The Strongest Wizard

Countdown...!!!

24th December 2018

"Leave that roasted chicken in the kitchen there, Za. For God's sake, you are a girl, you know. Just help me get the dining table ready, and you can help me carry the bowls of mushroom gravy over."

"You are a girl, but you have an athletic body like a boy. If you have short-cropped hair like your baby brother, people would think you a boy from behind."

"How are you going to get yourself a boyfriend and for us to have pitter-patters around the house from our little grandsons and granddaughters? Huh? "

"Answer me, my daughter of mine. You are not working so you would need to find a suitable boyfriend, so at least he could support you and the young family. I don't know what had become of you ever since you are so hooked to games after graduating from University."

There she goes again, lecturing me of what's becoming of her only daughter. Hahaha. I am already 22. I do not have a boyfriend, and I do not need one at the moment.

That's what I was back in the year 2018. But my heart does flutters when I saw the name and number of Ron in my contacts list. Whatever it is, virtual relationships in MMORPG was quite common, and the first thing I would need to do is to find where the heck he is in MMORPG - The Lord Of The Red Dragon.

At least in the virtual world, approaching another gamer of the opposite s*x would be different from asking a guy for his name and number in the real world...!!! Its sure sound as if I am desperate for something, if you get what I mean, right?

We were busy preparing Christmas Eve dinner, and we never expected anyone else except for the four of us. We had worn our best clothes once we had finished cooking, packed the kitchen and set the dining table. It had our signature pansit beehoon, Leche flan and fruit salad.

We don't have to mention the rest since it made up from an array of fusion dishes from around the globe. The menus that presented before us could feed more than ten people, and we only have our neighbours to share the blessings around.

Luckily for them, some neighbours of ours do not celebrate Christmas at all but celebrate other festivities. My parents sent an invite to the concerned neighbours, and they insisted on bringing potluck instead. "Bring along a small tiffin would do. You are here to eat and savour our dishes. Its a once a year thingy so you should bring some empty disposable containers as well. Hahaha...!"

That was what my jovial Tatay had mentioned to the neighbours, and they laughed together with him since Tatay had informed them to bring their containers to take back whatever they wished.

=*=

"Za, you would not sneak into your bedroom when we are not watching, eh? You better have an early Christmas Eve dinner with us along with the rest of the guests before you told us before that you need some time to log in and get things straight, am I right?" Tatay spoke up as he winked his eye towards Nanay.

"Yes, Tatay. I would be logging in since MMORPG - The Lord Of The Red Dragon, would be launched at exactly midnight and I wanted to be the first few hundred or thousand gamers to log in. It is very crucial since it is the official date and hour for the launch and I am sure you are fine about it. Could you cover me for a while and make Nanay forget about me while I disappear?"

My Tatay winked at me, and I felt assured since I was Tatay's pet. Zairon was busy stuffing his face with a chicken drumstick that he had smeared with some mushroom gravy on it. The rest of the guests all started to stream in half an hour before midnight, and they praised the spread that was before us.

After saying Grace, despite Zairon who had taken his bite earlier, we all sat down at any available seats inside our apartment after taking some of the dishes on disposable plastic plates.

=*=

"Tatay, its time for me to go now. Distract Nanay as much as possible so she would not notice me disappear from the living room, alright?" I whispered to Tatay as he pinched my butt cheeks and slapped on it to signal to me that the line was clear. It may look weird to others, but Tatay would always do that to me, just the way he would do to Nanay with a different reason, that is.

I pecked Tatay's cheeks, wished him Maligayang Paskohan, and then I slinked away to my bedroom and closed the door with a click. It was 10 minutes to midnight, and I checked the gaming console which I had switched on as I changed my clothes after toiling in the kitchen earlier.

I took off my clothes down to my undergarments which was a sports bra and boxers this time. I left the wrists and ankles weights on for the initial period of the stage to get used to the gaming world settings.

I lay down inside the gaming console and placed my DNA gauntlet that had a few tubes running through it. Intravenous needles and tubes ran from the gauntlet to the packets of S-Class and A-Class nutrients that would be released into my system as and when it deemed fit.

I closed the gaming console enclosure, and it hissed shut. Everything was quiet inside the gaming console as the system began the booting up process.

"Known Host detected."

"Player Name - Za"

"Race - Human. Class - Neutral"

"Begin initializing with MMORPG - The Lord Of The Red Dragon's interface."

"Begin downloading data packets."

"ETA completion - 3 minutes."

After the 3 minutes was up, I was finally online with MMORPG - The Lord Of The Red Dragon and was shown an introductory clip before me. I looked around me, and I felt myself floating inside a dark void and could not see an end to it.

The sports bra and boxers that I was wearing earlier had changed to a pair of cloth armour that would provide the most basic and least protection against the elements at this moment.

"Welcome to The Lord Of The Red Dragon, gamer. You are now playing as a human with a neutral class which gives you access to all weapons available in this game. Please select the world that you wish to play in."

The system sounded, and I reached out as a panel floated close to me, and there were the usual options which I had seen when I first started two years ago, and it repeated itself once more.

There were four countries to choose from, and each of them had their unique resources. Once we had picked a country, it would be difficult to change it to another form once the account was binding.

The listed countries and resources, as well as other information, were listed as follows:

Country - The types of resources-Bound Equipment

Votrieburg-Mining (minerals, ores and hidden items)-Pickaxe

Zeshyae-Woodcutter (wood, minerals and hidden items)-Axe

Ascon-Fishing (fishes, globules, minerals)-Fishing Pole

Qeplos -Gathering (bugs, plants, minerals)-Gloves

After much consideration as I made a grave mistake two years ago and would not be repeating the same mistake once again, I clicked on Votrieburg.

"Gamer, you had chosen Votrieburg as your starting place and country. Click YES to confirm and continue."

With a leap in my heart, I clicked YES and *swoosh*. That's the last thing I heard before I felt myself spinning and entering the familiar gaming environment.