Chapter 4 - Ventus Anima Online II

「 WELCOME TO VENTUS ANIMA ONLINE. 」

「 MAY YOUR JOURNEY BE PLEASANT. 」

•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•

「 Teleporting to Tutorial World. 」

•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•||||||||•

「 Go talk to Alyseen by using your mini map on the top right corner. 」

. . .

"OH! MY! GOODNESS!!! There's A LOT of you here!!!"

A young woman with short ginger hair and emerald eyes was taking in the sight of the many pre-registered players in front of her. She was appointed as the guide for all the new players from another world for helping them adapt to the world of Ventus Anima Online.

"Ahem! As your player systems have stated, I am Alyseen. I'll be your guide for the start of your class training."

The user interface shows the class change message in front of every player.

"You all start off being multi-skilled with a variety of different weapons. Only when you have reached level 15, that will be where you can start choosing a specific class. There are many different classes you can choose from with unique abilities and skills."

The user interface shows an insignia of a sword, alongside with the insignias of a staff, wrench, dark crescent moon, and shield.

"If you choose the Warrior class, you can wield the specific weapon types to acquire additional stats. Such as a lance, sword, and axes, which are within the available types to get bonus buffs for being a Warrior."

「 Warrior Class Change Requirements:

- Lv.15

- Cannot use Magician/Technician/Shadow/Guardian weapons 」

"As you can see, you must be level 15 in order to advance to the Warrior class."

"May I ask how can you see our user interfaces?"

A young man with short, spiky comb-over the front primrose hair and blazing amber eyes raised his hand in question. He was in the middle row center within the crowd of players, alongside a young woman with the same colored characteristics as him but with cascading long hair.

"Glad you asked!"

Alyseen points at him excitedly before clapping her hands once.

"As a guide for all of you new players, I was blessed with the title of being a 'Game Monitor'; GM for short. What this means is that some of us native people to this world will have the privilege of becoming guides to make sure you'll adapt to our world's culture and laws. That includes having the ability to see your user interface systems!"

She then turns around and points to the nearest creature nearby.

"Alright, time is of the essence! Your training starts now. Please eliminate ten chickeraptors using your weapon of choice!"

「 Tutorial Quest: Eliminate 10 Chickeraptors

- 0/10 」

The tutorial guide held out a small, tightened sack on her hand. As she loosens the knot and turns it upside down, a humongous stack of weapons came pouring out in front of everyone.

How could a small bag hold that many weapons?!

"You all will soon be able to buy a limitless inventory bag when we reach the first village. Now choose your weapons and go!"

Chickeraptor hunting begins!

.

.

.

Claire couldn't believe it was real.

She actually woke up before 7 A.M, got her makeup and hair done, had breakfast, had time for coffee, and got to work on time. It seemed like fate decided to go easy on her for now.

As she was working on the article of the new VRMMORPG happily, Mrs. Fleckett informs every employee about very important news.

The developer team behind Aresina Online are inviting Deijavu News for a live interview at Etherdark Entertainment's beta test release!

The news surprised the workers and all of them were happy that they were going to meet the ones behind the legendary VRMMO and get to experience the beta test.

Even Claire.

She had played Aresina Online numerous times but since the job as a print journalist, it was more difficult to spend time on the game. The young woman still often keeps up with updates on what the game is going through even when she's not playing, and hearing that the team behind her favorite VRMMO have invited her company to interview them at Etherdark Entertainment made her enthusiastic.

"Starting tomorrow, be prepared and ready to arrive at the beta test release with professional behavior. Those who have your articles on Aresina Online and Destiny Raid Studios, prepare your things well. Don't mess this chance up."

The boss lady has spoken.

The employees have understood what they're supposed to do before the interview with Destiny Raid Studios, the origin of the VRMMORPG. Most have started getting busy with preparations beforehand and the other half were finishing up their current articles for the day.

Lunchtime soon started with Claire getting out a bag of uncooked ramen and crushing the contents inside into bits and pieces before opening the bag to eat the crushed pieces. She then grabbed her thermos to pour hot chicken noodle soup in the cup and drank out of it after cooling it down with her breath. The soup reminded her of the times her grandmother made her own chicken noodle soup for her when she was younger, missing her grandmother and her cooking dearly.

"Hello, I'm looking for Claire Nora?"

The raven-haired woman turned around to see a lady with chestnut brown hair tied in a braided bun. She seemed to be someone of high caliber due to her professional office attire and as soon as her pretty gray eyes set on Claire, the lady mouths "ah" and smiled. The male employees stared at her beauty as she walked over to the woman munching on ramen pieces.

"You must be Claire, am I correct?"

"Y-Yes, I am."

Claire stood up and puts the ramen bag on her desk and greets the brunette lady with a handshake. The latter's expression held slight surprise for a moment after that, looking around them to see the men turning away their gazes from her.

"Mrs. Fleckett, do you mind if I use your meeting room to discuss things with Ms. Nora?"

"Not at all, not at all Ms. Lichtenweiss. Please go ahead."

Mrs. Fleckett easily allowed the woman named Ms. Lichtenweiss to use the meeting room? What was her identity?

She thanked the boss lady and took Claire into the meeting room to discuss. . .what are they even discussing about? Ms. Lichtenweiss puts a hand on her own chest for introduction.

"My apologies for disturbing your company out of the blue, Ms. Nora. I am Chelsea Lichtenweiss, the President of Destiny Raid Studios. I am here to invite you to meet with Etherdark Entertainment's Technical Director Dr. Georgia Fallon about Ventus Anima Online's secret beta test."

President of Destiny Raid Studios?!

Etherdark Entertainment's Technical Director?!

Ventus Anima Online??!!

"H-Hold on, Ms. Lichtenweiss! Did you say Ventus Anima Online? Is that the name of the new VRMMO game?!"

How lucky was this?! She gets to hear the name of the new VRMMORPG! This will definitely elevate Deijavu News's income by the time she's publishing the article about this! But what does the lady mean by 'secret' beta test? And why Claire specifically?

Chelsea hands Claire a card of her phone number and a gold invitation card with Destiny Raid Studios' logo on it.

"Yes, Ventus Anima Online is the name. Don't tell anyone about this, and don't write the name in your article about the game. This is a secret between us and Dr. Fallon. Can I trust in the young woman who almost went into the employees-only area in the bakery?"

Yes- wait what?

"Ms. Lichtenweiss, please forget about that. You can trust me not to tell anyone about what you've said, and I don't know what happened to me then. I guess I was just tired that I thought it was the restroom."

Claire felt embarrassed for yesterday's event. She didn't bother to see anyone's faces that day because she would explode out of shame, but hearing someone mention it now was the last thing she wanted to hear!

"Relax Claire, I'm not shaming you for that. I've heard from my friend who works at the bakery about what happened to you and I believe that you hold hidden secrets that you yourself don't know yet. Such as, you saw something guiding you to that area."

Something that guided Claire to the area? Yes. . .she remembers that happening! That means, Ms. Lichtenweiss's friend saw that too?!

"This is why I'm inviting you to meet with Dr. Fallon. We'll help you with what you've seen and work our way to know what sort of person you are. I have to ask you first, do you remember any memories prior to your job as a journalist?"

Claire's memories before becoming a journalist? Of course she remembers! She had a grandmother, and she was. . .

Huh, that's strange. Why can she only remember her grandmother and that she played Aresina Online?

Why can't she remember anything else?