Josua's Story

May 2nd, 2018
Several minutes prior to the Catastrophe

Josua had logged into the game for several hours since he got back from university. His character was just lazing around in Akiba when he decided to go have a walk outside the city. He encountered several brier weasels, but they immediately ran way from him, since his level was way above them. Since he couldn't check if others from his guild were online due to being on a different server, he continued on with his stroll. He then encountered a few Triffids, but he made short work of them and continued his walk. It would went on for several minutes until the update, which he had left minimized, were finally downloaded. The clock then hits 12 AM exactly, as he blinked in front of his laptop's screen for one moment, and the next thing he knew, he was in the game itself.

May 3rd, 2018
Moments after the Catastrophe
"This is... For real, right?" He said as he touched his face and pinched his cheek.

"Yup, this is for real. Well... Sh*t" he said as he rubbed his cheek to ease the pain on it.

He looked around, and saw that he was in some sort of a city. He then walked through, and saw other players that were basically a mixed bag filled with confusion, anger, despair, and panic. Because of his personality, he was less than inclined to be in the same state as they were, and more on figuring out the whole situation. He then continued his walk and found a giant tree.

"Wait, that tree... Whoa whoa, so I'm in Akiba right now?!" he said as he realized that he was indeed in Akiba.

As he paused for a little, he then saw the HUD of the game in front of him appearing. It was slightly bizarre, with it flickering every once in a while. He then, of course, tried to press the logout button. While it was there, it won't activate, or rather, seems to be blocked or something like that.

"Doesn't work, huh... Figures." he said as he checked the other menus of the HUD.

He could open his inventory from the menu, and his items were still there. He then checked his friend list, and a lot were still lit up. He had added several people since the start of his study in Japan several months prior. Shiroe, of course, was also one of those that he added, since he met him by pure coincidence, and had asked him about several things, since some of his friends there had recommended him to try and friend Shiroe. He then initiated a "call" with him.

"Shiroe, are you there?" Josua asked.

"Ah, you're... Josua, right?" Shiroe replied.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that you remembered me, despite our short time of being acquainted." Josua laughed while answering.

"Well, a Foreign Player is not that common here, though I do know some." Shiroe said with his face slightly red.

"At least I'm not that much of a prick, right?" Josua said.

"True enough. I suppose I'll end our little conversation for now, since I need to do something." Shiroe said.

"Okay, see you later then." Josua replied as the call ended.

From this, he could confer that "Calls", or in other terms, voice communication/chat, do work. He then decided to walk to a nearby tavern to get something to eat & drink. As he entered the tavern, he sat on a chair at the counter.

"One Beer and a Side, please." He said.

The waiter then called out the chef and repeated Josua's order. A few moments later, the order arrived. A glass of cold beer and a Sandwich were on the counter in front of him. He then took the first bite off the sandwich. The taste was...

"Errm... Why is this... Tasteless...?" he said while he continued to eat the sandwich.

He then finished the sandwich a little after, and went for the glass of cold beer. He chugged down the glass slowly, and the taste was, once more...

"Again, tasteless...? What the hell?" he said as he continued to chug down the beer.

The inside of the tavern was a tad better than the outside, though the players inside were still gloomy and quite the mixed bag of emotions, really. He slowly chug his beer down just to be able to sit down inside the tavern. After the glass was emptied, he asked for another round of beer.

While he didn't notice anyone entering the tavern, he noticed one that visibly disliked the beer (given it was tasteless, no surprises there) and seemed ready to bail. Although people would always tend to cope with things by eating or drinking something, it wasn't much of an option here. The food and drinks are both tasteless, so it only made things worse. He had already finished his mug of beer, though he didn't really count how much he had drunk since entering the tavern. He didn't feel drunk, probably due to the body, that he now has, being much more powerful than the average people, in this case than the average People of the Land. He went to the table of the one that caught his interest, and was quite surprised to see that the player was a girl. He then sat down at a seat on the opposite side of her.

"So... What's your story?" he said to her.

The only reason he did this was to pass time, maybe some would say kill time. There was no other way to figure the situation at hand without any information, so he wanted to try & find out about things while also not getting bored.

She didn't check how much time passed since... since the Cathedral, and the start of drinking of that crap. But the mug is now empty, well, almost - just a couple more sips needed to be taken.

Soon I get to leave, and can't even get drunk with it. Eh. - She thought, then someone sat nearby, and...

"So... What's your story?" she heard. Dumb question - the same as everyone else here - was probably a lie, yet she said it.

Why the hell do you even care? - She turned - just the head, just to get to know how the "manly voice guy" looks like. And she couldn't help but smile, though she wanted to laugh. Manly voice combined with muscular body - of course.

"Bullshit. You're certainly not from around here, and you're not exactly high-level either." Josua said to her when he heard her response.

While he could tell a person from a glance, it's not helpful when they're in their avatars. However, from the way she talks, she's not exactly the run-of-the-mill player in Japan, at least not to what he had saw since he migrated his character to the Yamato server a few months ago, the same time as he left for Japan as part of his Study Abroad track in real life.

He then took out an Orange from his bag, and started to peel and eat it. Strangely enough, it had flavor.

Wait... Oranges are ingredients, yet it actually has a proper flavor...? He thought to himself. In his mind, he continued to ponder on the matter: ingredients have the proper flavor, but why not the food or drink? While he's not the first to wonder about this, he's certainly one of the first to learn about it.

"That said, now that you're also here, I wanna hear what have you found out since this all started." he said, while offering her a slice of orange.

"Bullshit. You're certainly not from around here, and you're not exactly high-level either." - she chuckled. So such a petty lie won't work, oh, well... wait. Not exactly high-level?

She looked to the top corner, then winced. Not just the race changed... level as well. And that means possibility of more changes to her char-to her. Best to check the whole screen - she thought, and glanced at him - but not when he's nearby. Or at least not here.

He seemed to take his time thinking. Untill he took out an orange. Peeled it. Eaten. Then he offered a slice.

"That said, now that you're also here, I wanna hear what have you found out since this all started." - He said. Nothing, really. Besides the fact, that we're having a bad day. And that it is no place to talk. But to drink. - Still two sips left, though I wouldn't mind just leaving the beer of nothing unfinished.

So ingredients have flavor, a taste. Alright, let's say... - she thought, then said - Alright, give me one. If it does have a taste. I'll tell you something as well. - One slice, and a bit of knowledge in exchange... shouldn't hurt. Question is - should she tell him about Cathedral, or about a "bug" with her character. Latter is most likely worthless. Due to it "most" likely affecting just her. But who knows the reason behind it (probably some kind of a shitty reason).

"Hmm... I like you. So here~" he said, pausing for a little while giving her a slice of orange, with only about 3 remaining in his hands. "As part of our little deal here. Now that I gave you that slice, now it's your part of the bargain." he continued.

It wasn't as if he had any romantic feelings for her. He always quashed any such feelings since he never really felt one, so any that he felt would be considered as nothing more than just the typical attraction to the opposite sex. He always was more... Positive, towards people that are straight-to-the-point or honest-to-God. As he gave her the slice, she looked as if she was lost in a thought for a moment. He then flicked her forehead, just to get her back to reality.

"Oii... Miss Pointy-Ears... Are you there???" he asked jokingly.

He was amused by her behavior. At least this little "exchange" won't be boring for him. Well, here's one more to add to the list of encounters I've had. He thought as he pulled his hand back.

"Shitty reason" couldn't leave her head, then she felt a light push at the center of a forehead. Really? - she intended to ask, but...

Oii... Miss Pointy-Ears... Are you there???" - he asked, and with it... came an idea of kicking him. Sudden, and (possibly) enjoyable choice. But no.

Right, right, first the taste...- She slowly bit the slice, the familar taste came. It really did have a flavor, without thinking she swallowed it whole. Man... been missing something that has a taste, though somehow it's weak, a bit. - She sighed - Well, I'm not really in the mood of tellin you, but deal is a deal soo... - she opened the console, added him, and wrote a short message.

"Cathedral works, we can revive." - That's all. - Could tell more, but nah. Not yet.

Josua immediately raised one of his eyebrow when he read the message from her that the Cathedral works, and that players will get revived there if they died, thus the Cathedral functions like it would in the game. Then again, who knows what will happen during the death before the players get revived? There's no way that it would be like the game without some risks, so death should best be avoided. He then simply crossed his arms and looked at her with a serious gaze.

"Is there any known side effects of revival in the Cathedral?" he asked her, since there was no other way to confirm his thoughts at the time.

He remembered that death when this was a game means the loss of EXP, but now that the game itself became the new reality, what will be the effects of death now? Will it be just losing EXP, or is there anything else? There was too much "what-if(s)" from this revelation, and not one is good, so he puts most of it on the back of his mind, and decided to ask away.

Oho, so he decided to ask. - she thought, leaned back lightly, and smiled. Well, the loss of exp obviously, besides that... it's rather unpleasant - she said, and there may be more, but if so, she failed to notice it.

Mug empty. - Meant it's time to go, though the question is - where to? Answer to that seemingly simple - somewhere where she can check everything in peace, without anyone peeping above the shoulder. Man... finding that kind of a place in here might be troublesome - she thought, and slowly got up.

"Something unpleasant...?" Josua raised his eyebrow even more when he heard her short information.

That immediately raised some flags inside his heads, and those that matched the initial ideas he had in the back of his mind surfaced as the few possible scenarios in which how death works in this world, but none were pleasant. He then saw her getting up from her chair since apparently she finished her mug of what appeared to be beer.

"I suppose our little chat ends here for the day. See you out there on the field." he said as he too rose from his seat.

"Don't forget to look more carefully on my details. That'll give you some idea why I'm... condescending towards you." he said as he pointed his finger to above his head, where his HP bar is supposed to be, along with his Character Name, Race, Job and Level.

He then went outside and walked towards the place he used to hang out in Akiba when he was idle for the time being, before the Catastrophe: a place on one of the destroyed buildings that players rarely go to. He wanted to get some sleep, but he found that his body doesn't exactly need sleep, although he does need it for his mental, from this new discovery. He sets up a fireplace just a little away from him, enough for lighting the dark and some warmth, while not causing any arson. He then sat down and leaned his back on the wall behind him.

A body that can't get ill, doesn't need sustenance or sleep, and apparently won't stay dead either, huh... He thought as he dozed off to sleep.
This will make some things even worse... he pondered just before he was fully asleep.

He got up as well, and of course he would. But the words : "Don't forget to look more carefully on my details. That'll give you some idea why I'm... condescending towards you." were a true annoyance. - He probably said it because of the difference in levels (difference that shouldn't even exist). And...

Somehow he left first, though she intended to be the first one leaving. Not that it mattered anymore. But there came an idea of following him, idea easily dismissed. For there are more important things, that she needed to take care of. And so she embarked on a search for a silent place, where there's little to no people.

Well...

Search took about fifty minutes, so not bad (though far more tiring than it should be, for some unknown reason). - A small pool of water, with one stone (fine for sitting) is what she found. A tree here and there, and a bit of grass. Then there were buildings five hundred meters from here, or more. She didn't care. What she cared for was... what else had changed? - with that question she opened the menu again...

Equipment, bag, subclass... - she slowly counted - Great. I'm missing a lot of gold. My staff Echo. And my Subclass got changed to... vampanella, what? Oh, there's the... Vampanella is an adventurers subclass, that is equal to a monster... vampire. Soo... I get to be strong at night, but I suck at day, which is now. GREAT. It's not like I had something better - something called Wanderer.

She sighed. It had to change with a change of a server, but how did the server change? No clue, no clue at all.

The next day
It was almost noon. Josua woke up from his sleep. It was uneventful, at least. He stood up from the floor and went to the ground level. There was a small running water body near his "camping" location, so he went there to have a bath there. There were no players nearby, so he immediately undressed his gear and bathed his body. Granted, his body doesn't smell despite not having a bath the night previously, so bathing wasn't exactly a physical need, but more of a mental need. He then dressed himself again, and went back to the floor he camped at to gather his "camping" gear. He put out the fire, and put the blanket inside his bag. Just as he finished gathering his things, a call came. It was Shiroe.

"Ah, Josua, are you there?" (S) asked.

"Yeah. What's up?" (J) replied and asked back.

"Me and some of my friends will be leaving for Susukino." (S) said.

"Susukino? Why?" (J) asked.

"Something came up. A junior of my friend is stuck there. A hostile guild took over the city. She's unable to get out because she's targeted by one of the said guild's members." (S) explained.

"But why help that friend of yours? If I recall, weren't you not a fan of guilds?" (J) asked again.

"Well... It's because if they went instead, it would take too long, and there's the risk that they will fail. Because of that, I decided that the best course for all of us is for me and my party to go there." (S) further explained.

"I see... Well, good luck with that. Though I don't see you getting there faster?" (J) said to him.

"I have my ways, don't worry about that. Well, I'm leaving, so goodbye for now." (S) said.

"Okay, cool. See you later then." (J) replied as both of them ended the call at the same time.

Josua stretched his arms and cracked his neck, just to get the right feel of it. He then went to a zone just outside Akiba. He wanted to try fighting a monster and see how the combat system works, since he's actually there now, not just in front of his laptop's screen.

He walked for a little while until he encountered a Brier Weasel. It then called two more of its friends to attack him. As he unsheathed his sword, he then first tried fighting like when this was still a game: he opened the skill list and tried to use an attack skill. Before he managed to, however, one of them managed to latch onto his arm. It completely messed his UI since the HUD was filled with popup boxes due to unable to properly activate the skill.

He then tried another method: he fights with imagining on how the skill works in the game, and apply it with his body. Assassinate! He shouted in his mind as the skill then activated and the brier weasel that was thrown away from his arm got targeted by his skill, and a moment later, it died. Since it was only a level 29 monster, it was pretty weak. And precisely because it's weak, it's easier to try adapting to the current combat system. The other two then tried to attack him. He then activated [Accel Fang] and quickly dispatched one brier weasel, while evading the other one. After that, he used [Stealth Blade] and finally dispatched the other brier weasel. The three monsters were dead and there were item drops. He then took the small amount of gold that the three gave him and some low-leveled potions and put it inside his bag.

Later, he walked back to Akiba, while keeping his guard up. When he was leaving Akiba, he heard chatters of some players doing PvP just to relieve themselves of the despair they felt. He was near the entrance of Akiba when several players came out of hiding and chased after him. He then activated [Shake Off] and went inside the city. Since combat was prohibited inside cities, the tailing players were unable to do anything and left since they couldn't find him. He then went to the Guild Center to put his money inside the bank. He only left a modicum amount of money on him, just in case anything happened to him. He then sat on a seat inside the Center, and took a breather.

The combat system is like what I had imagined... Though needing to know the skill name and how will it activate isn't really handy. At least I can open the skill menu, so that's something. He thought as he took out an apple and took his time eating it.

Another day.

Not as boring as she imagined, especially due to what happened during the previous night.

Besides that... it seems that skill usage is still limited in the city. But once one is outside, that's a different story - and it seems that in this "world" there is more to the skills, than it was in the game. In a game sorcerer class had a limitation (that being spells). Here it is possible to conjure for example fire at will (class limited? Who knows.). But if you want to use it as a spell, then you need a specific spell in mind - like a fireball. Question is... can you conjure things that weren't possible in the game? Short answer - maybe. Best left for another time.

Still...

What does this knowledge give me at the moment? Probably not much, but it does tell something, well it proved something yesterday. - One doesn't need the commands console to use spells. Instead... it's a matter of going with the flow. Useful.

On the other hand vampanella is rather troublesome, and hp change is the least of problems with it. And... have I been sitting on this rock all this time? (Apart from a small portion of the night) Advantage of the subclass? Or just a normal thing that I'm not getting tired at all? Maybe...

She opened the console, and began writing yet another message to Josua.

Hey, did you by chance (if you were doing something) get tired yesterday? Or something? - Man, that's obvious, she thought, not that I can help it. She sighed, and clicked "Send".

As Josua continued eating the apple, he got a message notification. It was from Grim, the player he met yesterday in the tavern. She asked if he was tired yesterday. He chuckled, since it was obvious she didn't realize that it was almost obvious that she was about to leave yesterday, so he decided it would've been best if he ended their little conversation yesterday. Then again, she doesn't seem to be the type of person to easily notice the actions of others from their behavior.

He then wrote the following message and sent it to her:

I noticed that you were ready to leave yesterday, and you didn't seem to be the kind of person to stay in such establishment if their service is not of satisfaction to you. So, I decided that it would be best to not keep you there any longer than you want to, and ended our little conversation.

If you want to have another conversation with me for the day, you can find me at the Guild Center.

After he sent the message, he continued eating his apple. He then checked his friends list and saw that his friends from his guild were still marked as offline. There was no actual way to know if they were online or not, since he was at a different server, he can't contact any members of his guild because of that very reason.

"Geh.... They could've just make it simpler by allowing trans-server chats for people in the same guild. Sheesh..." he muttered as he continued eating his apple.

OOC - He chuckled, since it was obvious she didn't realize that it was almost obvious that she was about to leave yesterday < Wait, is that... a tongue twister? YAY! ^^

Not tired. Not tired at all during the night. Tired during the day, and sleepy - a bit. More problems with vampanella? It seems so, but previously it was... less troublesome. Maybe because she spent less time in the sunlight - yes, definitely that, cause right now she's been walking for a good hour or two (maybe more) around the town, while yesterday... well, yesterday looked different.

There were... few adventurers left inside the city. Well, at least inside this part of the city, where you can buy low grade equipment and food from the vendors standing behind the stand, with sheet (of poor quality, old even) over it. Geez, this place looks like a forgotten traders valley or something, she thought, anyway I wonder when will the guy from yesterday write back. But first food.

Food (as everyone already knew) had no taste, but there were people of the land, that sold apples, and other small things, that could be eaten, and that had taste. - She bought three apples, and an orange just before the familiar sound of notification echoed throught the place. Though probably she's the only one who heard it. Menu opened once more, messages browsed while taking a bite out of an apple, and...

"I noticed that you were ready to leave yesterday, and you didn't seem to be the kind of person to stay in such establishment if their service is not of satisfaction to you. So, I decided that it would be best to not keep you there any longer than you want to, and ended our little conversation." - Yeah, right, you surely didn't rise up in a hurried manner, the moment you saw me getting up, she thought, and winced. Ah, well, whatever. Might as well go there - it's not like I'm busy, or in a state to go outside.

To the guild center, she thought, and wrote a short message - Alright, see ya there I guess.

After finishing on one apple, Josua pulled out another from his bag. As he was cutting the apple, he received a message notification. It came from Grim again, probably as a reply to what he sent earlier. And from what she wrote, which was rather short, he could somewhat tell that she was not exactly the kind of person to socialize with other players in the game, much more so than their last interaction.

Hence, he waited for her until she arrived at the Guild Center. There wasn't much to say, since he's the party that's waiting for the other party to arrive. He then slowly enjoyed his apple slice, killing time while at it. And because he had some time until she arrives, he spent his time musing on some things he had found out so far:

• First, while yet to be confirmed by himself, the Cathedral seemed to work like in the game. In this case, revival is a thing here. So, it's not like from that series... No perma-death here... He thought on the matter. He then decided to try confirm it on the next several days by waiting in front of the Cathedral and see if anyone got revived and came out from the building.
  
• Second, Foods & Drinks don't have any flavor, but the ingredients that were used to make them do have the proper flavor. Maybe it's because the Game System didn't include any flavor system, hence this wasn't an issue back then... But if this is reality now, then "that" might be possible...? He thought for this matter. Since the game was an MMORPG, and as far as he knew, VR had yet to advance to such degrees yet, hence the lack of flavor for consumables when the game became the new reality. But, thanks to this, he had an inkling of an idea of what's possible to do in this new world.
  
• Third, this was something he learned from some bystanders as he strolled in Akiba, and later confirmed by Shiroe: the Inter-City Transport Gates, basically the only thing that allows for fast travel in the game, was offline for some reason. Because of this, travels between cities were practically halted. While it's possible to do it on foot or with a mount, it would take considerably longer to do so. This is not even mentioning the dangers of travelling on foot, hence his hesitation when he heard Shiroe's plan to go to Susukino. Well, there's the Fairy Ring, but there's no way to check the schedule of it, so it's a Wild Card, best reserved for extreme conditions only, and even then it would be great if it's not used, because of the sheer risk of random teleportation by the Ring/.

These things were enough to occupy him for the next few days. This wasn't exactly as easy as the typical "Transported to Another World" kind of thing, due to the amount of people that got involved in this situation, and the severeness of the whole situation right now.

Welp, at least this will keep me from getting bored for a while now... He thought as he finished one apple slice and moved on to another slice.

Guild center, Guild center - well Guild Meeting Hall to be precise. One of the biggest buildings in Akihabara (as it seems), and the only place with the guild bank. - Come to think of it... it would be a disaster if this place stopped working, she thought, and looked around in search of a friend. Though so far... all she saw happened to be red/purple walls and few adventurers on their merry way out (of the building), or to the guild bank. - Merry as much as it can be, considering the circumstances.

I ought to check the... oh, wait, wrong game, she thought. - And in overall she joined guild only once, in one old game called Guild Wars. Not for long. But always something. Some... kind of an experience...

Where the hell is he anyway? I've looked everyw- wait, there he is... - she took a deep breath - Hey! Josua!

Josua got snapped back to reality from his musing when he heard someone calling for him. Rather, it was shouting than just calling him. He then turned his head and saw Grim at a distance. It was more and more obvious that she's not from the Yamato Server, since she didn't seem to have any sense of direction around here, and the fact that she shouted for him made it even clearer. He simply waved his hand at Grim, who finally saw him waving his hand at her.

This girl... He thought as he facepalmed inside his mind.

OOC: Short, because this is all that I could think of at the moment.

He's waving. After all this... he's waving. Why is this server, no, this GMH such an annoying place. Why is it so hard to find somebody? - She sighed. Within few seconds, she stood in front of him.

Hey - the shortest thing she could ever say, again. A pity "Where the hell have you been?" or "It's tough to find someone here..." was never said. At least people are not... staring, opposite to what one would see on the other server after someone's yelling.

OOC- Kay, I'm not surprised, sorry again ^^