Alice was a Klausian. Well, more accurately, her character was. Nathaniel Armstrong she named him. But strangely enough, he'd become quite popular. She was regarded as among the "Top 10 Players in the Beta". Being the Top 10 among 10,000 was a big deal. Among those people were the only people in the game to be granted titles. She checked the leaderboard, where everyone had their statistics listed and showed whom the top players in the world were. Obviously the game had only been public for 7 days, so the top people were all Betas.
It said this:
"1. Nathaniel Armstrong
2. Claudette Shiromei"
Numbers 3 and 4 weren't anyone currently in the roleplay, so for that sake, we shall skip them.
"5. Jessica Celenaril Telyaiel."
Alice never bothered to read past the top 5. Didn't care. Besides, Nathaniel Armstrong had become infamous. The name had become so well known, that they made exagerated internet memes about her character. "There is no I in team. There IS an I in Nathaniel Armstrong. Fuck you, team." "Nathaniel Armstrong can use his fists to impregnate any woman. And any man." both of those pariticularly caused her to chuckle. She WAS a solo player, and in real life she actually did sleep around a lot. She didn't care if people considered that being a whore either. Why the double standard when it'd be celebrated if she were a man? In this game world..people thought she was a man. Apparently considered "manlier than Chuck Norris". She loved the attention. But most of all, she loved her title. "PKK". She was known for killing player killers. Not only that though, she'd accept any fight challenge any player would give her, and she rarely lost. Ironicly though, she never went to Diablo. Why go where there were few players? Still..she'd never faced "Claudette" in combat, and this bothered her.
Suddenly, she felt herself forcibly taken off of Bokenstein and transported to Airyglyph. She saw the snow falling in the desolate capital. Its funny really, people usually went to Aquaria. It had more natural beauty. But she loved the Kingdom of Airyglyph. It was a military nation. Just her style. Besides, the snow had its own way of being beautiful. But still..why was she here? Suddenly she realized her outfit was different, so she looked down at it. She had level 1 gear. ECK. She'd not had that in a long time. She noticed by looking in the menu, she was also level 1! She stomped her foot as she said in her character's voice "NOBODY CROSSES NATHANIEL ARMSTRONG AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Suddenly she felt the cold air as the snow continued to fall. Her breath wasn't just visible any longer..she could feel it, like as if she was really out in the cold.
Suddenly she got a pm.
"From: Unknown.
Subject: Welcome to the Real Game
Message: Hello boys and girls, this is Day 1 of the real Star Ocean Online. First I'll tell you that yes, I am the one who disabled your log off feature. But I did much more than that...your souls are trapped within your characters. So don't try taking off your helmets, as your souls are not even within your own bodies! However, it's also in your best interests not to do so as well..as you can't return to a body someday that isn't there! Now we get to the fun part: yes, you feel pain now. Furthermore, if your HP reaches zero...you can die. I've decided to be generous. Revives still work..but only for a short time. If you do not revive in time..the death becomes permanent for your character..and you will die for real. The goal? Oh its simple really. The Beta Testers have reached Diablo before..just barely, but they did. I want you to do more than that..I want you to become strong enough not only to go to Diablo, but to defeat the Daemon leader. That is the goal I give you, if you want to ever leave this game. Also, I reserve the right to change the goals at any time I want for fun! Ciao!"
She snickered a little. Then laughed, really hard. Then she wiped tears from her eyes. At first she thought they were tears of joy...then she realized she was scared shitless. She could actually die now. She felt a wide range of emotions..complete and sheer terror..yet excitement. This could be the ultimate battle! She was also accustomed to pain, as she took Martial Arts classes in real life.
Then she got another PM
"From: Unknown
Subject: Top Player in the World..you cheater!
Message: Hello Nathaniel Armstrong...oh wait, should I call you Alice? Yes..I know who you are. I also know about "Double Spear of Might." First off, like most players here, I'm forcing you to have your real actual voice. Have fun explaining why Nathaniel Armstrong sounds like a woman! Also, I see what you did there. Hacking the game to create a special move? Tsk tsk tsk. We'll have to penalize you for that. From now on, any monster you face will be stronger than normal. But just for when you are fighting it. You will gain no extra EXP from it either. See, this is the punishment I give hackers. You loved soloing before? Nobody will want to be on your team even if you choose to have one now! Ciao!"
She cursed and then suddenly heard her actual voice. She covered her mouth. Oh shit.
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Max was out and about killing monsters. He'd not gained very much EXP so far, but he'd reached level 3. That was worth something. If he hadn't been a beta tester before, he probably would only be level 2 right now. He knew how best to take advantage of fights. Unfortunately however, he'd grown tired of fighting, so once his part of the field was clear, he just layed down under a tree as the warm sunny day shown through.
He sat under the tree and listened to the birds chirping in the tree. The warm sunny day. Sure it wasn't real...but couldn't he enjoy it anyways? He felt himself drift off and soon he was taking a cat nap. He was aware of his surroundings, but he was still getting rest out of it. Funny, but interesting. The sun left a feeling of warmth as the cool breeze went by. It wasn't too hot and not too cold..it was perfect weather. The birds continued to chirp as he listened to them. It was peaceful and he was content, even if only for the time being. He pretended just for a moment, that this was real. And it was a beautiful moment that he'd cherish for a long time. Not everything was doom and gloom in this game, and once in awhile he could enjoy the beautiful view...even if it was in a female body.