Chapter 2

Reyna-

Next, I had to choose my username, which I had to think about for a minute. I could choose a random name, but I decided not to. In the end, I stuck with my real name, Reyna. It wasn’t like I couldn’t change it later.

Now that my character was complete, I could join the game and explore it as a Fairy creature. Clicking on the start game option on the menu, I was once again transported to the starting point in the game. The game consisted of twenty-two levels, but each level had many distinct aspects to it.

I knew that the developing team was working on putting in updates as well. Depending on this game, there could eventually be more levels added in the second version. Personally, I didn’t think adding more levels to Arcane Realm was an innovative idea.

I worried that if they did, it would overload the circuits and the current gear wouldn’t be able to handle it. Maybe after some time and a more advanced headgear could be made, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Then again, I didn’t want to think about that right now. I was eager to start playing the game again. Although I was a tester before the game was released, I hadn’t been able to fully experience the gameplay with all the latest updates.

Since I was back at the beginning of the game, I looked around and was surprised at how many players there were. Currently, I was standing in the center of a town, that looked more like a historic village, with one main road that went through it.

Instead of buildings for shops, there were tents or just tables, where players could purchase items. It was much different than it had been during the beta-testing phase. Towns in the game were known as safe zones.

Monsters couldn’t enter and attack players. Also, players weren’t allowed to attack other players. Although it has been a week since the game was released, I doubted there were many players that have made it very far. At most, I wouldn’t think anyone has made it past level three.

Those that made it past the first level were probably the ones that put real money into the game. Unlike a lot of games, this game had the ability to be played as a profession. Players could put real money into the game to advance and they could also cash out the game currency for real money.

Since I was more interested in beating a game based on my own abilities, I didn’t spend money on games. Then again, my income didn’t allow me to spend money on that degree, even if I did want to spend to win.

Wanting to get started with the game, since I was wasting time, I started walking down the brick road that went through the town. My eyes moved around, checking out all the different costumes that the players wore, as well as the shops that were around. Since I just started, I didn’t have any game currency that I could spend to buy anything.

When I reached the end of town, I stopped at the large gate, where an NPC (Non-Playing Character) was stationed. Just like in all towns, there were NPCs everywhere. Guards were stationed around the town, as well as shopkeepers and other types of characters.

Some had missions, while others were just there to make it seem more realistic. A player could talk to an NPC and ask it questions. Most of the NPCs could even respond as if they were human, but it was nothing more than an artificial intelligence program.

“Be safe on your travels. Be aware of monsters and other dangers. Please take this.” The NPC guard spoke.

An instant later a screen popped up, with a picture of a small sword and a shield. It was a basic weapon and shield, which was given to every new player to start. Reaching up, I pressed the accept button. Opening the menu to my storage, I clicked on the sword but left the shield.

Since I have played this before, I wasn’t worried about being able to protect myself. Even with my stats being reset, the VR was designed to either learn in the game how to do things, or we were able to use our basic knowledge and skills.

Since I was trained at an early age in how to fight and use swords, even if my stats were reset, I would be able to easily build them up. With a short sword in hand, I stepped past the guard and out onto a patch of grass. That was when I realized that my character didn’t come equipped with shoes.

I could feel the grass beneath my feet and although it felt softer than the grass I was used to, it still felt realistic. Although it would be better to have shoes, I didn’t worry about it as I looked over my shoulder at my wings. My flying power would need to improve, but to do that I needed to use my wings as often as possible.

With only a mere thought, my body lifted off the ground and I was flying a few feet off the ground. Since I had been a dragon before, I knew the basics of flying. My stamina was low, so I would only be able to fly for a limited time until I could raise my stats.

If I didn’t fly very high off the ground, I would be able to fly for longer periods of time while building up my stats. It wasn’t cheating, it was simply knowing the elements of the game and using them to my advantage. Most players didn’t like testers because we knew more about games than they did.

Moving forward, I started towards the open field that surrounded the town. To build my stats, I would need to work on fighting low-level monsters. It was also known as grinding. By killing monsters, I could collect materials and either use them to get better equipment or sell them for in-game currency, also known as GP, gold pieces.

There were missions I could also do to get GP, but I needed to be at least a level five to activate missions. It wouldn’t take me long to do it, as I already knew the ins and outs of the game. It took a few minutes to reach the first set of monsters, as they were a bit away from safe zones.

There was a total of twenty boars, and I was able to kill them off with little effort. They were slow-moving and they didn’t attack. I couldn’t get big rewards from them, but after killing a lot the small rewards added up. It was tedious work, but it was easy, especially for beginners.

When I finished with those, I moved on to another group of monsters. Dealing with the boars, I was able to raise to level one. I could have waited for them to respawn, but I wanted to reach a higher level as quickly as possible.

The next group of monsters were wild wolves, which were a little more difficult to deal with. Their attacks weren’t powerful, but they were quick. I couldn’t use my wings for them, but it still didn’t take me long to defeat the twenty wolves.

My stats were already improving and while the game was played in real-time, I only played for about thirty minutes. The next set of monsters were more wild boars, but they did fight back. Sticking to the area I handled the three sets of monsters a few times until I reached level five.

Only after that did I travel further, to find stronger monsters that I could fight to get better materials. I did more low-level grinding until I reached level ten, which took me a few hours to complete. An alert popped up in front of me, with an automated message.

“You have been playing for four hours, please log out and take a break. This is a reminder that your health is important and shouldn’t be ignored while in the game.”

While it wasn’t a requirement, it was highly recommended. As a safety mechanism installed in the game, automated messages alerted players when it was necessary to log out. The headgear could also monitor health stats, that way a player wasn’t exerting themselves while playing a game.

It had been one of the things that the CEO had personally developed, to ensure the players’ safety. Locating a safe place, under a tree, I opened the menu to log out. It was lunchtime, and by now the office had delivered lunch to my office.

It was one of the benefits of being a tester, we had people that delivered food to us since we tended to not want to pull away from what we were doing to get lunch. It was now a company policy that we had to take a break to eat lunch.

As expected, when I logged out, I saw there was food sitting on my desk. As I was eating, I checked my emails to see if anything new popped up. Checking the time, I wondered if my best friend was going to come in to eat lunch with me, as she usually did.

Just as I thought it, she walked in. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that as soon as I arrived, you were already in the game?” Ameria asked as she sat down in the chair across from my desk.

“Because I have been doing it for the past two years that I have worked here.” I laughed just before taking a sip of water.

“I tried looking for you in the game, but it says your account has reset.”

“I decided to try a different character and play from the beginning. With all the updates, I wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly.” I explained and finished off the salad I had been eating before she arrived.

“Well, send me your info later, maybe I will do the same and we can work together on some of the missions.”

Nodding my head, I picked up my phone and sent her my new character info. We chatted a little longer, but then I wanted to get back to the game. When she left, I returned to the bed, which was now lying down flat.

In less than two minutes, I was back in the game, under the tree I had been at before logging off. Excited to level up more, I started running across the field, towards a forest. I didn’t bother flying this time, as I knew that with my flying level, it would be difficult to navigate through the trees.

I didn’t come across any other monsters for a while, but when I reached a clearing, I stopped when I saw another person fighting a group of goblins. It wasn’t that there was another player that stopped me, it was the player himself. Not sure if I was seeing correctly, I stayed where I was and watched.

The player was moving too fast for me to fully see who it was, but I found something strangely familiar about him. Watching him, my eyes widened when I realized why he seemed so familiar. It was Luka, the CEO of the company.

At first, I couldn’t believe my eyes, but when he finished off with the last goblin and turned toward me, I knew without a doubt that it was really him. Taking a small step forward, I kept my eyes glued to him. He didn’t move, but he didn’t put away his sword either.

“Luka?” I whispered, hoping that he would confirm what I already knew.

His golden-brown eyes narrowed on me, and he took a step back. It looked as if he wanted to run or something. Taking another step forward, I carefully approached him.

“It’s me, Reyna, I work in the testing department at your company. Where have you been? You have been missing for a week and we are all worried about you.” I rushed out in one breath.

He didn’t say anything, but I could see the way his jaw muscles clenched as I spoke. Something was off, but I didn’t know what it was. His appearance in the game was just like his appearance in real life, except for the fact that he didn’t wear a suit.