Prologue

"STOP!!!"

Within an area inside the forest, sparks flashing and shouts bellowing upon the green surrounding.

"Please! Stop this!"

Cried out of a young man as he was defending himself from an assailant. Confusion and fear were written all-over the young man's face while trying his best to dodge and block the attacks coming from the attacker, swinging and thrusting the sword his assailant was using. Facing the young man while brutally striking him was a man in his mid-twenties with a face devoid of emotion. Without skipping a single moment, the attacker launched continuous strikes from his weapon. Like a starved lion lock-on to devour his prey, the attacker mercilessly thrusted his sword forward to stab the heart of the young man. The young man barely blocked the attack and because of the force dealt by the blow, he lost his balance and toppled down losing the weapon his was holding. He immediately stood up and picked up the short sword he wields. Standing up to flee from the man, however, he was struck by the attacker from behind inflicting a large cut unto his back. The young man screamed in pain while he dropped on his knees, trembling and agonizing. The attacker seeing the young man in despair, smiled in a crazy way. Then he lifted his sword in order to deal the finishing blow that will kill his prey, while laughing crazily.

Such situations were occurring all over the whole island that they were residing in. There were blood and gore, guts flying and screams filling the once peaceful island. People killing each other, people who desperately cried for help and those people who lost all sanity. What led to this island to be in such a state of horror? What happened to the young man?

I couldn't wait tonight to get home and play the most anticipated and popular Virtual Reality Dive Game or VRDG, Metera Online. As the type of the game it was suggested, it was played using a device called Dive gear, a VR device that allowed the player to experience real-life scenarios in-game.

I'm not sure of how the technical aspects of the Dive gear works but as I heard from the developers of this device, it's kind of like transfers your consciousness into the game. That's why, you could experience a real-life feeling while playing it. That said, while you were moving around the game with your five senses intact, your body in the real world wasn't.

If you think about it, it was a bit scary for me. Imagine how a device that could transfer your consciousness into a game, it was telling me that we could create indestructible bodies. What I was saying was, just like how consciousness transfers into a game, we could do it to create like a robot body and then control it while our real body was lying without moving. It was truly a sci-fi dream. There were so many applications for this kind of technology and yet it was used to operate a game. I'm not saying it was wasted rather it was unused. Well, I didn't have any idea why was it like that. Whether the developers tried to hide the secret for this technology or not was not my concern. I'm happy as it was.

Anyway, like I said it was a game. And speaking of a game, there were so many type and genre of it. Metera Online was one of them. Aside from it, there were also many VRDG out there but Metera Online stood out the most. Attracting over a hundred, if not by a million, of players across the globe, it easily became the most known VRDG. What made this game so unique and exciting other than other VRDG out there?

The genre of the game was your typical RPG where you were what you want. An open-world set on medieval era. Maybe it was a bit cliché but the most amazing part of this game was the absence of magic. Why it was exciting if there was no magic? Well, what comes to your mid if you think about medieval age? Of course, dragons! Knights clad in armor! Kingdom, castles and damsels in distress! If you really think about it, magic was technically a fiction. There was no such thing in the real-life medieval history. Medieval era history was full of blood and gore, betrayal and assassination, love and despair, wealth and poverty! Kingdoms on fire, bandits killing around, non-stop combat! That was the type of game Metera was and its main selling point. Real-life medieval age with a bit of fantasy. Of course, without magic.

There was no thrill if you could defeat an SS-class Dragon with fireball and whatnot. It was more exhilarating if you could kill it with a whack from your sword! Technically, you couldn't do it alone yet the probability of success wasn't zero but a tad bit possible. With proper and long preparation, status that could match it or over, a cunning strategy and awesome grade equipment and bam! The dragon head was yours to take.

Physical combat was the main method of fighting in-game with a few exceptions for range attacks. With a variety of weapons from medieval age to choose from, you could be a fierce warrior wielding a great sword or axe while slashing and cleaving your way on the battlefield. Preferred to have more mobility, you could try a combination of daggers or knives, striking your way and bringing down foes with a single blink. You could also be a tank-type player, towering the fight with your great shield withstanding heavy blows and attacks, protecting the backline defense while holding the frontline. For range weapons, there was only three specifications; Bows, crossbows and slingshots. While not so powerful like the close-combat weapons, they could still provide support. And because there was no magic, healing yourself was a very big problem and a hard task to boot. In order for your wounds to heal, you'll need to patch it up with bandages, just like in real life. The healing process was a bit slower but definitely effective. Or you could try the in-game potions that cost expensively and could only be bought by real money. A single small potion will cost you a hundred dollar. Yep, you heard me right. A hundred dollar. So very few players had potions in them. Maybe those rich kids that I saw a few times have them. How enviable.

Oh! And like I said earlier, there was blood and gore within the game. I remember the first time that I saw blood spurting from a player killed by a lower-class undead knight. I really want to puke at that moment but I couldn't, the only thing I could do was to wheeze out for air. The blood was like the real thing! However, the pain that you will receive was only a bit of an ant. Whether you got a scrape of wound or you lost a limb or two, the pain that you will receive was all the same, a bit of an ant. while bearable, it could become irksome when you receive multiple wounds or damages. There was no concept of HP and MP in the game. When you receive fatal injury or damage like a stab from your heart, being beheaded or cleaved on half, you will die immediately. Of course, you will respawn but what was left on the spot you died was a pool of blood, reminding that a player was killed there.

There was no HP and MP present in the game but there was this thing we call Status Point. Status Point was not entirely your life or energy to gauge if you are dying or not. It was more like a point you gained to level up. And also leveling system wasn't a thing in the game. How did one player become strong? By the weapons and equipment? That was a factor to consider but not mostly. In order to become strong enough to defeat certain mobs, you'll need to crest-up. Crest-up was like the levels in most games. And in order to reach another class of crest, you need to earn Status Points. You could gain stat points (short for status points) by killing monsters, doing quests or joining dungeon raids and also pvp matches.

They were different crests that shows your status and achievement in the game. The lowest class of crest was the Black-crest player consist of all new players. As they reach another crest class, which was the Brown-crest player, they became one-step higher than newbies but still new to the game. We called them Exp Newbs or experience newbies. The following crest class above Brown-crest was as follows: Orange-crest, Red-crest, Purple-crest and Blue-crest players, they made up the majority of players in the game being mid-class crest. Above the mid-class crest were the Upper Echelon as we call it. Green-Crest, Yellow-crest and the most top crest of all, the White-crest. The Upper Echelon crest players consisted most of the guild leaders and top-ranking players of the game. By the way, I'm a blue-crest player and a little bit of hard work then I could reach the Green-crest. Reaching the Upper Echelon was difficult. Kingdom sieges and Abyss-class dungeon raids were the primary thing to do in order to reach Upper Echelon. I had been in some sieges and experience a single abyss-class dungeon raid. I'm still trembling remembering the experience I had in that dungeon raid.

I think I have explained plenty enough of things so that you could understand why Metera Online was the most popular VRDG. If it wasn't enough then I could explain along the way. Ah! I'm eagerly want to play right now!

"Did you hear that there was a new patch today!" one of my classmates asked the guy beside him while they were talking about Metera Online. I was silently jotting down notes on a paper written on the board to review later while I picked up their conversation.

"Oh yeah? There is? What's the patch about?" the guy asked in return curiously.

"Hm. I think they added another game mode, a Battle Royale!" answered enthusiastically by my classmate.

"Really? Wow! I wanna check it out right now! I wish school ends early today," and then they laughed and talked about other things.

A Battle Royale mode? Interesting. It's that mode where you need to survive, right? The one last man standing? I'm gonna check the patch note later.

I was at home and after finishing my school works, I faced the opened monitor of my computer to check the website of Metera Online. And there was really a new patch available. There was no need to download it because the Dive Gear automatically updates the game. I'm just checking out what the patch about.

The patch was called Dark Age. Ooh, very Medieval-like title for a patch. Scrolls down…

Added new game mode: Battle Royale

According to the patch, it was the typical mode where players managed to survive and to be the last one alive or a group of party remain. Hm, okay. Scrolls down…

Added new map: Isle of No Return

This map will be used for the Battle Royale mode. The size of the island was as large as a tropical island found in the pacific like Hawaii. Okay, scrolls down.

Added new content: Creation Jobs

Oh! Creation job it was! This mean that we could create new equipment and other things, right? Let's see… scrolls down.

Creation Jobs Available:

Blacksmithing – Need a new weapon? Want to repair your old rusty sword? No problem!

Forge your way to battle as you no longer need those second-hand weapons! Now you can create your own legendary equipment! You are now a forger of Myths and Legends!

Tailoring - A king needs a fitting clothing to show dominance and reverence. A knight needs a fitting robe to defend from heretics. Create your own fine cloths and monopolize the trade. Became rich and sew your way to glory and wealth!

Cooking - A knight in hunger was less than an undead who could swing a sword. Create your own delicacies and replenish hunger, even injuries! Cook your way to the stomach of hungry comrades and gain popularity!

Alchemy - Pave your way to magic! Or not. This craft job lets you mix different kinds of herbs and chemicals that lets you create different kinds of reaction! Create your own potion? Do not be so conceited! However, this craft job lets you create tinctures and medicine to enhance healing capabilities! Be a magus in healing formula!

Wow. There were four creation jobs but the one that caught my attention was the alchemy. What did

It means when it said 'pave your way to magic or not?'? Did it mean magic like fireball? But it did say 'or not', right? Did it mean that the chances of creating magic spell possible? Hm. a bit tricky question but nonetheless, interesting. I'm sure many players will try to do alchemy and check if they could make magic possible. All in all, the patch was very interesting. Scrolls down…

Added new building: Colloseo

This new building will be used for the Battle Royale mode. It looks like the lobby of some sort. Scrolls down…

Fixed a few bugs.

End of patch note.

Warning: Once the patch starts, you will not be able to return.

And it was all of the patch content. The warning at the end of the patch note was nothing to be afraid of. It was there ever since patches starts to takes place in the game. That means you wouldn't be able to return on the old patch or something like you will get super addicted and wouldn't be able to return for a while in the real world because you were engrossed in playing the game.

Alright! Now it's all and done, let's go diving! I mean, playing.

I picked up my Dive gear and placed it on my head. The Dive gear was like a helmet that enclosed your whole head and a choker to put at the neck to verify your voice inside the game. Enough with this device's technical things and I laid down on my bed.

See you all to the other side.

"Dive on!"