The special effect is too real, I feel like my whole body is here to experience with my five senses. Even the pain and exhaustion feels real… hahaha" Ezec on the other side was excited with his new gaming experience.

"Ezec, I forgot to tell you something…." A long paused from the other side before he continue speaking, "Don't die there. If you die, you die. I can't save you."

"What???"

"Uhh… Urgent phone call. I need to go. Talk to you soon. Stay alive." 

"Hello? Hello?? Damn, Uncle Frey! What do you mean???"

'If I die, I die? What does that means?? Okay, maybe I should go back first and make that damn old man explain this game further. Did he just throw me here to die without any explanation?? Am I just an experiment??'

If its not because Freyson has raised him since he was a baby and see how he painstakingly and genuinely take care of him all those years, he would really thought that his uncle is really a monster who turns him into a guinea pig.

He open the information and check his progress.

EZECRAIN HARTELL

RACE: HYBRID 

LEVEL: 1

EXPERIENCE: 100/200

HEALTH: 148/150

STAMINA: 79/150

ATTRIBUTE: 

STRENGTH         15+

DEXTERITY         14+

INTELLIGENCE   10+

AGILITY               16+ 

MAGIC                10+

SKILLS: 

COMBAT ART

HERBALIST

 'Okay, so just a few monsters to kill to level up.'

He walk along the river, planning to climb the cliff to reach to the other side of the forest.

As he continue walking, a red fish suddenly jumped out from the water. The red fish is about a feet long, with two fangs on its mouth, red eyes and fiery red scales on its body. The scales looks like its burning in fire. 

"Piranha!"

The fiery red fish fall on the ground, looking helpless as it shows its fiery fangs, probably trying to scare Ezec who have been staring at it since the moment it decided to jumped out from the water.

"You're just another dumb fish committing suicide by jumping out of the water.. Sigh.."

He kick the red fish and step on its head, killing it within a few seconds. The pitiful monster dissolved into the ground. He pick up the core left on the ground. 

YOU HAVE DEFEATED MURTH, LV 3

30 XP GAINED

'Not bad… This fish is strong but helplessly stupid.'

After a little rest, he climb over the cliff to the other side of the forest. He need to get out from the forest as soon as possible if he didn't want to sleep on the forest filled with monsters tonight. Though he is eager to level up and get stronger, he can't be staying up all night defending himself from being turned into food!

'Oh wait, maybe I can pause the game and go home to my comfy bed.'

He make some mental command in his head.

"Pause game."

Nothing happened.

"Pause."

"Help"

"Exit"

"Quit game"

'Shit, what does this mean?'

'Ahhh… Forget it….'

The hologram screens flickered and a new page he never saw before appears before him.

NEW QUEST [THE HUNTER AND THE DEVOURER]

A Devourer has appear at the outskirt of the forest. Assist the group of hunters to kill the Devourer.

"Hunter? Devourer?? Where can I find them in this forest? What is a devourer??" Ezec scratch his head with a big sigh.

He open the hologram screen once again, but after scrolling them for some times, he didn't found any useful information. He close the tab and decided to just move forward, hoping that he might bump into the group of hunters.

Ezec walk further for around 30 minutes when he come by a small creek. He was about to jump across the creek when he spotted not far away from him, a creature that looks like an elk, with shiny white fur all over its body, grazing majestically at the wild grass near the creek. A couple of birds resting on top of its horn. Its size is about the size of an adult horse. Afraid to startle the creature, Ezec stopped moving and stood still, waiting for it to move away. The creature however, sensed that someone was watching over it. It turns its head toward Ezec, its blue eyes meet with Ezec's green eyes. 

'Shit, I'm dead. If this thing chase over me, I won't stand a chance at all. Not on its own territory.'

The creature take one step forward, Ezec walk one step backward. Then, it take another one step forward, Ezec walk two step backward as his sweats roll down his forehead. The creature move couple of step forward. Ezec, still facing the creature, took another step backwards. Unexpectedly, his feet stumble upon an old log and he fall to the ground, sitting flat on his bum. 

Ezec panicked, he stand up and start running as fast as he could. Turning his head from time to time until he realize that the creature has stop chasing him and start grazing the grass instead. 

Not aware of the hole in front of him, he soon found himself falling into a deep hole and he feel his body rolled a few times before he hit the ground.

"Ouch…" 

Ezec touch his spinning head as he support himself with his other hand, trying to get up. He can feel something hot rolling down from his cheek. He look at his hand, "Shit, I'm bleeding." 

Few moments later, he passed out on the soft grass.

He didn't know how long he fainted, when he open his eyes, it was almost night time and he can barely see his surrounding. Focusing his sight as he gain consciousness, he almost fainted again when he realize a few pairs of eyes were staring at him.

'Monsters? Beasts? Fairies? Vegetables?? What creatures are they?'

The creatures in front of him looks like a white radish. Standing up, they're about a meter tall. With two legs and two arms that looks like a root and a childish, innocent look on their face. One of the radish move closer to him and touch the wound on this face, the one he get when he falls down the hole.

"Ouch!" 

Still sitting on the ground, Ezec lean backward and unconsciously cover his wound with his hand. Another radish step forward and he lifted his hand. A white light shine from the tip of his finger. He pointed his finger towards Ezec and the white light fly towards his head. 

Ezec, who is still recovering from shocked, couldn't do anything. The next thing he know, he passed out again.