*beep* *beep* *beep*
*beep* *beep* *beep*
*beep* *bee- *click*
A hand touched the phone that was ringing its loud alarm and stopped the moment the man touched it. After he touched it, he slowly started to put away the bedsheet that was covering his face and inhaled a huge amount of air, before exhaling it slowly. After he put away his bedsheet, he slowly rose up from his bed, opened his phone to check the time and made his way towards the bathroom, with a groggy face.
After he entered into the bathroom, he first started cleaning his face with some cold water and after wiping his face with a nearby towel, he got a good look on his face. Black hair with a hint of silver on a small corner of his front hair, a recently shaven face that still has a tiny cut that had healed up overnight and dark purple eyes that would make girls fall in love with him.
After giving himself a good look on the mirror, he proceeded to do the rest of his usual bathroom business and after a few minutes, he left the bathroom and went down a flight of stairs and stopped in front of a door, at the end of the stairs.
*knock* *knock* *knock*
"Wake up Kai. It's already 7 A.M." The man knocked and said, before leaving and making his way towards the kitchen to make their breakfast. After twenty or so minutes, the man laid down a couple of plates on the table, with a fried egg on each, as well as a couple of slices of bread and a bit of cheese. Just as the man was going to put a cup of water on the table, a young man came into the kitchen and sat in front of one of the plates and said with a happy expression:
"Good morning dad. Did you sleep well?"
"About as well I could do. What about you, Kai? Did you stay up all night once again to finish up your game once again?" The man asked as he started eating.
"Come on dad. You were one of the people who developed it and of course I went through the trouble to experiment with it as much as possible." Kai explained with an annoyed expression, as he stared at his own father.
As the two of them were eating, Kai's dad just kept staring at his own son with a slightly solemn expression, as he looked at the characteristics that Kai took from him, those being his own hair, face and one of his eyes, while the other being his late wife's crystal blue eyes. It wasn't before long that Kai noticed noticed that his dad was staring at him, so he asked:
"Is something the matter dad?"
"There's nothing Kai. Say, how about we do a quick pop quiz then? To see if you were actually playing it or not." Kai's dad asked as he dismissed his own son's question and drinking some water.
"Alright. *burp* Sorry... That came out a bit violently. Anyways, throw me your worst." Kai answered with an embarrassed expression.
"Alright, tell me about the four starting weapons." Kai's dad asked, as he put his cup of water down.
"Let's start with the Rapier, the closest to the sword and the equivalent of the warrior class in this game. Then we have the Book, which is equivalent to the mage class. After that, we have Haliberd, which is the tank equivalent of this game. And last but not least, the Gauntlets, which are the pugilist or martial artists of this game. Well, that would be the closest comparison I could give them." Kai explained with a casual expression.
"I didn't need the comparisons Kai, but yes, those are the Rapier, the Book, the Haliberd and the Gauntlets. Next question, tell me about the stats of the game and which stat does every weapon rely on?" Kai's dad nodded in agreement, before asking once again.
"First, the Strength stat and that is pretty self-explanatory. It increases your damage behind your attacks, your carry capacity and the amount of heath points that you have. But it also allows to overwhelm opponents and disarm them quickly and leave them defenseless.
Next is Dexterity and it affects hit rates, critical rates and dodge chances, up to na extent. Not only that, but during battle, it will also highlight weak points, that normally wouldn't be seen if I had a low Dexterity stat.
After that, it's agility and that increases your movement speed, attack speed and dodge chances as well. I've also noticed that it can increase your turn count as well, but during normal battles, I would have to be lucky if I got an extra turn, let alone two.
Let's see... Ah right, next would be Intelligence and that affects the amount of damage your spells do, the amount of mana points you can have and how many spells or skills you can perform at a time. It also affects memorisation, especially during the dungeons and their puzzles.
Last but not least, there is Luck, which affects drop rates, lucky encounters and quest triggers for the game. I don't have much to say about it, but I do have a bit of a gripe about, well mostly on its description." Kai explained and then went to drink some water to moisten his dry mouth.
"What is it?" Kai's father asked curiously.
"It's description bothers me. I just don't think that is the way luck works you know. "Your attunement with nature affects the encounters on both you and everyone around you." I just don't think this how it works. it would make more sense if it was something like Karma or your luck is set by the universe, but natural attunement? I just can't buy it that this is the way it works, especially when I did my battles against nature-based enemies, such as treeants, dryads and any plant type enemy in the game. And I can't think of any way of improving it as well." Kai explained, after he sat down on his seat once again.
"Alright, but before I answer, which stat fits which weapon Kai?" Kai's father asked, as he look at him.
"Oh, right. Rapiers rely on Dexterity, Haliberds on Strength, Books on Intelligence and Gauntlets on Agility, but those can be interchangeable, such as Agility for Rapiers, Strength of Gauntlets and Dexterity for Haliberds, but the book doesn't fare well with the other stats, no matter how much I experimented with it. So?" Kai explained and asked with an expectant expression.
"Well... That's good enough for me." Kai's father answered with a satisfied expression, before adding:
"But... You still forgot affinities."
"What? I thought you wouldn't count those, since those don't appear at the start of the game, but when you learn elemental magic." Kai complained with a dejected expression, as he bashed his head on the table.
"I count all of stats that can be improved. It was a satisfactory answer, but you won't be getting the winning prize, this time. Try again next time." Kai's father answered, as he patted Kai, in an attempt to comfort him.
"Well, damn. Anyways, dad. Why have you chosen those weapons as the only starting weapons? I've seen many sword users, as well as spears, bows, axes, rods, knives, but why haven't any those weapons be chosen as any of the starting weapons?" Kai asked with a curious expression.
"Because it's boring going after the mainstream, so it's necessary for this game to stand out in a completely new way, that being a unique starting selection and a different way to handle stats." Kai's father explained, as he picked the empty dishes.
"The weapons, I can see that, but the stats, aside from luck and maybe the affinities, I don't see them any different from any other game's stats. They are the same stats used on every fantasy rpg game, just with extra steps to make it more realistic." Kai voiced his opinion, as he helped cleaning up the rest of the table, before adding:
"Well, we can continue this conversation later, dad. Right now, I need to quickly prepare for high school, otherwise I'll get chewed out by the vice-principal, if I arrive late at school."
After that, Kai quickly left to put on his school clothes and as he was leaving, his father was having a melancholic expression on his face. After Kai quickly prepared himself for school, he swiftly made his way towards the door and before opening it, he was suddenly grabbed by his father, on his shoulder.
"Huh? Dad? Is something the matter?" Kai asked with a slightly startled expression, as he was looking at his own father, who seemed sad right now. Of course, that sad look only lasted for a moment and it was quickly replaced with a more serious expression and was accompanied by this question:
"Kai, do you believe that you are going to be ready, when the time comes to spread your wings?"
"Uhhh... Dad? What is this all about? You are making kind of worried." Kai asked worriedly, as he was looking at his own father.
"Just... Just answer me. That's all I need to know." He asked with a serious expression.
"Look, I'm going to be fine, alright? You know me well that a little bit of difficulty and trouble won't be even close enough to inconvenience me, so I think I'm going to be fine, when that time comes." Kai answered with a smile, as he comforted him as well as he could. His father stared at him for a few seconds, before sighing and answering back with a smiling expression:
"I should have known. Well, if you say so, then I guess I won't have to worry then. Still, take this, you might be needing this."
At that moment, he took off a necklace that was hidden under his shirt and gave it to Kai. The moment Kai received the pendant, he recognized it and opened it. The pendant only had an image inside it, that being of his late mother and he quickly asked:
"Mom's pendant? Dad, why are you giving this to me?"
"I made a promise to Merlina, on the last day we talked. She told me to look after it, should something happen to her and ever since the day she... Well, you know... I've been looking after it, ever since that day and I believe now, it is time for you take it." He explained with a somber expression.
"What do you mean?" Kai asked with a confused expression, as he looked at his father.
"..." He didn't answer and instead, just hugged him for a bit. Kai didn't know why his own father was acting like this, but decided to hug him as well and try to comfort him as well:
"Don't worry dad. Nothing will happen. I'll be back in the afternoon, as if nothing happened. I promise you that much, dad."
"Take care, Kaiser." After that, his father stopped hugging him and Kai, also left through the door, before saying innocently:
"See you later, dad."
After that, he closed the door, without looking back, completely ignorant of the changes that will happen soon, as well as the events that will change his life, for better, or for worse.
And it all started with this:
"Another traffic accident has happened at 8:07 A.M., at the district XXXXXXXXXX. The victim is a high schooler that goes by the name of Kaiser Berthegore and is currently in a coma. The driver who hit him is still on the loose and..."
"The deal has been completed. We held onto our promises and now, it's time to say our farewells. Have a niiiiiice travel." At that moment, a small furry figure had disappeared from the XXXXXXXXXX district where Kai was hit.