Chapter 1: Closed Beta

"November 12 2025, the world is experiencing turmoil over the mysterious disease that overtook all the gamers that are testing out the game <>. Condolences to their families and be strong because they will surely make a comeback. Their coma has just started and now we are counting days"

The TV sounded from the living room, but the residents of the house were all over one boy, the boy that was using the VR headset.

"Brother...I hope you come back to us...I hope you can hear me...please snap out of it"

Meanwhile, the said brother was in a menu like screen, seeing himself in third person feeling confused and lost.

"Wow, that must be the customization screen...let me see the options" A blue window popped up with all the data on how to make a character. It had 6 species, 12 classes, and around 34 sub-classes.

"Please choose 1 race, 1 class and 2 sub-classes" A female voice, that of the system as Elijah assumed, guided him through the character creation screen.

"So...Human, Dragonoid, Elf, Beastman, Pixie or Dwarf...the choice is hard" After carefully looking at each race he moved his hand and pressed Human. "Well, I don't really care about the extra stats but I've heard that elves are gorgeous...too bad i like some difficulty in my game" He chuckled after talking to himself.

"Race selected, please move on to class. Choose carefully as this will not be able to change during your gameplay" The voice explained and went silent again.

Elijah nodded and started searching every description of each class to see which one is suited better."Let's see...Knight or assasin...I like both" After contemplating between them he reached out and pressed...mage. "I can't decide so I'll go with this one" He smiled satisfied about his decision.

A dissatisfied sigh was heard from the female voice but quickly regained it's prior character. "Now that the class have been selected, choose 2 of the following sub-classes"

A wide range of sub-classes popped up in front of him, but without thinking it over, he chose 2 in an instant. "Brawlwe and Blacksmith, those are the way to go now let me make my cha--"

Before Elijah could finish his sentence, a goddess started descending from above. "Wow, you must be the introducing NPC" After the goddess heard that she smacked the back of his head.

"I am no NPC...I'm a real goddess, and I personally came down to tell you that you're a jerk...you didn't even look at all the things I presented you with" The small and bratty goddess pouted as she finished talking, at the same time Elijah was rubbing his head where he had been hit.

"Yeah, yeah, now let me create my character you brat" Still thinking that the goddess was an NPC he talked harshly making the goddess furious.

"Sadly there is no such option you insolent fool...I'll give you a choice though so this time choose carefully...or else" She presented 3 skills in front of him, each one in a small blue window like the system.

"Hmm <>, <> and <>. "<> sounds neat" Before Elijah could press it, the goddess reached out and grabbed his hand.

"...I said choose carefully" Vissibly annoyed, she threw his hand back down and clicked her tongue, waiting for him to choose another one.

"...OK, then Combine it is" He started once again moving his hand to choose the skill but once again he was interrupted by the small goddess slapping his hand away. "OH MY GOD WILL YOU LET ME CHOOSE A SKILL YOU ANNOYING NPC" He yelled at her irritated.

"DON'T RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME YOU INSOLENT FOOL, I'M DOING YOU A FAVOR" She replied angrily and tapped the skill <> on her own.

"Now go down there and I hope you don't ever disturb me again Hmph" She pouted and suddenly the ground beneath Elijah's legs became the sky and he started falling, his visoon was now normal which made it even more terrifying. "WOAHHHH, YOU CRAZY BRAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING I'M GONNA DIE AND I DIDN'T EVEN START THE GAME"

Inches away from the ground, he automatically stopped and had a safe landing on his butt. Along with him, thousands of people were falling from the sky, although they all had a more peaceful landing than him.

Some time later, people stopped falling from the sky, and they were all in the same plains, a meadow full of tall grass and beautiful flowers.

"Look here, it feels so real. I can even smell these flowers" A random girl said as she picked up a flower and smelled it.

"Wow look at the sky, it's so beautiful" Another man exclaimed while looking at the orange colored sky as the sun was setting.

Suddenly, a bearded old man several times bigger than a human appeared floating over everyone's head. "Everyone, welcome to Arastel. In your world it's called <> but here, this world is real, it's no game like you all expecting it to be"

The tone changed from welcoming to serious as the old man started explaining the good old cliché of any other MMO game out there. Get strong, or not and defeat the final boss. That's the gist of it.

"Only if you defeat <> will you be able to go back to your own world" The old man said and disappeared.

"Yeah right, I'll just log out for today hahaha" A tall man with orange hair started laughing "System, Log out...Log out" He repeated it again and again but nothing happened.

The man fell on his knees in disbelief and tears started coming down from his eyes. "There is no Log out button"

At these words, chaos broke out. People started crying, others fell down in despair and others ran around in fear, but Elijah? He was smiling.

"...so the goddess brat was trying to help. Thanks a lot" He put his hands together and made a praying gesture. Soon after, some of the more behaved people started managing the crowd.

"Players who have the skill <> come here, we're assembling a party" A bearded man that looked to be a dwarf said loudly and a line formed in front of him. "Players with the skill <> please form a line and stop panicking, we're creating a guild" A busty Elf woman with a mature voice called out and quickly a huge line appeared in front of her...mostly made out of men.

Slowly but steadily, groups started forming. Each one specialized in different things based on their skills but still some people were left alone or some even formed parties because they met each other amidst the chaos.

"Everyone, there is a town nearby. Pull out the window and chek the map you will all see the town, Gikan" A blonde guy with vibrant blue eyes and a huge nose shouted like he was the leader of a pack. Well, in the end most of the people followed his instructions and started walking towards their destination.

Elijah had other plans on his mind so when the others started walking away, he stayed back along with a small number of players. Everyone looked at each other and walked deeper in the meadow.

"Window, inventory" The boy searched his inventory to find his starting equipment, which was a wooden cane and a ridiculous robe. "...this is what I get for choosing mage as my class" He sighed and equipped the staff. "Stats" After he started walking the window popped up in front of him.

<>

Title(s): <>

Skills: <>, <>, <>, <>, <>

Level: 1

Strength: 5

Agility: 3

Magic Points(MP): 10

Defense: 2

Alignment: Neutral

"That's dope...let's go hunt" He said witha smile in his face and kept walking not noticing he walked into the forest. After a couple of hours of walking and not finding anything, he started getting exhausted but that's when he saw a little fox.

"Hey, come here little one" The animal looked hurt so as soon as he got close it got on the defensive and started growling. "I won't hurt you...look" He cast <> on it to make it feel better and maybe fix some of its wounds.

"Squeak Squeak"

"Yes yes, I'm not a bad guy" He smiled at the fox and slowly started petting it. The little animal accepted the attention and leaned into his palm.

The happiness he was feeling could not be described and when the fox stood up and jumped on his shoulder he was even more overjoyed. "I'll call you...Bacon" The fox instantly bit his cheek. "Damn...not Bacon...uhm, Aaron Fox then" Once again the fox bit him hard making him bleed to the point he had to use <>. "...OK uhmm Cloud...your name is Cloud"

Finally it smiled and nuzzled against his now healed cheek. Now it was time to go hunting deeper in the woods.

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