Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

001.1 | NOOBS' FIRST KILL

He remembered that it was a cold starry night. The vastness of the skies that is filled with darkness held a peculiar sense of loss as if grasping something intangible while falling into a quagmire of uncertainty. Yet, it is this wicked security that led the lonely heart of a man to wish for adventure. The blood that was once thought to be dead woke up from its eternal slumber.

Leon will always remember that memory.

Many things happened and the night sky never changed. The light gases burned themselves to the entirety of their lifetime emitting a soft glow that made the void less cold. Once, Leon thought that he would make everything to reach the stars. He wanted to see close by how the world of the stars would look like.

But it seems that that dream will never happen.

Hidden behind a large boulder that is a size of a truck is Leon who is reminiscing the best parts of his life. He bore a lazy posture with his head slightly tilted above. He seems to be trying to see the sky like the ones that he had seen from his memories but the reality of things did not allow him to had such fantasy.

The place where he's in is a wide dark cave. It wasn't entirely jet black but enough to have the outlines of the stone formations and boulders be visible after staring for a long time. Occasionally, there would be fireflies roaming around to give a bit of light but it isn't sufficient to completely see the area.

The information of the cave has not been released yet so aside from knowing that this area is filled with rich mana stalagmites and truck-size boulders there is nothing more. So, when Leon's group that shouldn't be exploring a newly discovered dungeon went over to investigate, they are quickly wiped out.

Leon sighed a breath of disappointment as he counted the mistakes his group had done. Normally, inexperienced adventurers would not dare to cross any boundaries if there are no strong people around. His party that is composed of low-level adventurers is part of this class.

Yet, who knows what kind of medicine their party leader decided to consume that he beckoned everyone to come and try. What trial is he referring to? Does he think that human life can be restored easily if they are not successful? What are they trying to prove?

It is this nonsense that made him guilty. Well, he has many chances of voicing out his opinions and persuade his teammates to not continue yet he didn't do it. He just watched from the sidelines minding the ridiculous idea their leader is blabbing about. Who knows that nobody is actually joking at that time.

Leon smirked.

Guilty or not, what else can he do?

He recalled that there are fifteen members in the party. It was stipulated by the guild that adventurers could only enter the dungeons if they have the minimum skills required for survival. If not, they have to form a party with a maximum number of twenty members and a minimum of fifteen that will match the threshold.

Leon is not eligible to take any quests suitable for dungeons. Even though his body statistics are enough to compete with mid-level monsters, the guild did not accept his application. The reason would be is due to the abnormality of the spawning monsters on the dungeon.

Anyways, later on, he met a party that is recruiting members. The low-level ranked adventurers gathered to satisfy the demands. It only took a few minutes for the party to form and they quickly headed to the nearby dungeons.

The start is simple and easy. The leader of the party is quite a charismatic one so he was able to quickly integrate the group. Orders and commands flawlessly came out from his mouth that maneuvered the group with good dynamics. Leon is a bit impressed as he completed the tasks given to him.

Everything went well. Leon had seen the danger of the first few floors of the dungeon but it is still manageable. Everyone is executing their skills well that he thought that despite some few mistakes done by their leader, it still resulted to a good result. The party finished the mission handed out by the guild and is about to return when the leader suddenly asked if they wanted to see the newly opened dungeon.

That little curiosity had led them to this predicament.

Leon scratched his pointy ears when some dust rained down. The cave that suddenly becomes silent after the small berserk episode earlier started to become alive again. Leon who has been resting for a while could feel the thumping of the ground as though the one who had caused them their demise is a large animal.

Well, it is indeed a large animal. Leon had not seen the creature completely but he knows that it is at least fifteen feet tall. Feeling the way of steps, it should be a bi-pedaled creature but the roughness of its movements revealed that it has more limbs.

Is it not used to walking? He wondered.

"How long do you think we can survive?"

While Leon is busy worrying about some unrelated stuff, another person arrived at his side. Unlike Leon that has been constantly thinking, this person appeared to be callous and relaxed. The calmness of this person has exceeded Leon's understanding of human emotion that it had become disturbing.

Leon did not answer the other person's question but instead muttered, "You're calm."

The other person shrugged. He took the liberty of sitting to the other side of Leon copying its lying-down position. He is also escaping from the humongous creature while running around in light steps. He discovered this large boulder after transferring many times and decided to hide behind it. He never expected to find an elf that is lying down comfortably.

Leon, the said elf, stared at the human.

In this world, there are many races. The human and elf race is just one of the common ones. There is no conflict between these two races but they are not close either. The elves named the Elven race, which is known for being close to nature and adhered to perfection despises the naughty and scheming nature of humans.

Humans, on the other hand, thought that elves are prideful creatures, much prideful than the beast race that their noses are permanently in the air. Humans tend to avoid elves if they meet one on the streets or else they will be ridiculed with words that are very close to the bone.

However, in this state, none of the two felt the racial biases. The hostility they are emitting is their natural response to strangers. Even though they had known each other as members of the same party, who knows someone has an ulterior motive to make a move against the other.

Leon warily examined the appearance of the human. From the looks of it, this human must be a soldier or such. He is wearing some chest plate made out of tin, a Romanesque soldier hat, and a rusty sword hanging loosely on the side. He does look like a soldier if you ignored the beginner stuff that he had.

The human also made a quick assessment of Leon's appearance. Leon is sporting long golden hair, a pair of gold-irises eyes, and two branch-like horns on his forehead. He is also wearing the standard elven robes and a wooden staff is found nearby.

Though, due to dust and wear, Leon's appearance could not be associated with the elves. If not from his pointy ears and thorns, he would have assumed that this person is a human beggar.

A wail resounded in the cave while they are still hiding. Leon quickly stood and climb on the side of the boulder to take a peek. The other person followed suit, climbing up in the boulder then looking straight to the dark cave. The two of them clicked their tongues in dissatisfaction when they realized that everything is indeed still black.

The humongous creature made wailing sounds once again then started roaming around to catch some prey. However, the creature seems to be confused as it has been walking around in circles in the same position. The human had already noticed this abnormality long before.

"What... did you do something?" he asked.

If it is related to supernatural events, the first thing that comes to mind would be the elves. The creature acting like being lost on its own turf would be weird. Someone must have done something to confuse the animal. He thought that at their party there are only three people that are capable of doing such a thing.

Two of them died - the remaining one is the guy beside him.

Leon did not deny his conjuncture. He reached out for his wooden staff and mouthed a chant. A thin palm-sized book with brown tattered skin cover came out from his worn satchel and floated out before him. The book opens by itself and flapped the pages in quick succession. It stopped in a certain place to which Leon tore a page.

"I'm casting a tracing scent spell," Leon said.

"A tracing scent spell?" the other person repeated in confusion. "Wouldn't that be useless?"

Leon smirked. He gestured a few complicated drawings in the air that activated the spell on the torn page. Upon reaching the c****x, the page exploded into tiny shiny ashes that flew up in the air and dispersed around the cave. The huge creature that has been roaming around suddenly started running in a certain direction away from them.

The human is surprised. He knows about the tracing scent spell. It is a common magic spell used by beginner elves and magicians to attract prey unto them. It has the same function of aggro-ing the enemies by melee but in the form of scents. It is very useful when someone is trying to lure enemies into traps.

However, this technique can only be used in certain areas to work effectively. In a close, not ventilated area, the scent will stay still on the place it was cast. The human could not understand why Leon is casting it. Isn't this suicide?

"You only have to cast it inversely," Leon said.

"Excuse me?"

"The usual casting will make use of the caster as the bait. Actually, the caster becomes the host of the spell since this is originally a luring spell. So, in order to not become the bait, you only have to cast it inversely so the one that should be lured becomes the host."

"Ah..." the human thought of the logic that is indeed feasible. "Then the reason why that thing is been walking in circles is that it is being affected by a luring scent that it has?"

He is amazed. He never thought that it could also work like that. It should be said that beginner spells are called beginner spells because they are easy to cast and available. It is already a default so nobody dared to manipulate it differently. 

"I think you're interesting," the human said with an excited smile. "My apologies for not introducing. My name is Shin Melville, fifteen years old. Nice to meet you!"

"Leonard Graham," Leon replied. He thought that this guy's name is familiar. 

"Leonard Graham? Your name sounds familiar," Shin blurted his thoughts out. 

"Really? Well, my name is quite common though. Maybe that's the catch?"

"Well no, actually..." Shin paused, scratched his chin with his finger. "I have... uh... a good retentive memory. I won't forget someone I met before so easily-"

The two of them froze when a shadow hovered them. Despite the darkness, they could still perceive the huge thing lingering on over them. The beast that they thought they had drawn away mercilessly dug its arms down to catch them, creating clouds of dust from the impact of its fist to the ground. 

The beast waited for the gust to dissipate then it realized that what it caught is none other than air and rubble of broken rocks. The two figures that were hanging out above the stone boulder leaped out before they got struck down. From the two opposite sides of the creature appeared two figures flying out in the air. 

One of them is a calm human warrior. 

The other is a smart elf. 

Flashed by a sudden spark of adrenaline, the two people with low-level specs decided to team up without speaking any words. The tacit understanding after introducing themselves matched their ideals instantly as though they have been friends for so long. 

Once again, Shin asked the question that was left unanswered, "How long do you think we can survive?"

Leon laughed on the other line. A translucent blue screen appeared before him with two new notifications - one asking for a friend request while the other is the system's alert of aggro-ing the floor boss. He quickly responded to Shin's request then opens the alert notification. 

Using the voice command, Leon ignored the question once again and asked, "Would you like to bet?"

"What bet are you talking about?" Shin replied, amusement clear on his voice. "It won't be a bet if we take the same sides."

"That's true."

After getting the notification, the dark cave is then become illuminated by the large crystal stalagmites. The huge creature that has been hidden by the dark appeared very clear to their eyes. From Leon's perspective, the area that has been giving random numbers of entropy becomes stable making him smile. 

The darkness increased the probability of uncertainty. Now that things had come to light, he could now calculate numbers giving him many chances of winning. Seeing Shin far ahead added good numbers satisfying an equation. There is nothing that could stop him. 

Being reminded of that starry sky, Leon once again upholds a decision that could defeat miracles. Under his command, two people that should have died rose from the norm creating legends. 

This is just the start. 

Legends are meant to be told in a very, much, long way to become a myth. 

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