Chereads / Living Pieces / Chapter 3 - Stage 1

Chapter 3 - Stage 1

The game booted up with a character customization screen. First, I needed to create my Avatar and choose my name.

Seeing as this is a contest I made my character look as much like myself as I could and set my name to be mine as well.

[Are these choices okay?] 

[Yes] [No]

I tapped yes and went to the next screen, my next options were my class and starting weapon. There was also a Race selection box that was grayed out with the words Human already in it.

The function to change ones race must not have been implemented yet, it's a shame, it would be cool to see a bunch of elves and beast men roaming around.

I checked through the classes until I found one I was happy with. I picked the Swordsman class, and my starting weapon was a short-sword.

The weapon appeared in my hand and holding made me realize how short it truly was, shows and games made short-swords seem much longer and more akin to a longsword.

I pressed next and the menu disappeared. Then a mirror appeared in front of me and beside it was a text box, [Say "Status" to open your interface] I followed it's commands and opened up my status.

All my stats were naturally at 10 and I had 25 unspent points I could allocate wherever I liked. I checked each stat to see what they did and what would synergize best with my class.

Strength/Str increases damage dealt with physical attacks and increases your carrying capacity/inventory space.

Vitality/Vit increases your Health/HP and Health Recovery.

Intelligence/Int increases damage dealt with magic attacks and mana capacity.

Dexterity/Dex increases movement speed and attack speed.

And finally Luck/Lck increases chances for everything except negative effects.

Each stat seemed incredibly useful for my build except Int, but only one really stood out to me.

I quickly poured all my stats into Luck, the luckier I am the greater of an advantage I would have in a game show setting. I took one last glance over my stats to make sure I wouldn't regret doing this, then I noticed a small minus next to my other stats.

I gave it a small click and a point disappeared from my strength, I now had another unspent stat I could allocate. I don't know if it was my stupidity or my sixth sense but something inclined me to put everything into Luck.

So I did.

My Luck stat was now a whopping 71, I kept 1 stat in every other category just in case I would die immediately on spawn.

I pressed the [Confirm Stats] button and the screen changed.

[Checking for beginner quest...]

[Quest Found!]

[Loading Game...]

My vision faded to black and when it came back I was in a giant white room surrounded by all the people that went to the virtual world with me.

I opened my quests to see the beginner quest the game had given me was, and when I saw it I was very confused.

[Kill 1 Player]

[Reward: One Skill related to your Class]

The reward was very good, but soon a problem hit me. How am I going to kill anyone when I have a strength stat of 1? And even if I still could, what weapons do I have?

My questions were quickly answered though when I remembered the slip of paper the cat gave to me. I quickly checked my hand and, sure enough, there it was still grasped in my hand how it was when I entered.

I uncrumpled it and tried to read what it said, but it was still gibberish. Then the system popped up.

[Attempt to decipher note?]

I looked up at it and made sure no one around was watching, "Yes" the notification was then replaced by another,

[Deciphering...99% chance of success]

I knew pouring my stats into luck was a good idea, I was almost guaranteed to decipher this note, unless the note already had a high chance to be deciphered then my luck would've been for nothing.

After a few seconds the notification window came back.

[Deciphering Successful!]

[Opening Note...]

[To you who waited when no on else did, I impart this wisdom onto you. Look for the button that blends into the wall, it will lead you to the next stage of the game.]

I stare at the note for a second then look up and scan the wall, no part of the wall seemed to have anything on it, but this note couldn't possibly have lied to me.

I ran up to the wall and placed my hand on it, then I began to walk along the wall until I hit something. After walking around half the room, I found it. The panel I touched turned green and my body slowly dissolved.

It seems I was teleported into another white room, but this time the room contained many weapons. I soon realized the advantage I held, if everyone in the other room had received the quest I did, then getting a weapon before all of them was crucial.

I went over to the weapons and looked for one that would be a good fit, I tried picking up a spear but it shocked my before I could hold it.

[Error: Player's assigned weapon does not match]

I see, the weapon we picked at the beginning is the only weapon type we can wield. I walked over to the swords and began to inspect them. Each sword had it's own sub-skill, what I needed was a sword with a high critical rate.

A normal sword would be no help because of my low Strength, but if I get a sword that could possibly deal critical damage my luck stat could help bolster it's rates and make me unstoppable.

There were multiple swords with [Critical Chance Small] but I wanted one with an even higher base chance so I could guarantee a critical every time. Then I found it.

It was a simple bronze short-sword, it was similar in appearance to all the others but what I truly needed was it's skill, [Critical Chance Medium] still not guaranteed but since it has a higher chance my luck would help it a lot more.

I equipped the sword waited for someone to show up, though I was quite surprised no one had shown up while I was finding a weapon, they must've thought the button killed me.

I knew someone would touch the button eventually so I just waited, and I was right someone teleported in right in front of me.

I quickly slashed at them and their body slashed in half, a clean hit.

[10 Damage]

That's a very low number, probably because it wasn't a critical. I stance up to swing again, but the player runs to the weapons behind me and quickly picks up a staff.

They point it at me and yell, "FIREBALL!" then a small ball of fire appears and shoots out at me.

They must have picked the mage class, I swiftly dodge out of the way but there was no point. The fireball flew at me extremely slow, I easily just walked around it.

The mage runs at me ready to hit me with their staff, but since their not a close combat class I can easily swing at them while they approach.

[Critical! 20 Damage]

Critical hits deal double damage and ignore armor, but it didn't matter because I still deal no damage thanks to my abysmal strength stat. I begin to rapidly slash my enemy and the damage began to rack up, soon they were left with a sliver of hp.

I take a quick swing and their body disintegrates into nothing.

[Player #126,392 has been eliminated.]

[You received 100 EXP!]

[You have levelled up!]

[Quest Completed!]

[You received skill: Double Slash]

I must be the first person to level up, no one else has arrived in the room so there's no possible way anyone else could have a weapon.

I open up my status window to allocate my new stat points, but unlike other games I can't distribute them myself anymore.

[Choose Growth Path]

The system wants me to pick what percentage of my free points will go into which stat, so obviously I put in 100% Luck.

I check out my new skill, Double Slash, from the name it's probably an active skill.

[Double Slash Lv.1

[Cooldown: 30 seconds]

[Hit your target with two slashes from your sword so fast they can only make out one.]

It seems like it could be a useful skill, after all more slashes means more critical hit chances. I close my menu and look around the again once more. Now that I found a weapon and completed my Beginner Quest, all that's left to do is somehow leave the room.

I walk back to where I spawned in the room and in doing so the system pops up.

[Return to Stage 1?]

"Yes." I soon as I finish speaking I am once again teleported, but this time back to where I came from. I open my eyes and see that I'm surrounded by people.

"Boy, what was on the other side of the button?" an old man asks, I get up and announce to the crowd, "If you press that button it will teleport you to an armory, as you can see I have a sword which I got from said armory."

The crowd look around for a bit then quickly begin running toward the button, they must have received the same quest that I did. It takes about 10 minutes, but soon everyone in the room is gone.

I receive a many notifications about player deaths and I begin to wonder if people are just completing the quest or killing because they want to. Why do I care it's j̸̛̦̞̙̼̗̗͕̥͎̿̎́̈́̉͑͆̿͒̉̄̓̓̈̾̓͌̑͂́ų̵̛̱̼̫̯͙̠̩̝̙͎̯͙̞̮̻̭̭̳̝̹̤͉͇͓̘͓̄̐͆͊̿͆̀̍͝ͅṡ̸̡̛͖̖͔̼̜̥̹͍̭̝̘͔̊͑̂͋͗̆̿̔̿́̒̿͗̓́̓̋͂̔̓̾̐̊̏͘͠͠͝t̵̡̠̰͙̼͓̯̅̉̃̽̑̚͠͠ ̵̧̨̛͇͕͈̻̫̲̜̜̳̿͌̓͛́̄̎͌̍̂̀͘͝å̸̧̛̭̥̟̰̗̼͉̪̮̥̭̯̩̱̥̹͖͚̐̈̒̃͗̂̂̀̋̍̀͑͠ ̸̧̧̙̠͇͍̗͚̣̟̎͛̀̄͗̈́̊̌́̽̈̋̋̋̈́̏͗̀̈́̋̈́̕͠͠͠͝g̷̛͎̘̹̖̪͙̣͇̙̞̣͚̱̬̿̎́̇̄͑͗̔̇̚͘͘ą̵̡̢̬̹͇̲͍͉̞̣̯̜̺͓͔͍̀̅̎̓́̔̈́͋́͐̓͝m̶̧̧̟̖͉̰̙̣̳̦͎͖̞̗̦͇̠̰̭̖̌̈̃̏é̴͕̙̖̦̮̙͖̬͈͇̗͛̇̔̂́̕͝͝͝ ̶̡̢̦̘̖̱̫̫̺͍̩̙͇̠̳̞͚͙̫͈̖͕̠̦̠͓̮̼̽̊̀̒̀̑͐͆̈̓̈́̐͆̏̑̉́̈͊̾͋́͛̀̄̚͝͝͝a̵̧̧̹̗̝̖̠̗͙̥̩̬̫̲̠͕̩̺̣̮͚̠̠̠̗͇̘̩͜͠f̶̛͇͎̒̉̇̃̄̓̃̀̄̌͝͝͠͝t̸͈̳̹̝̦̻̓͆ę̴̨̛̙̝̖̣̪̘̞̗̻͈̯̞̳̰͉͎̱̩̮̱̣͚͔̊̎̆́̔̓̎̅͂̀̌͗͌̓̂͊̂͜͠ͅͅŗ̷̢̧̧̺͎͇͔̣͍̟̥̹̮̖͎͇̝̦͙͍̙̯̻̘̉͛̅̀͛͂̍̔̒͌͌̏̇͗̄̌͒̎́̇͘ͅ ̷̡̧̧̢̛͕̩͕͈͍̝͕̩̜̮̞͎̜̦̽́̿̊͛̈́̓͜a̴̧̪̫̰̝̜̲̯͍̼̳͔̜̻̪̲̠̝͔̫̜͂̄̀̒͊̏́̍͗l̶̡̖͎̩̖͔̣̰͇̪̻̞̤̳̆̂̿̔͒̅͋̀̈̾̋̇́̈̿̌͒̽̓̈́̃͊͘̕͠l̴̡̬̦̠̬̰̙̖͈̤͙͕̻̖͇̈́͆̀́͐̑̔͋̈́̔̍́̃̒̿̀̕͜͜͜͝

A different notification quickly pops up.

[New Quest Issued!]

[Survive Stage 1]

[Reward: Participation in Stage 2, 500G, 1,000 EXP, and a weapon of your weapon class]

[Players remaining: 1,939,768/1,000,000

That's strange, only one million people can go to the next round? The kill a player quest must have been given to thin the numbers out. Still if everyone who goes to the next round killed one person, that means there are currently 2,000,000 players.

Also, since I've already killed someone I don't need to worry about failing the quest, if failing it is something you can do. Well, I have lots of time to kill so I sit in the corner of the room and wait.

Stage 2 will probably begin in no time at all, might as well rest while I can.