Game 1: Once in a Blue Moon III
895 Words
Naika had just completed the basic movement tutorial and was spawned in the lobby which looked like a small playground. For adventurers, that is.
Right beside the spawnpoint was a field filled with immortal humanoid dummies on which players seemed to enjoy testing their combos on. It must be a training area.
[Combos - a shortened term for attack combinations]
In the far side opposite to her position looked like an organized marketplace with rows of stands (where one could display their items and articles for sale) filled with randomly-generated NPC's, which spawn and vanish at certain intervals along with their random items, and players, who took over the spots that weren't already run by NPC's.
[NPC - Non-Player Character]
She was going to look to her right next but what greeted her was an NPC.
"A good day to you, adventurer" dialogued an NPC named Irene to Naika. She had short, blonde hair that curls inwards and wears eyeglasses and is holding onto a big book with the logo of Windbreakers engraved on its cover.
"My name is Irene" she 'said'.
[You have a nametag, dummy], Naika thought.
"There are four individual resource bars", Irene said. "Mana, stamina, aura, and blood, which are color-coded in blue, yellow, green, and red".
Naika was getting a little impatient. She knows the mechanics of the game already, so she types in public chat, "I wish I could tell this dumb NPC that I've already played this game, LOL".
Lots of laughs and concerns then showed up in public chat box. Naika became confused.
"Hey, Sis?" Neiko said, watching a tutorial video on WindBreakers online just to see howit is.
"What?", she asked.
"Apparently NPC's responds in chat, which is why dialogue boxes appear from them instead of a cinematic. Isn't that cool?", he said.
Naika looks back at her screen and sees that Irene's next dialogue was "Shall we skip the briefing, then?".
She then realizes that the players present were laughing because of the contradiction of what she typed in. She could only hope that they took it as a joke, but then again, there were chats of serious concern.
"I know, right?", she shouts back to Neiko, pretending nothing embarassing had just happened to her.
She swallowed saliva in shame and typed in, "No, sorry, please continue". She had realized how rude she was to this sub-existent person.
"Mana is used for spells and abilities, while Stamina is used for actions like attacks. Aura is the energy that encases you, acting as a barrier from harm, and blood is... blood", Irene dialogued.
Naika read through all she has to say. Including all common knowledge and her dramatic introductions. But her mind was more focused on the question of how these AIs were responding.
"Adventurer, the world is in peril, and we need you to join the struggle in our stand against the beasts called titans" Irene pleaded.
[Not bad for an introduction to PVE], Naika thought.
[PVE - Player versus Enemy/Entity; AKA co-op vs AI]
Irene continued, "But the battle has proven itself to be very brutal and difficult thus far, and have cost us many lives throughout the endeavor. Those in power have decided that we give out missions based on how much one has proven oneself against others and entitle them ranks which would help us understand which missions the warrior is capable of taking".
[The introduction for PVP is even better], Naika thought.
[PVP - Player versus Player]
"In shorter terms, we've assigned missions certain rank requirements to be taken up. Indeed the more difficult the mission the higher the reap, but don't be too greedy, adventurer, your life is worth more than any penny you may have gathered" Irene concluded.
[So I have personalized starter equipment and abilities, and to get stronger ones, I need to fight stronger monsters, and to fight stronger monsters, I need to gain higher rank points, which I'll get by fighting stronger people, where the game developers wanted us to spend time on. Right. I've always been playing, but have never actually 'started out' so to speak], she thought.
"The briefing ends here, adventurer. We wish for your cooperation and assistance. Other than so, feel free to act as you see fit as long as you abide by the rules. Farewell, heed my warnings and may the wind blow your way in your journey".
"Thank you, Irene" she typed. Irene gestured a programmed nod.
She queued up for a match and stretched her fingers. "A match was found! Accept or decline?" An image on the screen popped up, and almost instantly, she accepted.
[Queue - in simpler terms, looking for an automated system matchmaking]
"Now the fun starts!" She said to herself as the screen signaled the battle's start.
A/N: I pulish low word count chapters, so from here onward, if my chapters can't get published because of low word count, I will be publishing it on the bottom of the chapter before it.
Game 2: Loading screen
The match found was a deathmatch, meaning that the objective is to gain 2 points before the opposing team does. Getting a kill earns 1 point.
The time limit is 5 minutes. In case of reaching the time limit, the team with more points win. In the case of a tie, the timer is put to a halt at 0:01, and the next score would grant victory.
Only aura is taken into account in PVP under normal circumstances, as getting blood bar depleted anywhere would literally kill a character, deleting their existence from the game forever.
- Writer
