Chapter 3: A Completely New And Dangerous World

¦Good evening, and welcome to the evening news. I'm Julia Jiovani, and we have some exciting news from the world of virtual reality today.

In a groundbreaking development, a new virtual reality fantasy game has taken the world by storm, offering players an unprecedented level of immersion, nearly indistinguishable from reality. This game has captivated audiences and experts alike with its breathtaking realism.

The game not only offers a remarkable gaming experience but has also opened up a plethora of job opportunities. Players can now become virtual architects, builders, and entrepreneurs in the expansive in-game world. Imagine creating and designing structures and landscapes, just as you would in real life, and earning a living from it!

Additionally, the in-game economy is thriving, allowing players to sell virtual items for real-world currency. The demand for rare and powerful in-game items has given rise to a thriving marketplace, where players can turn their virtual treasures into tangible wealth.

But the excitement doesn't stop there. The game has also given birth to a new generation of in-game mercenaries, who are hired to complete quests and missions for players. This brings a new level of competitiveness and teamwork to the virtual world, with in-game warriors, healers, and strategists working together to achieve goals.

Even streamers have joined the action, broadcasting their adventures in this lifelike virtual world to thousands of viewers. Audiences are tuning in to witness the astonishing adventures, challenges, and unexpected surprises that this game has to offer.

This game is none other than ALT-EN it is also sa-¦

The news channel was quickly cut off and was quickly replaced by another video. It was a live stream of a famous professional gamer who have joined the new VR game.

"Chat can you see this?!!? Its pretty much real life chat!! What the fuck?!?! This is crazy!" The streamer exclaimed as he touch some grass on the floor.

"IM TOUCHING GRASS!! CHAT! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS???" he screamed even louder.. And so does his chat.. Everyone's going insane.

>I'm gonna beg my father to buy me one!

>Is there feet in game?

>Thank you XQP for inspiring me everyday. Because of you I strive to be a better person (Donated 5$)

>Eat the grass xqp!

>Eat the grass!

>Shit! The graphics is insane!!! Can we play Craft of Mine though?

>I think I can live with only one kidney.. Wait for me Alt-En!

And while everyone in the internet is going crazy one guy remained chill.. Of course its none other than Horizon.

Currently he was kneeling on the river bank just beside the calm flowing water and looking at his reflection in the water. His avatar bore some resemblance to him.. But it was also entirely different. And the most obvious change was his height.

He now stands in a humble 5'5, his hair was also dark red.. Pretty much like maroon, his eyes yellow-orange. And he was slightly tanned. Looking at him and knowing his name you would actually think of a the Horizon when the sun is about to set. And that's pretty much ia the concept of his character.

And you'll know soon enough why...

"So this is what it feels like to be short... I actually feels slightly lighter.. And other than that.. There's nothing much. As for my movement.." He paused then stands up straight.

And suddenly he twisted and turned around. And then punched the air once again with a slight delay. But this time it wasn't that bad..

"But earlier when I was speaking to that feather there was no delay.. Maybe because I technically didn't have a body at that time??" He mumbles while performing a punch again.. Which is once again delayed and out of sync.

"The feather did say our avatar will have its starting stats base on our real life body.. And speaking of which... System:Status!" and with that simple phrase a floating neon window appeared in hia vision.

It reads.

=======================

Champion: Horizon

Race: Human(mutant) [(×2 muscular strength)]

Class:N/A

Title :N/A

STATUS (SP: 10)

Strength: 9 (×2)

>Physical Strength: 3

>Durability: 1

Agility: - 2

>Dexterity: -1

>Speed: 0

Vitality: 3

>Recovery: 0

>Health: 1

Magic: - 3

>inteligence: 0

>Wisdom: - 1

Skills: N/A

======================

"Mutant?" Ray furrowed his brows while reading something strange, he quickly pressed that word to see what it means or what it contains.

[Mutation Includes muscles strength being double than a normal human in exchange for muscle coordination, and neuron displacement.. Causing delays in movements.]

"Huh..so that's what it is.. The doctors that my parents paid just so they can figure out whats happening only told me I have a mental illness... I guess this explanation is more... Acceptable for my feelings?.. And how did the system even detected this?? Is this medically accurate?... It does sound medically right though.. I think".. At this point he's just blabbering without a single idea what's he talking about... Just ignore him..

"Well.. Enough of that.. Lets allocate our SP.. And also.. Isn't 10 free SP are quite a lot?... This will break the early game.. What are the developers thinking?" he mumbles as he look over his status points and noticed a few things..

'1 on wisdom? ... Ouch? Does wisdom really translate to my real life wisdom? Or is this just an ingame thing?' he thought but he quickly pushed it out of his mind. 'Anyway.. I've been planning the general idea of my build since the announcement.. So there's really nothing much to consider.. I'm playing this for fun anyway and I'm not planning on taking this seriously... At least for now..' humming a cheerful tone he started distributing his stats..

'Lets fix those negative as well.. Aaannd... Done!'

His stats reads:

=======================

Champion: Horizon

Race: Human(mutant) [(×2 muscular strength)]

Class:N/A

Title :N/A

STATUS (SP: 0)

Strength: 9

>Physical Strength: 3

>Durability: 1

Agility: 8

>Dexterity: 1

>Speed: 3

Vitality: 3

>Recovery: 0

>Health: 1

Magic: - 3

>inteligence: 0

>Wisdom: - 1

Skills: N/A

======================

Yes.. He put all his Stat Points in Agility.... I mean.. Why not?

And the moment he closed the status window he suddenly felt dizzy for a moment before it quickly went away. And the once it did his perception around the world suddenly felt... Different.. It's like everything was teeny tiny bit slower.. Although its almost negligible but for him who have been living in a 300m/s ping rate.. It was the most beautiful thing he have ever seen..

It was so beautiful for him that he almost teared up. Turning around he prepared for something he always wanted to try.. And without any delay he set off and he started running.

Seeing himself run, he laughed once, then another followed and soon he was laughing hysterically as he increased his speed with his maximum speed being similar to a trained athlete.

But that doesn't matter to him.. All that matters was that he could run with the wind! And while running.. He realized something...

"Where the fuck am I?"

*

*

*

Usually, games like this often start with them being spawned in a starting village where the players learn the mechanics of the game. But unfortunately for them that was not the case.

"fuck fuck fuck fuck!" just look at this guy.. He was the first player to ever see another creature in game.. And was also the first ever person to be chased by said creature..

Behind him was a creature chasing for his ass with a look of frenzy. It was similar to that of a racoon... Although it was as big as a wolf.. And its not really a racoon?

It has a black color with long and fluffy tail. And also overall fluffy fur.. It would have been such a cute animal if it didn't have it's saliva dripping in its mouth.. And it's general hunger for anything that moves..

As for the man who was running.. Even with him using all his might to run, the rabid bastard easily caught up with him and gave his ass a solid bite..

Eliciting a painful scream from the person in question.. And soon.. A brutal.. And gross scene can be seen as the guy gets devoured alive.. The racoon went for his neck first.. Spilling blood everywhere.. And soon killing the guy.. Which it then promptly ate

The entire ordeal hurt him It hurt him... Very much. It almost felt so real that he fell into a short shock and when he woke up from his Capsule he shakily got out and he filed a complaint to the company. And that's when he discovered that he can adjust the pain level according to the A.I

As for the game.. The dude stayed the fuck away from it. He was very much traumatized.

Meanwhile our MC doesn't know that.. He doesn't know about the pain slider.. Or anything at all... He's just running...

And speaking of Ray who is still running.. he's now slowly feeling the fatigue of running a few minutes of full speed.

He have been running for full 6 minutes. He was breathing heavily and was sweating like he have never before. But that doesn't took his smile as he was still laughing.. Although his laughed sounded a bit... Cursed.. Its like a dying pig infront of a cheap shit microphone in a cod lobby.

And as the result of his fatigue he didn't react quickly from stepping on a round pebbles which cause his right ankle to twist. And soon he found himself in the air after he abruptly fell while having quite a huge momentum.

"Fuck." And it was it this moment that he knew.... He fucked up..

Although he could see that he's falling his body was not that quick to respond to it.. I mean.. He's pretty much crashing because of his speed.. Everything was happening quickly.. And he can't do anything about it but watch.

And with a resounding thud his face crashed against the earthen land leaving a mark on it before the remaining momentum made his body roll forward a few time.. Repeatedly slamming his face in the ground before coming into a stop after he hit a tree.

After that Ray stayed still for a bit.. Spasming and shaking from the pain.. His eyes.. Watery as a natural reaction of his body.. He wasn't really crying... Just his body's reaction... At least thats what he said to himself.. But no.. He's crying from the pain..

"Uuughh.. Why does it feels too real??" He gasped.. Still teary eyed. "Is this medically safe???"

"Is this part of the game?... Fuck! How much damage was that??" he groaned and checked his GUI.

"And come to think of it... Where's my Health Bar?" he asked out loud hoping the game would give him some guidance.. But nothing came..

Looking around then at his bloody hand he mumbles. "Don't tell me our health also work lile real life?.. Means I get to live as long as I dont get fatally wounded? No matter how much I get hit?" he suddenly shivered as he thought of something.

'With the combination of this realistic pain.. No hit points.. And cannot log out mid combat... Wouldn't that mean torture can be use here?' He suddenly looked up.

" WHAT THE FUCK DEVELOPER?!!?" He shouted at the sky.

And of course.. If our silly Ray manages to think of that many others did as well.. And soon hundreds of threads online started talking about this regards..even the government started discussing this... But for some reason they did not just told the company to remove this from the game.. Heck the government even started joining the game..

And of course not just the government saw this opportunity. People started offering in game hitman service and tortures and other fucked up things..

And quickly.. Not even 2 days have pass there were already an entire community in game.. Of course everything was still in the early phase of development.. But still a development.. And everyone's still new.

And you might think all of them are still low level and they cant do shit if a high level entity started fucking them up.. But you have to remember.. There's thousands of them.