Jack's Story

Justin's sleepy eyes scanned across his room before the young man's attention fell at his eggy toast. His bleak expression then turned to his alarm clock and almost combusted when he saw the time. 10:00am. "I'm really not a morning person..." He grumbled exhaustedly as he made several zombie like steps before setting his bowl down at his desk and collapsing into his seat like a ragdoll. There was a brief pause followed by a yawn as Justin blinked away the fatigue from only having just woken. He seemed to shiver involuntarily from the damp cold temperature in his room, a sensation which only seemed to aggravate his hatred of cold morning weather.

The overjoyed tweets of birds outside his bedroom window only seemed to offer jovial mockery at his current predicament as he bit into his morning breakfast. Abruptly, as if revitalised instantly by the toast, Justin's eyes perked up. "Alright! That hit the spot!" He announced loudly, seemingly taking a moment to admire the texture of the bread. There was a flicker of light as his computer finally burst into life. Staring at the visor located by his computer lazily, Justin sniffed as if in deep thought. A while back ago, he'd been assigned to investigate this game by his superior. An investigation into ongoing cybercrime the report had said.

He leaned back, enjoying the sensation of resistance provided by his chair's back support as his arms outstretched. The situation was interesting to say the least thus far. In all actuality he still couldn't tell which direction the story was going. "So i'll remain a bystander until things develop sufficiently!" He grinned widely before spinning in his seat like a child. As he came to a stop he picked up the visor and lifted it over his head, "Today should be the day...."

Beta Tester - Jack
Class: Bandit (knife)
HP: 1050/1050
SP: 630/630

EXP: 1/5
Gold: 0

<Jack has logged into phantasy world>

Beta Tester - Jack
Class: Lvl. 20 Bandit (knife)
HP: 1050/1050
SP: 504/630

EXP: 2/5
Gold: 2

Jack breathed inwardly as the arabian city of Gardenia came into his clearing vision, his eyes absorbing the scenes before him. The warmth and ambient sound created by the city's traffic was almost surreal. An abundance of different people, all doing different things, where going about their daily activities. This area was surprisingly active, and there was little doubt that Gardenia's first impression to many of those newcomers would be that of a chaotic mess. A wide grin appeared on the pale man's face as he tipped his hat in the direction of the sun. "Gardenia....It's been quite a while since i've spent time amongst the new characters" He commented, his view falling on many of the players before him. Curiosity took hold of him instinctively as he began to wander the streets aimlessly, his intentions unclear to those observing.

His avatar rounded a corner, entering an empty alleyway whose sole source of light was a single dimly lit lightpost. He scanned the area before him, clearly checking to ensure he was alone, before his shadow began to grow abruptly. Like an insidious monster out of a horror novel, Jack's shadow seemed to enlarge behind him. Its figure then distorted, mutating and thrusting wildly before finally calming after several final stutters. Suddenly, someone stepped out of the shadow like a magician. A tall, ambiguous figure in simple leather armor carrying a sword and shield, an entirely different person in apperance. This clone would be his doll, his eyes and ears while he worked from behind the scenes.

This was his odd habit. Using his shadow clone to interact with others that is. He'd been doing so almost since when he'd first started this game as a beta tester and as a result, few people knew him well. He emerged again from the alleyway to join the main street, but this time it was only his clone. Just then, a random comment caught his clones attention. He walked closer to discover a beast man fully clad in armor, his two handed sword immediately identifying him as a warrior. Sighing heavily, his clone stepped forwards and tapped the warrior on his shoulder casually.

"Good day fair sir! You're a new player right?" His clone smiled in a jokingly fashion, "I'm sorry to interrupt but, i just wanted to ask something. You wouldn't have happened to have recieved any messages from a GM lately would you? Something along the lines of...taking back this world?"

Varin grinned widely as he approached the gate, knowingly full well that no game started until it's first fight. He was going to finally take the first step in becoming the ultimate warrior. "Tha-", a tap came to his shoulder, interrupting his own train of thought. Partially annoyed he slowly turned around to glare at the man. It seemed to be one of the higher level players greeting him, in a rather peculiar way. He was not even intent on listening until word of a message came from the man's lips, a message of taking back this world. Varin now stared awkwardly at this man, partially confused as to why a GM would even need to take back a world.

"Are you making fun of me?" He growled, seeing this as some kind of joke. Whether it be this guy was mocking the fact that some new players might not know how to check their in game messages, or testing their knowledge on what the game is even about. There was always a player or two that liked picking on new players, so it was very plausible that this was one of them. "If only I could crush them right now.. Stupid level difference.." Varin could not help but think of grinding this 'kid' to dust. "I have no time for jokes..." He tries to brush off what they said, however it only kept coming back and plaguing his thoughts.

Glory, wouldn't that be the prize that would come from helping GMs? Let alone, if he could do it by himself, then he could prove to be the single strongest player. The thoughts of self-glorification were to great, he started dumping the idea of it being a simple prank. "Now listen here, with the power I am to grow, I would be the first to know, and last to join. Why? Because I will one day prove I am mightier than any player including the GMs. Even if I am lacking in level for now, I shall one day rise above all others." His laughter rang out as he turned away. "Just sit back and watch the show of my power."



From sunset, to sunrise, Vivi was used to the lack of players walking this world. It was within that time, she generally walked around the area to interact with the various NPC. However, this time she simply spent the entire night sitting on the walls of E'dellon Castle, looking out into the world with her blind eyes. She quietly waited, listening to the different sounds of the night within Phantasy World. For the other GMs this place may have been like their second home, however to Vivi is was practically her only home. A world that had changed far too much in the short time she walked upon it. Changed to the point, that her and the others needed to stand against an NPC. This is what echoed in her mind throughout the night, the fact they were going to take it all back.

Morning came far quicker than she had expected for both worlds. She could sense the drastic change of players logging into the world to continue their simple 'game'. The wind was blowing now, the gentle breeze every now and again comforting Vivi as she sat in wait. And when a familiar scent took to the air, she would finally stand, blankly looking down into the castle courtyard. "Oshiva has logged into Phantasy World" She muttered, almost acting like an ambience to the normal greeting of the game. When she first entered this world, it scared her. Player's scents would randomly disappear, and after a while, she learned they were simply logging off. Something she could not do.

Vivi had learned the layout of this castle quite well, so much infact, that even though she was blind she could walk about without any errors in direction. Drawing in one last breath, Vivi fell back off the wall, falling towards the courtyard. Her breath softly pushed out, as her mind counted the seconds. She pushed herself into position with her feet brushing the wall, twisting herself around to face towards the ground. The archway's curved edge portruding from the wall quickly approached. Sliding down, she pushed off just before the edge, tucking into a roll before hitting the ground. Forcefully she tried to stop herself, and once she did she extended out her hand, touching the wall. "Minor miscalculation in landing range... Reduce preparation for roll by .27 seconds. " The way she talked, indeed seemed like something robotic. Perhaps this was simply because she didn't need the useless scraps of a sentence when she was communicating .

She quietly walked along the halls, the open doorway allowing the wind to enter in a small breeze. She continued following the scent, searching for Oshiva, knowing that by the strength of it, she had in fact logged on. "Oshiva?" She spoke out, turning the last corner in the hall. "I wonder if the beta-testers are on…", a voice almost silent broke. Either her voice was further away from her microphone, or perhaps she was still a little ways away. Either way, as Vivi closed in closer to the scent, she poked her head into a room. "Oshiva?" She called again before entering, almost sure that she was looking directly at her.

"The plan becomes started today, right?" Vivi tried to smile, her speech pattern somewhat awkward as she tried to fill in the the sentence with uneeded words like most other players. "Anything I can perhaps be of use doing?" Again, her speech pattern was structured awkwardly. However, she knew that she could not simply send messages to other players so easily. The fact that she was blind kept her from written subjects, and since she could not have access to the outside world at will, she couldn't even type. In other words, it was impossible for Vivi to work as a normal player. Her own way, was to track down players by scent, if she can even catch wind of it.

Beta Tester - Jack
Class: Lvl. 20 Bandit (knife)
HP: 1050/1050
SP: 504/630

EXP: 3/5
Gold: 4

Jack's clone frowned at Varin's odd reaction as the warrior turned to walk away. First the warrior had suspected him, then he pronouced his strength as if he where the hero from a prophecy. Abruptly, the clone burst out into laughter, as if the absurdity of the warrior's speech had only just sunk in. "You're a stupidly bold person to say that" the clone giggled in short spurts at first before the hysteria took hold of him in full. In truth, the warrior's reaction had been so unexpected that his reponse had threw him. The clone covered his mouth before regaining its composure and stepping back alongside Varin. Its eyes seemed to gaze away from Varin for the moment, as if another simple glance could cause another episode of hysterics. Suddenly, with a smile crawling across the clones face, Jack strode around Varin casually, looking the warrior up and down as if he where performing some sort of inspection. Tapping the bottom of his chin, the clone came up face to face with Varin before his grin opened up fully into a smile.

"Just then you thought something like, 'I'll grind this stupid kid into the dust', right?" his clone teased, wagging a corrective a finger, "It was written pretty obviously on your face, but you know, i didn't mean to insult you or anything..."

His clone sniffed suddenly as his emotions where flipped around like a coin. "What a terrifying person, to think that you can't even ask a question without being suspected by the youth of today" He sobbed, feigning sadness. His clone staggered infront of Varin several steps before its cheeky grin seemed to return. "You don't know much about the situation of this world though do you? So heres a free tip for being so funny. If you value your gaming experience here, stay away from the king" The shadow clone bowed before disappearing amidst the crowd.

Jack had been observing from afar and started as the shadow clone returned to him. "Nothing yet, so we'll keep searching"