A man in his late twenties sat on the bed with his head down. He was clutching the phone tightly in his left hand and his lips were pressed into a tight line. He was angry. To whom even he himself did not know. Maybe on himself, on his boss, on his dead sister, on their dead parents or maybe on the whole world.
It was he who received the call where he learned that his nephew had fallen into a critical condition and was in a coma. And he needs a large amount of money for his treatment, which he does not have. And he won't let his dead sister's son die no matter what. The man knew that in his current job he could not earn the amount needed to cure Min-Woo. The man did not know what to do. Even now he had problems with money and he did not have to pay for very expensive treatment for a disease that was not even fully understood.
This disease started after the fourth world war in which some new chemicals were used that contaminated the air. Even though humanity thought that there would be no more war after the Second World War, let's face it... there were two more. Of all the four world wars, the third was the worst. In addition to being the longest war that lasted eleven years, it had the highest number of dead and significantly damaged the land. The fourth one was the shortest, lasting just over two years, but it damaged the earth's surface the most and affected life on the entire planet. That was thirty years ago. And the earth is still healing.
The man's phone rang but the man did not picked it up. The phone rang for a while, but then switched to voicemail.
"Hey, Rae-Yoo! The boss is asking when you're coming back to work. The paperwork isn't going to do itself." - was a message that the man heard but did not fully perceive. The man was still deciding what to do to make money quickly. He immediately thought of at least two options, but none of them were legal, so he moved them to be the last possible option. And then another possibility occurred to him. Playing.
After the fourth world war, humanity, what was left of it, retreated into shelters because the air was unbreathable and video games became very popular. He also started playing them when he was just a child. He had a talent for it, his parents and older sister said. He quickly climbed the ranks of the best and started playing as a professional player. He played with his Team Alta.
That lasted two years. After two years, his parents died and Rae-Yoo stopped playing. Before that, his Team Alta was no more. But he still played even without his team. But then he stopped one day. It become too much to play. It reminded him too much of his parents who cheered him on.
He became an ordinary worker and spent a little over ten hours in the office and returned home late. At least he had an older sister who recently had a baby. Except that his older sister also dies and he is left alone. Well, not completely alone. He still has Kang Min-Woo, his nephew to take care of.
The hours he spends in the office are getting longer and the work is getting bigger. He hardly spends any time at home, but as long as he wants to support himself and his nephew, he has little choice. It continued like this for several years. But now Min-Woo is in critical condition and the only legal way to make a lot of money fast is to play games.
_____
"I'm done" Rae-Yoo said into the phone and hung up. Phew! He did it. He really did it! He quit his job and decided to play professionally again. Rae-Yoo seriously hoped that he hadn't forgotten his skills from years ago. The game he decided to play was now the most popular game in the whole world, precisely because of the fact that you were able to transfer the money you earned in the game to the real world. That game was called Rise of Legends, Rol for short. Originally this game was supposed to be called Rise Of The New Dragon Lord, Rotndl for short, but for some unknown reason the name was changed to Rise of Legends. The game was set in a fantasy world that had its own history and its own heroes. You were supposed to blend in with the world and become a hero. Of course, that wasn't the only thing you could do. There were many things that could be done there, mainly because this game was the most developed virtual reality where the player had unlimited possibilities. You could become a Hunter, clear dungeons and kill monsters. You could become an adventurer and explore the world. You could live in a small village and enjoy a peaceful life away from your real life.
Rae-Yoo spent four hours just reading all the rules and history of the world. Many players did not read the instructions and that was one of the biggest mistakes players could make.
After reading the manual and remembering at least 3/4 of it, Rae-Yoo decided to join the game and start playing.
____
'Welcome player!'
'Enter a name that players and NPCs will see you under'
'_______________'
____
Rae-Yoo hesitated to write the name. It wasn't that he didn't like his name or that he was afraid of being recognized. It was more about the fact that in the manual it was written about the magical world, in translation, not the present. The world will be set somewhere in the distant past and Rae-Yoo is sure that Korean names would be strange and also difficult for non-Koreans to pronounce. So Rae-Yoo was thinking about some European name. In the end, he decided for Micajah.
____
'Welcome player!'
'Enter a name that players and NPCs will see you under'
'_Micajah_'
...
'Your name has been confirmed'
'Please wait while the name is processed and added to the system'
____
Rae-Yoo had no problem waiting a while. For now, he was thinking about what race he would choose. In the manual it was written that there are four main races that can be changed after reaching a certain level. The four main races were Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Shapeshifters. Depending on what race you chose, your starting stats were raised. When you chose Human, your strength and stamina increased. If you chose Elves, your intelligence and speed will increase. If you chose Dwarves, your strength and stamina increased. And if you chose Shapeshifter, your speed and agility increased. Before Rae-Yoo could think about it more, a message appeared in front of him.
___
'Your name has been confirmed and registered in system'
'Please write your age'
'__________'
...
'Please write your age'
'_26_'
...
'Your age has been confirmed and registered in system'
____
This time, Rae-Yoo didn't have to wait like when he was waiting for the system to register his name.
____
'Please write your gender'
'_Male_'
...
'Your gender has been confirmed and registered in system'
...
'Please choose your race'
'a) Human
b) Elf
c) Dwarf
d) Shapeshifter
____
Here Rae-Yoo stopped once more and thought hard. Rae-Yoo knew that the race could still be changed during the game, but he didn't plan to do that. If he remembered correctly, it was written in the instructions that the player's stats will be reduced by half and he may lose some skills when he changes races. Therefore, Rae-Yoo thought hard. Elves and Dwarves went right to the side. Rae-Yoo didn't want to be short or have pointy ears. Rae-Yoo would have chosen Humans as a race, but Shapeshifters caught his interest. And Rae-Yoo liked to take risks. That's why he chose d).
____
'Your race has been confirmed and registered in system'
...
'Your race is Shapeshifter'
'Please choose what you want to Shapeshift to'
'a) Wolf
b) Bear
c) Tiger
d) Panther
e) Hawk
f) Snake
g) Cat
h) Fox
i) Spider'
...
'You have choose Panther as your shapeshift animal'
'Your shapeshift animal has been confirmed and registered in system'
...
'Please choose your class'
'Because you chose race Shapeshifter, some classes will be locked to you'
'a) Barbarian
b) Paladin(locked)
c) Warrior
d) Mage(locked)
e) Necromancer(locked)
f) Priest(locked)
g) Assassin
h) Tank
i) Rogue
j) Healer'
...
Rae-Yoo looked at each class and inwardly rejoiced that all the classes that were locked he also planned to eliminate as an option. Barbarian, Tank and Healer were added to the classes that he did not plan to choose. Healer was nice to be, but as Rae-Yoo liked to engage in combat, therefore this option was not an option for him. Tank focuses on defense but Rae-Yoo's fighting style was to kill the opponent before he attacks you. And Barbarian did not seem like a class that would suit him. So that left Warrior, Assassin and Rogue.
After thinking about it for a while, Warrior was eliminated because it was almost the same as Barbarian. The only difference between Assassins and Rogues was that the Assassins also had long ranged attacks as a backup, which the Rogues did not have. So the option was clear.
____
'Your class has been confirmed and registered in system'
'You choose Assassin as your class'
...
'You don't have any titles'
...
'Your HP, MP and EP will be dedicated by system with entering the game'
...
'Your Level will be dedicated by system with entering the game'
...
'You don't have affiliation to any element'
...
'Your Stats will be dedicated by system with entering the game'
...
'You don't have any skills other than R-Rank skill'
...
'You didn't earn any Skill Points, Stats Points and Health Points'
____
Rae-Yoo just watched the news unfold before his eyes and couldn't decide whether to be shocked or not. Finally he just shook his head and sighed. The messages stopped for a while and he hoped he could start playing, but then another one appeared.
____
'Do you wish to have the same appearance as now or do you wish to change your appearance?'
'a) remain with same appearance
b) change appearance'
...
'You have choose to change your appearance, please choose one of these looks'
'a) Fair hair, fair eyes, dark skin, 175cm,
b) Dark hair, fair eyes, fair skin, 170cm,
c) Black hair, dark eyes, dark skin, 173cm,
d) Fair hair, dark eyes, fair skin, 178cm,
e) Black hair, dark eyes, fair skin, 182cm,
f) Dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin, 174cm
g) Randomly selected look'
____
Rae-Yoo was really tired of all the options the system showed him and so he clicked on the last option, at least it will be a surprise.
____
'Your choose g) as your new look'
...
'Your character has been confirmed and registered in system'
'Please wait'
'...3%...'
'...14%...'
'...22%...'
'...35%...'
'...47%...'
'...61%...'
'...83%...'
'...89%...'
'...95%...'
'...99%...'
'...100%...'
'Welcome to the world of Rise of Legends'
____
As soon as the message came, a light surrounded Rae-Yoo, and when he opened his eyes again, a completely different sight opened before him.