Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

009.2 | Beta 02

Leon could only be bothered by how he looked. Seeing his real face and body blended with a mixed-race, he wasn't sure if he's handsome or just plain in this standard. In real life, he rated his appearance as simple. Of course, it would be different to the other people vying his looks.

He tried touching his pointy ears, feeling his hand massaging the skin. He even yelped in pain when he attempted to fold the sharp tips to which those watching him thought he was stupid. But nobody can blame him for having this weird feeling.

Everyone is feeling the same.

It might be different for those who have the humanoid race, for nothing has changed much from their appearance. If they grew horns or scars in the game, that is the only thing that the system added to their original appearance. But for an Elven like Leon, seeing himself to have those long glossy golden hair and pointy ears...

"This looks so sullen," he thought.

Now he wondered what his party members would look like. So far, he has seen everyone in the group except Frass, who seems to be constantly traveling overseas, and Aud, a NEET. Most of their party members have the usual human appearance even though their races are different. 

Maybe it is just him who looks very different?

"Hey... Are you...?" A hand tapped on his shoulders.

Leon turned around and saw a person having the same race. However, instead of looking weird, this person blended perfectly, matching his face and body towards the appearance. It is as if the Elven Race is made just to fit him. 

Unlike the previous server, where names are visible, this time, he could only guess. There are no tags and such, like how there are no floating names in real life. This person is sending flowers that are popping around him with warmth. This person is definitely Xav-11.

"Whoa, is it really you? You look different," Xavier said.

"I do look terrible!" Leon frowned.

"No, no, that's not what I meant," the fellow laughed warmly. "What I mean is you look outstanding. I almost didn't recognize you."

"Good? Am I? Really?" Leon could only be happy to hear such praise.

"Yes, you look more of an elf man..." Another voice responded.

Unknown to Leon is the pair following behind Xav-11. He looked to the side to see two people with familiar airs around them. One of them is a tall man with a business-like face. He looked like a person you would always see on the streets wearing eyeglasses with a matching suitcase. However, this person is wearing the usual black, red to brown colored clothes and a demon-dropped bunny bag.

"F-frass!" Leon exclaimed. "I mean... That Sir Frass?"

Of course, Leon recognized him. This serious-looking guy with a bunny bag that always stays on the side of Aud is a well-known business student in their university. His ability is enough to match the professors, and he is rumored to have taken three courses in one year. Leon once attended a student seminar where Frass is the main speaker. 

Shin and Leon are geniuses, but they don't like standing out. They requested the professor just to use their account numbers when posting the scores of their exams. Only a few close people know about their actual standing within the university ranks. 

"I never know you're also playing this game," Frass frostily said.

"Um... yes..."

Leon could not move the conversation further, so he motioned his attention towards the other person standing beside Frass. This one is a bit shorter, maybe inches shorter than Leon. 

Everything is the same with the usual appearance except for the face. Instead of a default program character, his face seems so young and smooth, makes Leon remember a lowerclassman from school. However, he never saw a face like this from the people around his school.

Is this the original face of the famous Clover?

"Aud?" Leon called. "You look..."

"I never thought that the nerve gear would automatically register my original body feature. I wasn't aware, and now I am like this?" Aud said, clearly showing his dissatisfaction. 

Now, hearing his voice made Leon thought. It was different from the usual voice he is using on their game. It was a slightly deep voice but sounded gentle. This is not a voice from a burly man, not from an older person too. Perhaps, Aud or Clover is younger than they are.

"Don't worry!" Xav stuck closer to Aud again, hugging his arms like usual. "Whatever Aud looks in the game or real life, you will always be cute to me!"

"That's very embarrassing to say," Aud indifferently spoke.

"Ahhh, why is my Aud so mean. You should stay away from Frass and come play with me."

Leon watched the two getting closer than usual. Looking at the three of them, Leon saw some similarities. He switched his eyes from looking at Xav to Frass to Aud and the other way again and somehow reached an answer. 

That must be the reason why Frass never pushed Xav away when he gets close to Aud, unlike them and other people who tried doing, because...

"Are you guys related?" Leon asked while pointing at them. Xav gave him a raised eyebrow before answering with a smile.

"Yes, we are," he answered. "Aud is my and Frass' nephew. We three are related!"

"How easy for you to disclose such information," Frass slapped Xav away from Aud.

"What's wrong with it? This guy never saw Aud and me. What's wrong with telling it?" Xav reasoned out.

"Um... is it important information?" Leon frowned.

"No, this guy is only paranoid," Xav reassured.

The four continued chatting, well not that Frass will really start talking until a notification appeared. It seems that Lexa and Shin are both online. Aud asked Leon to tell Shin to come, and he will take care of Lexa. 

Many minutes later and the two arrived on the scene. Shin, the humanoid warrior, blended to his image as much that Leon has to cross fingers upon seeing him. Lexa's appearance didn't matter much. The character she is using is the same as her usual interface.

The group waited for a while before the twins arrived. It seems that some problems resurfaced in their outside life, and they have to deal with them before they're able to log in. The twins exactly look to their age right now but with the male twin taller than the female one. 

Their eyes motioned from the members of the Sora and finally landed to Clover. The twins are huge fans of Clover. The moment they learned that their idol is their team leader, they can't stop their happiness and rushed towards him.

Marlene, the female twin, is the most expressive ones. But today, it was Marcus who has his eyes gleaming brightly. Marlene was unusually silent, unable to say the words to the person she admired. Aud liked these kids so much that he treated them like siblings. So when the two rushed towards him, he opened his arms to accept the two.

"It is really Clover! Clover!" Marlene kept on looking at Aud's name.

Since the day he changed his name, Aud-01 has become his nickname, and his interface name has become [The Four Leaf]. Well, actually, the guild leader of Cassianne is not named Clover but [The Four Leaf]. But due to the familiar icon, and the name sounds long, he was tagged as Clover, which suited him more. Aud then adapted the name [Clover] and used it in Disboard. 

But in VR, his name would remain [The Four Leaf].

Marcus patted his twin sister and nodded. He was also happy and smiled at the leader. Aud happily accepted the two kids with no problem. Frass did not swat the two kids away and let the youngest three members of the group cuddle at each other. Being a kid by heart, Xavier wanted to earn a spotlight, but Frass caught him on his collar.

"So mean," Xav complained. Frass just glared at the guy and watched the kids play.

The waiting time consumed a few minutes, and more members came. A few people from each guild saw the Sora and approached them. Most people are surprised to know that the best player, Clover is that one little guy in the group. They did not doubt Frass being the second placer and Xav as one of the top players. 

But Aud? 

Yeah, he is the leader, but his presence is so shallow that you can't expect him to be that powerful.

Maybe without his name, nobody will guess that it was him.

This explains why nobody ever guessed that it was him. Leon was almost near the conclusion, but he did not value the numbers due to discrepancies. They just greeted Clover out of formality, but they thought he was not genuine in their hearts. They decided to believe that someone is playing behind Aud's back, that's why he took the top place, or he is just a substitute.

Frass watched these people with a frosty glare while Xavier did not leave Aud's side. It is as if they are protecting this particular person in case someone would want to hurt him. Aud did not care and chatted with the twins happily.

After a while, another character appeared before them. Carrying the mark of the Cassaianne on his uniform, The Four-Leaf, this good-looking man approached the group with a smile. With his calm temperament, the humanoid greeted the members and made a courteous bow to the Guild Leader.

Ari-05 now will be called on his real name Aries, is wearing his usual Bartender attire. His black vest, white long-sleeved shirt underneath, and black slacks marked the signature of the bartender recognizing him everywhere he goes. Just by standing there, he already attracted several players. 

Many people said that Aries is using his real face in the game. Seeing him now in this version made the girls see hearts everywhere.

"Good evening," Aries said to Clover. He also gave the same greeting to Frass that nodded in recognition. Xavier is still the kindest person that shook hands with him. Leon and Shin gathered around him, checking the face of the ikemen.

"I was happy when Xav told me that I still look good. Now I see you, and I'm losing confidence," Leon uttered.

"I am sure my genes are good, but I don't think I can reach that kind of face," Shin added.

"You guys," Aries laughed.

Hearing his voice, the female players quickly flocked around him. He's not only good-looking, even his laugh and smiles are also great! They can feel their hearts pounding as they wish to have a boyfriend this stunning. The warrior and the elf scoffed in the corner, planning to sabotage the beautiful boy.

Clover is looking around, but he did not see anyone after Aries. He tugs the older man's vest making Aries look at him. Aries, who was happy to meet Aud since day one, looks at him with respect. One can see the shine coming from his eyes as he gazes at the shorter player with warmth.

"Where are they?" Aud asked.

"Who-" Aries realized the meaning of the question and nodded. "I just handed them the gears. Those guys are either busy or just lazy to care. But they will play the game. I can assure you that."

 Aud sighed. "Sure they have to, or else they will get terminated."

"They are not afraid of termination. If they did, they should be working under your guild," Aries joked.

"Mnn. They will," Aud said in affirmation.

The night went by, and the players logged in on their accounts. When the last player entered the game, the whole place suddenly made a loud wailing noise. The players just idling around were alarmed and looked up to see where the noise is from. 

Just then, five lines of firecrackers went up to the sky, and the series of dancing fireworks danced the heavens. The words [WELCOME BETA TESTERS] shone in a blinking light marking the start of the event.

The players cheered when confetti and mana rained down. Aircraft flew up in the sky, pulling a string of banners with the same welcoming messages, the directors, the organizers of the game, the scientists, and all the personnel responsible for creating the game. The top twenty players are also announced, projecting their faces to the screen attached in a balloon craft.

Everyone cheered when familiar faces appeared on the screen. They are having a good time commenting who looks cool or someone looks young in real life, etc. Since the nerve gear registers the real image of the player, the non-characters or those who use the default images got their real faces exposed. Even the undead players that have skeletal features had their faces shown, leaving their bodies intact.

The players that are announced on the TV waved their hands or smiled shyly. When Xav went out on the screen, he had a full blast waving both of his arms up to show his energy. The players laughed at the cute rabbit image as flowers bloom around him. But Xavier is shameless. He did not only wave his hand, but he also made an idol pose with a wink. The players suddenly filled the place with cheering noises.

The elven is also very generous. After the cute idol pose, Xavier chanted a complex healing spell engulfing the whole place in one. All the players were surprised. They all look down on the floor to see the beautiful ruins crawling under their feet, the warm blue light glowing an unexplainable beauty. This healing spell was created by Xavier that gives anyone inside the radius of the circle have an extra ten minutes of life.

Meaning, within ten minutes, whatever attack the enemy will give the player will have no damage. Instead, the attack will be returned to the attacker twice its power. This spell was much overpowered that only Xavier can do it in one go. The players wondered how much mana he spent just to chant the spell or how long he made the enchantments to match and create powerful healing magic.

After the grand explosion, everything went to normal again. The timer of the healing spell will only activate after the player received the first attack, so the buff remained on their radars. The other top players appeared on the screen. They are not like Xav, who made a good exhibition but all of them showed some actions. For example, the cousins Melon-45 and Allen-38 made an impromptu comedy skit.

When Aries appeared on the screen, the girls yelled. 

Damn, this good-looking bartender from the Cassaianne guild indeed acquired a fair amount of fangirls. Jung-55 was also aired, and silence. Nobody dared to create noise when the stoic face of a soldier appeared. 

It's not that they are afraid of this man. His face and posture just give off an oppressive aura. When Jung-55 looked at the screen, most of the players made a saluting gesture.

The calm Rios-72 smiled when the projector showed him. This person who is not cold but only speaks less also has his number of fans. That smile almost rivaled the loud yelling when Aries was shown. 

Frass appeared on the screen. This guy... they are still wondering why this person who has face paralysis has a large pink bag of a bunny on his back. The ears of the bunny are even moving whenever he walks around.

Lastly, it was Clover. The screen first aired the four-leaf clover before showing the young face of the man. Everyone was surprised. Clover never appeared on the game so seeing him now made the players pause. 

Clover is a respectful child, so he bowed three times before everyone. The players are not yelling, but they all clapped their hands. This person is the top gamer.

After all the fun and whatnot, the system displayed the rules and regulations of the beta test. Most of the information shown is the same as the information handed to the meeting of the top players, so no one is surprised. They are told about the report's summary; this one is just a simple briefing before starting. The players must do the SOP carefully.

When things are done according to the procedure, the management no longer stalled the time. They all know that everyone is excited, so they finally launched the opening of the grand dungeon.

[BETA TESTERS, WELCOME TO HAL'S GRAND DUNGEON. START YOUR ADVENTURE AND BECOME THE NEXT WARRIOR!]