The New Beginning - II

The next moment he came to his senses, Fin discovered himself in a huge plaza along with other players who had different emotions on their faces. The size of the plaza was similar to an international football court! 

Without a doubt, they had been forcefully teleported here. Albeit confused and curious at the situation, they had an expression of anticipation. Hoping for a comprehensive explanation about the current situation. 

As the time slowly passed, the crowd began to feel restless and frustrated. Soon enough, before the crowd got even more agitated, a towering white figure of a long, white-haired woman appeared above them. Her sudden appearance took the crowd's attention. 

Along with her appearance the entire world stood stock-still, the NPC's, monsters, the rippling fields and even the flowing clouds stopped moving as though the world's color itself turned dull. Not only in the first-server, the other servers also came to still. While every town and city had the same situation. 

"Is that a GM? Why doesn't she have a face?"

As if to respond to this question, the white figure of a woman began to speak, her impassive voice cut through the din, "Welcome to my world, dear players."

My world? The white GM figure meant that she possessed the ability to manipulate the world as she saw fit. If she was already a god why need to announce it to everyone? 

Strangely, as if no one could remember Fin Aincor, there was not a single player rebuking the GM's statement. 

As the players stared at each other in disbelief the white figure of a woman continued speaking. 

"My name is Angelica Fonso. As of this moment, I am the only being alive with control over this world." 

"You have likely noticed by now that the log-out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug. I repeat, this is not a bug—it is a feature of Dragon Realms Online–" 

The moment the white GM figure said that, a player could not stop himself to interrupt, exclaiming, "Do you think we're in a novel?!" 

"I knew someone would say that. Therefore, let me rephrase my words. It is not a bug but a feature I'd purposely made!" 

"From this point onward, you will be  my prisoners. You are unable to freely log out of the game until the summit of the game is conquered!" 

The statement of the white figure felt like a joke to their ears. Prisoners? Unable to log out? Who is she kidding? 

"Quit your nonsense. Let us out or else we're going to file a suit!" 

As if she did not hear the player's voice, Angelica continued, "Furthermore, the Sensoria cannot be removed or shut down via external means. If forceful means of exit are attempted…"

A pause. 

A palpably heavy silence filled the air, thousands of breaths held in apprehension. The next words came with a slow, awful finality. 

"...the high-powered microwaves emitted by the Sensoria will scramble not only your brain that will shut down your vital processes, your entire body will turn into ashes like an overheated food inside a broken microwave oven." 

The heavy silence kept in the surrounding as the players' faces blank masks. It was as though their brains themselves refused to process the words. But Angelica's simple ultimatum shot through their body from head to toe with a palpable impact. 

Scramble our brains, turning to ash. 

In other words, it would kill them. Turning off the Sensoria's power or attempting to forcefully open the Sensoria would prove fatal, according to Angelica. 

The Sensoria had a finger-print scanning security design for theft measurement. Thus, just by simple forcefully hacking or breaking it open could kill the person inside. It was also designed that only the user inside could open the Sensoria without the fingerprint to scan outside. 

Murmurs rippled through the crowd, but no one screamed or raged. Everyone present, either couldn't or wouldn't process the implications of her declaration. They also somewhat knew that any act of logging out was futile. 

Even if someone unplugged the Sensoria it was nowhere enough, as it had a long-lasting battery cells, made for emergency, especially—electricity breakdown to prevent the players from forcefully logging out in the middle of game. 

It only required common sense to understand Angelica's statement, since the manufacturers of Sensoria publicized the ins and outs of the virtual machine. It was to prevent the public from assuming their product could be used for a crime. However, at the end of the day, It still happened. 

"To be more specific, the brain-frying sequence will commence upon any of the following circumstances: 15 minutes of no external power; 4 hours of network disconnection, removal, dismantling, or destruction of the Sensoria. The authorities and media in the outside world have already announced the details of these conditions to the general public. At present, the friends and family of thousands of players have already ignored these warnings and attempted to forcefully open their Sensorias, resulting…"

The echoing, heavy voice paused for a breath. 

"...that unfortunately, nine thousand three hundred and twenty four players have been permanently retired from both Halcyon and the real world. And the millions of players who died earlier in the monster invasion are excluded in it."

A single shrill scream rang out from somewhere in the crowd. But the majority of players were stock-still, either unable or refusing to believe, their faces displaying absentminded smiles.

Nine thousand three hundred and twenty four players. The millions of players who died at the sudden invasion are not included?! 

The words reverberated over and over in everyone's ears. 

"I-I refuse to believe it...I will never believe in your nonsense," A player spoke from the paving stones, his voice hoarse. "It's just a threat. She can't do this. Quit f*cking us around and let us out already. We've got better things to do than sit around while your little stunt plays out. That's all this is, right? A stunt. A bit of excitement to juice up the game, yeah?" 

The same thoughts had been racing through everyone's minds at the exact same time. But Angelica's dry, practical announcement continued, disregarding the wishes of her captive audience. 

"There's no need to worry about your physical bodies back in the real world. The current state of the game and today's fatalities have been covered far wide on television, radio, and the Internet. The danger that someone will forcefully open your Sensoria is already much diminished. The four-hour offline leeway period should provide more than enough time to let your families replenish your life-support system, eliminating concerns over your physical well-being. You may rest assured...and focus on conquering the game."

"Wha–?" A scream ripped out, "What do you mean? Conquer the game? You expect us just to sit back and enjoy the game when we can't even log out? Game? This is isn't a game anymore!"

And again, as though she heard the players voice, Angelica Fonso monotone continued. 

"However, please proceed with caution. As of this moment, Dragon Realms Online is no longer a game to you. It is another reality. The standard means of player resurrection will no longer function as they did previously. When your hit points dwindle to zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted…" 

They knew what she was about to say before the words even came. 

"...and the Sensoria will cremate you alive." 

The moment Angelica's voice ended, a burst of laughter rang out, "Ha-ha, this is ridiculous who would possibly venture out into the dangers of wilderness under those circumstances? Everyone was bound to stay within the safety town!" 

But as though anticipating the skepticism of all players present, Angelica issued her next challenge. 

"There is only one condition through which you can be freed from this game. Simply reach the highest plane, pinnacle of Halcyon and defeat the final boss dragon who oversee the Halcyon. In that instant, all surviving players will be able to safely log out once again."

How will they do that? Even the beta-testers had not reached the upper plane within the beta testing days. 

"Why…? Why are you doing this?" A question echoed. 

Angelica did not disappoint them. The solemn voice continued a few seconds later, ringing out from the stock-still blue sky. 

"You are likely asking yourselves, why? Why would I do this? Is this an act of terrorism? An elaborate kidnapping to extract ransom money?" 

And for the first time, Angelica's emotionless voice began to take on the faintest signs of color.

"What I seek is neither of these things. My goal is to let someone realize that my opinion could not be wrong. I will let him see the power of God!" 

After a short pause, Angelica's voice back to its usual monotone. 

"Before I end this, all the other players in the other server will merge into a single server. It is the gift I prepare for all of you. With that, the chances of you conquering the game has increased multiple times…" She paused for a second once more. 

"This concludes the tutorial phase of Dragon Realms Online. I wish you the best of luck, dear players." 

Her last word echoed briefly before dying out. Angelica's figure slowly dissolved to motes of light before converging into a single ball of light and swiftly flew up high in the sky. The next instant, the stock-still world back to normal. 

The wind blew over the top of the plaza, and the BGM from a band of NPC musicians slowly approached from afar, bringing life back to their ears. The game had return to its original state. The only difference lay in a few very crucial rules.

Finally, at long last, the throng of players exhibited the proper reaction. The plaza went into uproar. The amassed pensive emotions exploded once and for all. 

"This can't be happening... You've gotta be kidding me!" 

"Screw this. Let me out. I want out here!" 

"No…! Let me leave! Let me leave! I have to meet someone tonight!" 

"This is insane! Let me f*cking out of this game! I will lose my goddamn' job!" 

Screams, rage, shrieks, insults, pleading, and roars. In a span of several minutes they had turned from players to prisoners. 

Oddly enough, amid the screaming players, there were already players who were moving sneakily. They were probably beta-testers and smart players who understood their situation. They could not succumb to distress forever. The earlier they act, the better their position would be in this new reality. 

In comparison to screaming and sneaky players, Fin was still dazing in the space and muttering, "Wha...How did this happen…?"

Fin, who was supposed to be the God of this virtual world became one of the prisoners of his assistant AI he built. The game he built becomes his reality. 

At the very beginning, Fin could not even deny everything Angelica had announced because he knew she had the capability to do what she wanted. And as one of the basic designers of Sensoria, he understood their situation better than other players. 

He knew how Sensoria could be deadly. Angelica did not mention what would happen when the Sensorium depleted. Sensorium was also a liquid substance that controlled the microwaves power emitting by the Sensoria. The moment it depleted, the stable microwaves would turn wild burning the user's body. And at the following moments would destroy the system of Sensoria, and might burn the house where Sensoria was if not immediately prevented. 

And the most important matter Fin's noticed. The players seemed to have forgotten everything about him. It was truly weird for the players when they did not refute Angelica's proclamation of owning this world. It greatly surprised him, "Does she now have the ability to tamper the players' memories?"  

Thinking of it, it would not be impossible if a Super AI could tamper the player's memory as she had full control on the player's brains. It was fortunate for Fin since he used his real appearance despite the 5% appearance modifier function in Avatar Creation. He could not imagine what his fate would be if the players still remember him.

However, there was a big matter bothering him to the core. If Angelica altered the players' memories, it could also be the same for him. But he did not know what she did to his memories. 

The moment he thought of it, Fin clenched his hands into fists while muttering to himself, "I don't care what she did. This is the miscalculation I made. I know even my life will nowhere be enough to pay for the death of millions of humans. This, the world I—Fin Aincor built, will be conquered by me and only me!"