Re: Rebirth Online

the first encounter

“Ryuuji, let’s start your battle practice.” 

“Okay.” 

In a hall that’s located in the FFAID Corporation building, I'm undergoing training. They are trying to make my real body get used to the battle just like within the game world. They also gives me a weapon. Although it’s not a katar like in the game, this thing is close enough. It’s a tonfa. It’s a stick that’s looks like a police baton. 

I can't cope with the training at the start, but now my body seemed to be remembering all the fight that I have going trough inside rebirth online. My movements steadily getting better and move swiftly. I was accompanied by a man that has a muscular body. The man wearing something that should be an army uniform and have a buzz cut hair. 

“That is for today. Your movement is getting better. It’s a surprise that you never took any martial arts training before.” 

“Thank you Mr. Rod. You’re a great teacher as well. No wonder you’re once a trainer for the U.S army.” 

“Hahaha. That’s just an old story. Now I’m just an old man. Anyway, you should take a shower and rest for tonight. Your muscle surely will be in a lot of pain tonight. We’re taking it easy tomorrow and we’ll continue in the day after tomorrow. When you’re body is exhausted, it will have to take time to recover. Doing training in the right time after your body is resting will causing in super recovery and muscle building. It’s pretty common nowadays.” 

“Thank you Mr. Rod. I will take my leave now.” 

After two weeks of training I can feel my body is not thin anymore. Although it’s not bulky, there’s muscle throughout my whole body. 

My body is moving just like the way I want it. I think I still can move faster. Yes, I can still get stronger. I think my body can move well like in the game. But, my overdrive state, I think I should hide it from them. I won’t show all of it... after all I still don’t believe them. 

And today is the first day for Ryuuji to log in to the game world. For the last two weeks, he’s been training his body all the time. 

Finally...I can log in to Rebirth Online... 

“Ryuuji, you must remember that you can’t make any interaction to other players. Especially Sakuya.” 

“Yeah, I understand. My interaction with Sakuya will only fasten Mr. Rainer plan.” 

“That’s right. Then, I’ll see you inside the game.” 

“Okay Mr. Aaron.” 

I wear the Syder that have been prepared specially. I'M not lying down but sitting at a chair. All over the chair, there are sensors that can be seen. Some people that looked like a lab assistant help to set up some cables that will be connected to me. I'm now sitting in the chair with cables connected and sensors monitoring all over my body. 

When I log in, I'm at lakeside village. The place where the battle with the wyvern takes place. I have a flashback and remembers the entire scene from that day. My sadness and anger, all come back to me. Just when I lost in my thoughts, someone is calling out for me. 

“Ryuuji... are you ready?” 

“Yes, but I prefer you address me as Kuro inside the game Mr. Aaron.” 

“Okay then, please walk towards the dock.” 

“Roger that. By the way I’m surprised to see that you have a character in this game.” 

“Of course I have. After all, me, Mr. Rainer, and Mr. Sakaki from the corporation each have a game master authority.” 

“I see. So, what to do now?” 

Just when we arrived at the dock, a black ship is coming. The ship has black sail, black hull, and it’s just plain black in all over the ship body. In the front of the ship, a carving of a dolphin present. The ship then docked in front of me. 

“Come on, aboard the ship.” 

I follow Aaron instruction and get on to the ship from the side. There’s nobody onboard except for me. No, it shouldn’t be right. There should be someone that’s driving the ship. I look to the wheel and I can see someone familiar. It’s Genki. 

“What are you doing here Genki?” 

“Nothing much. I’m just told to pick you up and escort you to the facility.” 

“So, you’re only doing this because you were ordered to right?” 

“Not really. I could decline the task when it was given to me. I’m doing this because I want to. Becoming the captain of the nautilus is fun.” 

“So, this ship is called nautilus? More importantly, where are we going?” 

“I’ve told you before; we’re going to the facility.” 

“I never heard of such a place in Rebirth Online.” 

“Don’t worry. It will be weird if you ever heard about it before. By the way the journey will take around an hour. You can do anything you want in the mean time.” 

“Okay.” 

When i open my party windows, I can see Sakuya condition. It seemed like she was in black factory city. She seemed to be doing fine. I want to tell her that i'm okay but interaction with Sakuya will increase the possibilities for Sakuya to be a perfect AI. 

So, I decided to do some training on the deck. I starts to copy the martial arts training that were taught by Rob.  I want to see the results of the training. I'm moving a whole lot better and faster. That will be enough to please Mr. Aaron later when he sees my movement. But, I realized something. 

I haven’t unleashed my full potential. I should do that when I have a time alone. 

After that practice session, I notice that the ship is heading in an unexpected direction. The ship is heading to the south east. We're slowly encountering some small islands on the way.

Out of the areas that exist in Rebirth Online, only 30% is frequently used by players. 30% is rarely used, and 40% is not yet explored. I personally managed to explore for about 80% of the whole continent. But for now, we’re heading to somewhere new. 

“Hey, Genki. Where are we? I’ve never seen this place before.” 

“We’re going to the far east continent?” 

“Far east continent? Isn’t that area haven’t been released? So, it shouldn’t existed yet right?” 

“It’s going to be released soon. The Rebirth Online world that you know right now is only 10% of its true size. There are a whole lot of unexplored lands but players can’t get access to those areas yet. Even me as a GM I’ve only covered about 30% of its total. So, even if it’s not yet released, the area is existing.” 

“I see. This world is much bigger than what I thought.” 

“Don’t fret about the small details. Just prepare yourself for the upcoming test.” 

“You’re right.” 

After an hour on the sea, the ship finally landed at a shore. It was a tropical island. I get off from the ship but I didn’t see anything special about the place. 

“Come here, follow me.” 

I follow Genki into the jungle. The surrounding area seemed like a regular forest, and there’s no sign of any civilization. Until we arrived at a really modern looking door. It appearance looked like a regular metal door but it have a really high technology implemented. Genki then making a gesture in the air and the door split open. 

We enter through the door but there’s nothing. It’s only a 1x1meter space but seeing Genki comes in, I just following him. The door then closed and I can feel that the room is moving. That room turns out to be an elevator. Soon we are moving downwards and the outer wall becomes a clear glass which can be see trough. 

I'm surprised to see the facilities. There are a lot of people working and they seemed to be busy. The lift then finally arrives at the lowest floor. The safety door opened and we are greeted by Aaron. 

“You’re finally here.” 

“Yeah. I’m surprised to see this facility. I never think that such a place is exist.” 

“Do you honestly think that we monitor the game from the real world only? We’re making a base here to monitor the game system from inside the game too.” 

“I see.” 

“Enough with the small talk. Let’s head to the hall first. Genki, you may take your leave now.”

“Understood.” 

Genki then leaves me and work with the other people. After that, me and Aaron walk to a training hall within the facilities. When we arrived and there are familiar researchers inside, but I can’t find Dr. Hans. 

“It is strange, all of you are here but I can’t see Dr. Hans.” 

“Ooh, although he’s the one that created the Syder, strangely enough he doesn’t want to use it.” 

“That’s weird.” 

“Yeah. Anyway, are you prepared for this?” 

“Yes sir.” 

“Let me warn you. What we’re going to do is for you to maintain your overdrive state. For that reason, we’re going to increase your sensitivity to 100% from a regular player that’s only receiving 10%; do you understand what does it mean?” 

“Hmm...  my senses will work better right?” 

“That’s true, but it seems like you missed the most important point.” 

“What’s that?” 

Before Aaron gives the answer, he takes a deep breath. 

“Let me tell you the truth. The increase in your receptor means stronger signal will be sent to your brain. You can taste the food in the game better, you can smell better, feel better, but the worst part is about the pain. Do you understand?” 

“Is that mean that if I get hurt in the game it will really hurt just like in the real world.” 

“That’s the gist of it. But the worst part, if you died in the game you may really died in the real world.” 

“Whoa, are you serious?” 

“Yes I am. Even if you’re hurt a little bit in the game, your real body will be hurt even though there’s no scar or damage. So, taking into the worst case scenario where you die, the signal that is sent to your brain may be too strong until your brain think that your real body is already dead. So, do you still want to do it? If you’re willing to proceed, we’re also will try our best to prevent anything bad from happening to you.” 

“I don’t really have another choice am I? I’ve gone this far so it’s too late to go back.” 

“Okay then. Let’s hope for the best.” 

After that, Aaron moves from the center of the training hall to the side. There’s a special room for monitoring what happened. 

“Are you ready?” 

I gives a thumb up to Aaron. A few seconds later, a monster is summoned in front of me. It was an easy task. It’s only a level 3 jumping rabbit. After I defeats it, another monster appears. It’s a level 12 triffle armadillo. Then after I defeats the monster, a stronger one is summoned. Level 15 goblin warrior, level 20 Degaru crab, level 24 killer mantis, level 30 earth golem, level 33 water spirit, level 40 salamander, level 45 gryphon, level 50 blue centaur, level 57 skeleton mage, level 62 black dragon, level 70 death knight, level 76 naught’s leader, level 80 holy marauder, level 83 Cerberus, level 90 efreet. 

“It’s amazing to see how you easily defeat them.” 

“That’s not something to brag about. So, what’s the meaning of this?” 

“We’re just testing your battle power. From now on, the real research will be conducted. Are you ready?” 

“Whenever you’re ready.” 

After I said that, a monster that I have never seen before appears. It looked like a dragon but it’s different from any other dragon that stands using four feet, it’s only using two of them. The other two looked like has been changed into arms. One is holding a sword and the other one is holding a shield. It’s a human-like dragon. When it’s summon is finished, it opened its eyes and it was colored red. His scales are now shining in red too. What I think to be the scale is actually armor. The armor is blazing red and looked so strong. I finally see the name on top of its head and the name of the monster is level 102 blood dragon. 

Are you serious? 

Aaron tell me before that he will try his best to prevent me from dying yet what he send forth is a powerful monster above level 100. Furthermore it’s a monster that I know nothing about. 

The blood dragon then leaps to me and swinging his sword. It is so agile and makes me shocked. I managed to dodge the swing but the blood dragon’s attack continues. It slashing the sword again and this time I nearly miss to dodge it. The tip of the sword managed to graze my arm. 

“Uuaaarrrgghhh....” 

I'm now screaming in pain. The wound on my arm is not that bad but it stings and hurt so much. 

It’s bad... I never think that it will hurt’s so much... what’s wrong with this monster? It’s too strong... Tch... I should never believe Aaron in the first place... this battle is going to be bad...

At that time, I have realized that what Aaron say is true. If I died in the game in this condition right now, the chance of me to die in the real world is almost 100%. 

the blood dragon attack comes once more. This time, fire comes out from his mouth which is unexpected. 

"Ugh... this is going to be bad... 

" 

I tried to cross the katar in front of my body to block the fire but it’s pointless. My body is engulfed in fire and it is completely hidden from sight within the raging fire. 

It’s so hot. I can feel my whole body is screaming in pain. 

Am I going to die like this? 

Strangely as I am facing the life and death situation, I can hear a faint voice inside my head. 

“Hey, do you need my help?” 

In the middle of my confusion, I decided to ask to the owner of that voice. Who are you? 

“My name is snow. I can get you out from this situation, but in return, I need your help.” 

While in this kind of position, I know I have no option to refuse. So I decided to give a reply. 

If I can get out from here alive, I promise that I’ll do what I can. 

“Okay, it’s settled then.” 

After she said that, strangely my body is at such an ease. The hot feeling from the fire that engulfing me, now turns into a cold and gentle touch. 

“Now, let’s get you out of this situation. I’ll explain the detail later.” 

Somewhere in my mind, I’m lost in space. But i have a feeling that i can believe in this voice. 

I can feel power coming back to my arms, I let out a roar and throw out my arms that’ve been crossing infront of me and ward off the fire. 

I can see the blood dragon in front of me clearly. I can do this. 

I quickly dashed towards it and thrust my katar towards it’s neck.it landed deep inside and i severed it’s head. 

After i finished it off, i stand in silence and closed my eyes. 

Between the time when i was near my death, i could see a glance of the future that i never realized. 

I have people that will mourn at my death. There are people that comes at my funeral. Even though i think that i’m already all alone. 

“kuro, let me tell you about my story then.” 

That soft voice return me to my senses. I listened to the story which leaving me in disbelieve later on.