A slim woman in her mid-40s was running down the corridor connected by a gray door in front of her. Her expression was tense, her pulse racing and she glanced back occasionally to see if anyone had caught up with her.
"They must not get this."
The woman immediately opened the door and quickened her steps to a nearby work computer and started it.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!"
She moved her feet repeatedly and kept turning her head back. She slowly opened her clenched fist and ensured her sweat did not erase the notes she was writing. Her fingers typed quickly, sent a short message addressed to an email, and then immediately erased the note using her sweat.
"Well, I feel like I should …."
The sound of a rifle rang out and a bullet lodged directly in the woman's head, killing her on the spot. Blood and sweat flowed down the keyboard and broke the computer. A few minutes later, several uniformed men wearing helmets with only eyes visible stood up and one of them walked over.
"Damn, where did the woman keep the code?" The man examined the woman's stiff body. "Argh! I didn't find it!"
The man slammed the chair around him and smacked the surface of the table repeatedly. "I'll report this to the boss."
'Yes, Sir!"
The man left the room and a few members of his staff covered the woman's corpse with a spread white cloth.
***
A skinny high school student is looking out the window, watching several people walk by with masks covering their mouths.
"Mom hasn't been home lately. Is everything okay with her?"
Suddenly someone's voice calls him from inside the laptop screen in front of him.
"Ethan, do you hear me speak?" The old man inside the laptop screen looks at him with a sharp gaze.
"Uh, sorry Sir." Ethan smiled and scratched his head repeatedly.
"Don't daydream in my class."
Those words make everyone laugh, making Ethan's face instantly turn red like tomatoes. After the online class is over, he walks to his room and opens the nerve gear given to him by his mother. It has been in his room for quite some time.
Since the mysterious pandemic called "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" spread around the world two years ago, the government has made all outdoor activities strictly prohibited. A strange syndrome attacks the human nerve which can make the patients experience causeless fatigue, coma, and even death, causing a sense of fear gripping everyone.
Fortunately, the appearance of a game called FOS can reduce this fear and uniquely, this game can provide money if you successfully find the rare items in the game. It increasingly triggers all people from young to old age for playing this game and makes the game very famous now.
He puts the device on his head and senses a strange, tingly electricity flow then instantly the surrounding scenery turns white and a familiar voice is heard.
[Welcome to "FOS"!]
[Synchronizing your brainwaves and biometrics to player data... please wait a moment!]
[Game successfully logged in, player account successful!]
A few seconds after that, there is the subtle sound of a female voice echoing in the ears.
"New game"
"Continue the game"
"Exit"
Ethan immediately selected "New game" and soon the background shifted to reveal a large map with a glowing crystal tower in each section.
A few seconds later, the music is getting louder and suddenly the entire map fills with black smoke and darkness. Terrifying creatures appear from anywhere, dominating every region and taking the bright light leaving all regions in the dark.
"Heroes, help our world! Return the light of crystal and free our world!"
Not long after, the game's classes appeared, which consists of a magic swordsman, tank, white mage, dark mage, monk, assassin, ranger, dancer/clown, and mechanic.
[Magic swordsman: Magic swordsman is a melee-type class and uses all types of swords to attack its enemies. This class relies on the STR status and deals quite strong damage to the opponent.]
[Special abilities: Dash (a skill that allows the user to move quickly without a cooldown).]
[Tank: Tank is a defensive-type class and uses a large shield to protect himself and his teammates. This class relies on VIT status makes it have extraordinary endurance.]
[Special abilities: MediGuard (Guarding while gradually recovering HP.)]
[White mage: White mage is a support-type class and uses a magic staff that can use support skills to help teammates. This class relies on INT status and has great healing abilities.]
[Special abilities: Summon (able to summon special creatures to help in battle)]
[Dark mage: Dark mage is a ranged type class and uses an ancient book/magic doll consisting of various kinds of horrible black magic and can kill opponents easily. This class relies on INT status.]
[Special abilities: Elemental power (ability to change the opponent's element)]
[Monk: Monk is a melee-type class that uses energy from within itself and attacks enemies with heavy blows. This class relies on STR status and has a terrifying attack.]
[Special abilities: Martial art (ability to repeatedly attack opponents without cooldown)]
[Asssasin: Asssasin is a melee-type class that uses a small dagger to attack its enemies. This class relies on AGI status and it's capable of killing any monster quickly].
[Special abilities: Mimicry (the ability to blend in with the surrounding environment, allowing it to attack suddenly)]
[Ranger: The Ranger is a ranged-type class that uses guns or bows to attack its enemies. The class relies on AGI status and it's capable of killing enemies with a few shots.]
[Special abilities: Cold blood (able to attack enemies using his weapon quickly), the eye of an eagle (have a very sharp sense of sight that makes it easy for them to spot enemies.)]
[Dancer/clown: Dancer/clown is a support-type class and uses a scarf or a pile of cards to attack its enemies. This class relies on LUK status and it can increase the probability of winning among the team.]
[Special abilities: Gambling & stealing (an ability that can increase teammates' Luk status by stealing items from enemies)]
[Mechanic: Mechanic is a tank/support type class and uses strange robots to attack its enemies. This class relies on LUK and VIT and it also has strong endurance and attacking ability.
[Special abilities: Go Mecha (ability to create small robots which have terrible attack power)]
"Alright, I'll choose the support class because, during gameplay, I've never used this class at all." Ethan's pointer chose the White Mage class. "Plus the passive skill is quite interesting to try."
Next, the name field appeared before Ethan and he originally plans to use his real name, but he feels dangerous using his real name and decides to create a pseudonym.
"I'll use the name, Asher, sounds like a promising name."
"Players, you can change your character's appearance and your gender." The woman's voice comes back making Ethan even more convinced this lady is probably one of the NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) in this game.
Ethan chooses the male gender and the appearance of black hair which looks very contrasting with his real hair, blue eyes just like his real eyes, and the same height as himself 178 cm. After pressing the "Confirm" button the screen instantly moved to a large field illuminated by moonlight.
"Gosh, the game feels so real!"
Ethan can feel the night breeze touching the surface of his skin making him momentarily amazed by this game world. He thinks the creators of this game are so detailed in paying attention to the little things so everyone can feel what the characters are feeling. Ethan then presses the unfamiliar button beside him and reveals information about his character.
[Player: Asher]
[level: 0]
[Class: White mage]
[Hp: 50/50]
[Mana: 10/10]
[Skill: - ]
[*Summon: - ]
[Friends: 0 ]
[Message: 1]
[Info:]
[Exit:]
Note: * = special abilities for this class that other class doesn't have.
His eyes immediately focus on the word "Summon" and read the description saying this class can summon a special animal named "GL (Guardian of Light)", but it requires quite a lot of magic energy/mana.
"Interesting, I'll go around this place first."
Ethan returns to the game's main screen, but he immediately raises his eyebrows to notice the message column has already one message even though he has just played in this game and his curiosity finally drives him to open the mysterious message.
From: ABCCORP12@T****
To: EthanSilverwood12@T****
Subject: NN
8th floor (ark tower)
pass: heavensgate01
Athena028
Ethan continues to furrow his eyebrows and does not understand the meaning of the short message which directly connects him to his email.
"Athena028? Who is she?"
***