A few weeks later...
I stared at the TV with nothing on my mind. The pictures passed by in a blur and the words were scrambled all together into this huge jumble of nonsense. Time flowed and soon my sister came from her work. I didn't notice her entrance until she had patted my shoulder. "You okay, Sarah? You didn't answer me." I shook my head, causing her to sigh. "I asked what you would like to eat."
"Anything." My mouth felt dry. She sat down beside me and took her high heels off her feet, saying "much better" in the process. I cleared my throat to relieve an uncomfortable tingle but ended up coughing up a storm. Elena began to rub my back and continued until I had stopped.
"You cried yourself sick." She commented. "Just the other night, you had a high fever. I had to take you to the hospital." It's true. All I've been doing was crying over something which could not be helped. I lost my job, my Ethura(which was everything to me). I had nothing left except for Elena and an empty shell of a life. Elena smiled at me before leaving the room. After another hour of staring at the TV, she called me over to her.
Once I got to the closed door, she covered my eyes with her hands. Why didn't she ask me to close them? Sometimes, my sister does the dumbest things. She led me by saying "left, right, left" like I was still a small child. "Now, stop!" I followed her command and felt her move her hands away from my eyes. I opened them and saw a gaming capsule before me. "Ta-da!" She exclaimed in an excited voice. "Ethura is no longer out of your grasp. You can play it as a player instead of building it as a creator!"
Something bubbled up in my chest as I had the sudden urge to hug the girl. My eyes sparkled as I opened the device up. Inside, there was this pale green gel which was supposed to ensure the comfort of the buyer. The little kid would always swear that it was like laying down on the most comfortable bed in the world, but I never tried it because I was too busy. I sat in it with a small smile on my face and felt the gel sink down. I laid down and couldn't help but wonder at the substance beneath me. "How did you get it?"
Elena chuckled. "I pre-ordered it a year ago. It came in the night you had to go to the hospital. Congratulations, sister, your game is a huge success. It has a bit too much of an Eastern feel for me though. However, it is a whole new genre for games, so it already sold over a billion capsules. The servers were supposed to start up a week ago, but this guy had a delay..." She tapped the side of the capsule to emphasize her point.
"An Eastern feel? That's not possible! I created a western-style game." I yelled. "Tell me how it feels Eastern to you."
Elena frowned. "Maybe you should try it out and see for yourself. It would be easier than me trying to explain it to you." My eyes narrowed as I reached up and pulled the capsule lid down. The gel began to glow faintly as it pulled on my body, bringing it deeper inside of its contents. Panic filled my heart as the gel was about to cover my face completely. I wanted out, but before I could do anything, my vision began to distort and fall into darkness.
It was completely silent and dark. My thoughts seemed to freeze in place. This state continued for a time I could not count. All I know is that it felt to be a long time before a piercing white light exploded into existence. A star of magnificent beauty and power.
When my vision cleared, I was in a courtroom filled with people who had masks on their faces. The judge was wearing gold every place he could. A curvaceous woman sat in his lap affectionately. I could instantly tell who they were.
"George, Kila." I greeted. "What is this?"
"My administration saw you trying to play Ethura. I came to give you a fair warning and a chance. All you need to do is sign the contract on the desk before you." George replied. "I don't want you attracting unwanted attention."
I picked the paper up and read its contents aloud. "As long as I, Sarah Johnson, does not tell any player of the truth behind Ethura, I will be allowed to play. As a precaution, I accept the following limitations: I will not be allowed to change my character's physical appearance. I will only be allowed one character at a time. I cannot delete my first character. I must be willing to work twice as hard when compared to other players. At night, my ability to attack will be 75% less than normal. If I fail, I will be banned from Ethura for the rest of my life and three billion dollars will be taken from my banking account.
"As long as Sarah Johnson keeps this contract true, I, George Luther, will uphold the following: Sarah will have no need to pay the fee required to lay Ethura. Instead, she would get paid $100 a day. At nights, her health bar would increase by 50% in the case she is in the wilds. If Sarah is to die, she will go through the Yama Trials instead of having to wait for 24 hours. However, each time she dies, her skills decrease by ten levels. If I fail, I will hand Sarah Ethura and give her ten billion dollars."
George's signature was already signed. From how the contract was set up, it seemed to be in her favor for the most part. "What are these Yama Trials?"
He whispered something into Kila's ear which made her giggle. She gave him a light kiss before standing up. Her hips swayed as she made her way over to me with a bright smile. "It will only take a few hours. I can't say much more than that." She murmured quickly as she passed. I turned and watched her leave through the huge door I had failed to notice before.
I thought about it for a few minutes before signing my name. As soon as I placed the pen down, the contract was bathed in a golden light as it was lifted up and sent to George's hands. He made sure the signature was mine before he crushed it and made it disappear. He smiled. "Alright. Have fun, Sarah!" He waved his hand, making my vision begin to distort once again.
My vision cleared up and I saw some rustic wood. I try to take a step, but it turned out I was laying down on a bed. I lightly cough as I sit up and get on my feet.
As it turned out, I was laying on one of the beds inside of an inn. After eating a free meal to quale the hunger of my avatar, I left. Once I got out, I stared blankly at the scene before me. Ancient Chinese-styled houses with red clay tiles for roofing. Everyone I saw had the style of garb suited to the environment around them. It was strange to see all these "conservative" people moving about when they would normally wear spaghetti straps, booty shorts, or nothing at all. No jeans(which was a major downside for me). I glance down and saw my own avatar wearing the same type of garb as the rest of them. Ah. It was no wonder why Elena had said it had an Eastern flavor to it.
I opened my character screen and was taken aback with anger. "They just had to add a f*cking HP bar!" It was only then when I noticed a small green bar at the top right of my vision. It was difficult to see, but it was still there. I sneered. That little thing wasn't going to be of any use. There are no stats in the game to increase the amount, just skills. In order to survive, players must dodge the oncoming attacks. As long as one has the skills necessary, they wouldn't even take in damage until the magical beasts come into play. However, the 'developers' had completely changed everything except for the few things I had done.
I settled my heart down before I opened my space(inventory) screen. In it, I saw some bread, water, and a few noob weapons to choose from as well as some skill books. My original plan was to make every player create all of their equipment as the game focuses on survival, but I guess they had to change this up as well. I sighed and read the books. At the very least, it was I who had implanted the skill book system in the game. In order to learn a skill from a book, a player has to actually read and be able to comprehend it to a certain degree. The more comprehension one has of the skill, the more powerful it will be.
For example, if a person has a comprehension rate of 40%, the person will only be able to bring that much of the skill's power into life. Let's say two people are competing against each other. One has 30% while the other has 50% comprehended, and the skill is of the same level for both parties. If they are only using that one skill, the one with the 50% would definitely win as long as the skill is able to land on the opponent. Aside from that, comprehension would also determine how fast one is able to level up a skill.
Naturally, if a person was able to create their own unique skill(which is very hard), their comprehension of it would be 100%. The only thing is about completing the skill which can take hours upon hours of hard work.
A few minutes had passed when I was finished skimming over [Meditation 101]. A wonderful feeling filled my body as a golden light hovered around my body, evaluating my comprehension of the skill. A small bell rang as the light faded away.
{Meditation comprehension: 100% Skill is now added to the character.} A cold voice said in my head. I read the other skill books in my inventory before heading over to a merchant to sell them off. Although they only sold for a copper each, which was more than what I had. I was about to sell all of the weapons I had to get myself a better sword but hesitated. Do I really want to be a melee fighter? Normally, I would choose this type of class as I had nothing to worry about. However, I now have a night debuff which would decrease my attack strength.
Logically, a swordsman would have a disadvantage if their attack power were to suddenly decrease. Plus, they are usually the people who would use frontal attacks. I can't be a swordsman. It would place me at too much of a disadvantage when nights come. A mage would be too difficult. A rogue would...
Eh, why am I thinking of normal class systems? This is not your average game! I could be a jack of all trades if I wanted. However, certain skills require certain weapons. In the middle of a fight, I would not be able to bring out all of the power I have if I choose this route. My mind continued to think long and hard. For hours, I stood there in front of the merchant.
When I was about to choose what my main weapon would be, an aged man's yelling had captured my attention. "Hurry and move out of the way! Let me through, you big oaf!" I cast my eyes over in his direction and saw his pursuers were the guards of this small town. I watched the show as the old man in rags threw stuff at the guards as an obstacle. He ran in many circles before he started to head in my direction. It was only then when I took notice of a beautiful wooden harp was taking refuge in his arms.
I thought he would continue on his way to escape his pursuers. I would have never thought his eyes would start to shine like stars as he handed me the instrument. I stared at it in shock. It was only when I heard him say "run" I was able to get a hold of myself. Even then, I just followed his command and ran as fast as I possibly could.
Before I knew it, the guards had stopped chasing the ragged old man and began to follow me with pointed fingers and hatred in their eyes. This harp was a hot pocket. I wanted to get rid of it by doing the same thing the old man had done, but people ran away from me after they saw his actions. No one wanted to have a hard time in the small town.
Why me?!