Chapter 2: Setting Up
"Choose my ordeal wisely, she said…" Ray muttered, shifting uncomfortably—
Thud!
Ray winced as his head smacked against the top of the Ordeal Nexus Capsule (ONC).
"Damn it… this thing is way too small," he grumbled as he tried to adjust his tall body by bending his knees onto his chest. From the outside, the ONC looks like a giant metal egg that could contain three adults, but the inside is quite cramped because a lot of space is where the machine resides.
As if responding to Ray's frustration, the ONC's interior suddenly lit up and casted a metallic sheen over the cramped space. From the walls, thin, translucent liquid began seeping.
"Is this… SynthaGel-X?" Ray murmured, lifting a hand as the greenish fluid pooled in his palm. It felt thick yet smooth.
Then, without warning—
Ray's NLS suit shifted. He stiffened as the sleek fabric snapped back into its original form, which once again robbed him of his senses.
"Huh?!—"
Before he could react, something pried Ray's mouth open. A spherical device emerged from the ONC's interior, forcing its way between his lips and securing itself inside his mouth. 'What the heck?!—' His muffled protests were cut short as his suit fully sealed, leaving no gaps,not even a little air can get in or out the suit.
In an instant, the walls erupted.
A wave of SynthaGel-X surged from every direction, submerging Ray entirely. The last thing he felt was the thick gel swallowing him whole. Then, everything went black.
Wham!
A bright spotlight snapped on, illuminating Ray as he suddenly found himself standing in a vast, pitch-black void. "Am I in?" he muttered as he looked at the surroundings. No walls, no floors, just endless darkness. He glanced down at himself. Instead of the NLS suit, he now wore a plain white t-shirt and gray shorts. "Default gear, huh?"
Zap
A floating screen materialized before him, glowing with crisp white text against a black background.
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| Biometric Data Scan |
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| S | Name | Arrayus |
| C | Age | 26 |
| A | Gender | Male |
| N | Height | 6'4" |
| N | Weight | 155 lbs |
| I | ==============================
| N | Heart | Normal |
| G | Played | 0 Hours |
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| Character Data [N/A] |
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| Will you create a new character or logout? |
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| Create | Logout |
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Ray reached out the screen, but his hand passed through it. 'So… This is the process of creating a character… huh.'
"Create."
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| Detecting Character Key |
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| No character key to be found |
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| One free creation is allowed for a newcomer |
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| Commencing Character Creation |
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Ray let out a small hum. He recalled a video he'd watched about Ordeal Online. 'One character key is enough to buy a luxury car… hardcore players buy it to create the character that they desire despite its price since ordeal online will randomize the character aspects after the player chooses its base.'
"Well, I'm only playing this once, so it doesn't really matter."
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| Insert your IGN |
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|...|
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Ray smirked and spoke. "Ray."
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| IGN has been taken |
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"What?"
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| IGN has been taken |
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Ray blinked. 'Wait… who the hell named themselves an interrogative adjective?' Ray muttered with a little smirk on his face. Shaking his head, he decided to try his full name. 'Well, let's try using my full name.'
"Arrayus."
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| IGN has been taken |
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Ray sighed. 'Well, with a hundred million players, of course someone already took it.' He tapped his chin, thinking. Then an idea struck. 'What about Suya? It's just the second half of my name, but spelled backward. It's not too important though, why bother thinking about such a thing like IGN in the first place.'
"Suya."
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| Are you sure to register
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"Yes."
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|
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| Please imagine your character appearance |
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Ray sighed. "Might as well just use my real-life appearance." He closed his eyes and pictured himself standing in front of a mirror with the same crew-cut black hair, same lean yet tall body, and no need for unnecessary changes.
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| Your imagination is impractical for engaging in combat |
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| Automatic adjustment is required |
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| Will you give a permit to adjust your character? |
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| Yes | No |
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Ray frowned. "Impractical for combat? What does that even mean? I'm not some twig…" Still, he shrugged. "Yes. Whatever." he said nonchalantly.
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| Permit acquired |
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In a blink of an eye, a huge oval mirror appeared in front of Ray, which showed his body in full. However, instead of showing his usual tall yet slender body, the mirror showed a bulkier form of himself. "Is that… me?" He muttered as he observed his body in the mirror. "If I work out regularly, will I look like that?"
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| Mandatory Daily Quest will be specially created to synchronize the character with the player |
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| Please read the detail of the mandatory daily quest later |
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Ray blinked. Then blinked again. "...Wait. What?" He stared in disbelief at the screen that appeared in front of him. "Did they just give me a specialized quest… daily on top of that?" He reached out his hand to the screen and waved his hand through it with a little hope that the screen was just a system bug that will disappear soon. However, nothing happened.
Ray sighed as he rubbed his neck. "No way… just because they automatically adjusted my character since they themselves said that it's impractical for engaging in combat, they gave me a mandatory daily quest? What kind of shitty system is this?" He muttered in disbelief.
In his free time, Ray watched podcasts, and since ordeal online is a worldwide topic, almost all the podcasts he watched talked about it. From those podcasts he already knew that getting done a mandatory daily quest in ordeal online is just a waste of time. No reward, no perks, nothing. "They said that I have to complete the mandatory daily quest first before I can logout from the game. This will be bothersome…"
"Well… great. Just great. What a pain in the ass," he muttered as he walked in a circle with hand on hips. "I was supposed to hop in, meet up with Priscilla, maybe hunt a few monsters, and log out. Now I have to clear a mandatory daily quest first? Bloody hell…"
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| Choose at least one game aspect that will given an ordeal |
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| L | C | S | S | T | E | N |
| E | L | T | K | I | Q | P |
| V | A | A | I | T | U | C |
| E | S | T | L | L | I | = |
| L | S | S | L | E | P | A |
| = | = | = | S | S | M | F |
| = | = | = | = | = | E | F |
| = | = | = | = | = | N | E |
| = | = | = | = | = | T | C |
| = | = | = | = | = | S | T |
| = | = | = | = | = | = | I |
| = | = | = | = | = | = | O |
| = | = | = | = | = | = | N |
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| Note: One is enough |
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Ray chuckled. "One? Nah, what about all of them?"
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| Are you sure to place an ordeal in each game aspect? |
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| Yes | No |
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"Yes," Ray smirked. "I will never play this game again anyway."
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| Commencing ordeal placements |
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One by one, the ordeal and its balancing effect that will be placed on Ray's character aspects appeared in front of him.
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| [Level] EXP required to level up increased by 500%. In exchange, decrease the EXP reduction penalty from dying by 100%. |
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| [Class] You will not be able to obtain any class. In exchange, any class related restrictions will be lifted. |
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| [Stats] You will be unable to assign your stats as you wish, they will be randomized. In exchange, multiply the stats you obtained by 5. |
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| [Skills] Reduce your skill slots for active skills to 0. In exchange, you can put active skills into your passive skill slots. |
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| [Titles] You can not wear any title that you obtained. In exchange, increase the reward from acquiring them by twofold. |
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| [Equipments] You can only equip cursed items. In exchange, decrease the durability reduction from the equipped item by 100%. |
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| [NPC Affection] All NPCs favorability level will be started from hostile. In exchange, you will get enormous benefits from them once you maxed their favorability from hostile to trust |
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Ray rubbed his chin. "They really are random." He thought as he scanned the screen from top to bottom. "However, aren't these ordeals too good to be true? I mean look at those balancing effects… reducing exp penalty from dying by one hundred percent, lifting any related class restrictions, multiplying stats by five, turning active skills into passives, decreasing item durability reduction by one hundred percent, and I'm not sure about this enormous benefits part but it should mean something good."
"At first glance, the penalties looked brutal, but the balancing effects? They were insane." Ray crossed his arms. "Honestly… these might be broken."
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| Ordeal Placements Completed |
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"Well, now what?"
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| Commencing transfer |
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| Destination: Starting village, Arabaya |
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A sudden pull yanked at Ray's entire body. He barely had time to react before the vast, pitch-black void around him collapsed like broken glass. The bright light shone on his face, making him cover his face with both of his hands.
"Adventurer, welcome to Arabaya."
A deep male voice accompanied with a tap on the shoulder made Ray aware that he is already transferred to the starting village, Arabaya. He put down his hands from his face and saw a knight in full steel armor shining from head to toe. There was a spear in the knight's right hand that was used to tap on Ray's shoulder, and a shield in his left hand.
"Medieval era… I see. Classic." Ray mumbled, raising his hands in surrender as he noticed the knight's spear edging closer to his throat. "Can you please put that down?" He said with a worried face as he pointed at the spear that slowly came closer to his neck.
The knight's grip tightened around his spear. "Of course not, adventurer! You reek of suspicion." His armored boots scraped against the stone as he leaned in, scrutinizing Ray with cold, untrusting eyes.
"Uhh… why is that?" Ray asked with a threatened smile on his face. "Is it because I appeared out of nowhere?"
"Exactly. You appeared in the middle of the village out of thin air instead of coming through the main gate. That's not normal." The knight's eyes darkened beneath his helmet. "And that odor of yours… it reeks of trouble."
"Really….?"
Another player appeared out of thin air next to Ray.
"Welcome to Arabaya, adventurer," the knight greeted the other player that just appeared with a salute while maintaining his spear near to Ray's neck.
Ray groaned inwardly. 'Great. NPC hostility is already kicking in.' He cautiously raised his hands higher, trying to appear harmless. "Look, Sir Shiny Armor, I promise I'm not a threat. I don't even have a weapon. You saw that another adventurer appeared out of thin air just like me, right? That's how we came to this village."
The knight scoffed. "That doesn't mean anything. Many beings can kill without weapons. On top of that, don't you dare to compare yourself with an adventurer that is about to write down a legend in history!" He glanced at a few other guards approaching. "You'll be taken in for questioning."
Ray's eye twitched. "Wait, wait, wait… questioning?! What happened to 'Welcome to Arabaya'?"
The knight smirked. "That was before I got a good look at you. You look, sound, and smell like trouble!"
Before Ray could protest further, a metallic clang rang out as shackles clamped onto his wrists.
"Son of a—" Ray bit his tongue.
A red notification flashed before his eyes.
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| Warning! NPC favorability is too low! |
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| [Arabaya Knights]: Hostile (-100 points) |
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Ray inhaled sharply through his nose. "Oh… boy… this is gonna be a long day."