Story 3: Soul Art Online 

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 1: Soul Art Online

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- ??? -

"Adding x and y will give us the answer to our main problem. Does anyone have any questions?"

This is so boring.

I mechanically noted down the problem. My mind was in its own world though.

The teacher tried to make the lesson interesting but… much more than the first time but doing basic high school algebra again when I already have my masters… could only be so interesting.

Then again living life again was… pretty boring.

Normally the thoughts of what was called isekai, was very popular among the weebs of my time. I would know, I was one of them after all.

But the truth is often very underwhelming.

Living as a newborn child was a punishment on its own. Not being able to communicate is very and I mean very annoying.

And unlike what all those BS novels and fics showed, these days have a very great effect on a person's mind. Effects that would need a long ass therapy to recover from.

I for one became uninterested in common things that children of my age enjoy. It was annoying at first to have to pretend to care until I got tired of pretending and gave up trying.

I mean just how much can someone pretend to be happy to be taken out to the park or play with three year olds.

Being an oddball is not appreciated in society however. A sociopath, even less.

I'm not a sociopath however. I just have my emotions a bit dulled. I still feel happy and sad. I still enjoy things, but not as much as I did before.

I guess I need more stimulation, preferably something to get my adrenaline pumping.

This class however is not that.

"Can you please give the answer to this question, Mr. Strauss?" I heard the teacher. 

"20." I replied, taking one look at the board.

The teacher gave a sigh.

This teacher was new. Others had already given up asking me questions.

The only reason I'm not thrown out of the class is because of my grades. I have the top scores in every subject the school teaches. Not because I'm a genius or anything but simply because these are childish things.

I'm able to learn things faster than most but that could be because of my experience.

Now some may question that if I'm this advanced and bored, why don't I seek for early promotions. The answer would be simple.

My parents.

They think it is better for me to learn to get along with kids my age.

I cannot explain my situation to them and I know that they genuinely care so I too bite the bullet and go on with it.

The class ended. The last class for today.

I walked towards my home.

My parents have a flourishing business of their own. It keeps them busy but they never skipped any of their duties due to this. In fact they have been the best parents I could ask for.

Well except the school part.

It was just this. A boring routine everyday.

This however was going to change soon.

I opened my room's door and saw the solution to my difficulties.

The Nerve Gear.

Now the first thing that comes to mind when saying the words Nerve Gear to a reincarnated person like me is - Sword Art Online, a series I only watched so that I could watch the abridged version.

The whole debacle of getting trapped in the game was a big red sign but I did all the research about the game and the nerve gear. Apparently the security and safety details were taken as the first priority(as it should be). So no brain frying attachments, the device can just be detached and once the power is turned out, the player wakes up simply.

Anything that went over someone's head was thoroughly checked. Even a simple helmet had to go through several checks, let alone something like this Nerve Gear.

Also, the maker of this was not Akihiko Kayaba. How that guy had pulled something like that went to say a lot about both him and the government of the country.

Oh, by the way, the name of the Game is 'Soul Art Online'.

The game has a fantasy land where the total land area to be explored is forty times more than the entire earth. They went all out on the game. A total of thirty five million Nerve Gears were sold all over the world for the 'Grand Opening' of the game.

The game itself was said to have a function which allowed the players to communicate without a language barrier. It did something with the brainwaves to convert the language perfectly and people could talk in any language and the listeners will perceive it in their own language. As for the contents of the game, it's all a surprise.

The Beta Testers were all insiders and none of them revealed anything outside.The rumours came up a few times but they were removed swiftly. 

It is estimated that the game will have around twenty million players for its grand opening. An event will be held at the opening and that was about everything we knew.

- Scene Change -

I set the Nerve Gear up near my bed. The equipment was quite easy to set up.

My parents had actually been happy that I was actually excited about something and didn't mind the Nerve Gear either.

It was quarter to eight and the game opened at eight am sharp but the players could take some time for their character creation. Fifteen minutes should be enough for that I guess.

I switched the Nerve Gear on and blackness surrounded me.

I opened my eyes in a white space.

A window appeared in front of me asking to enter the name of my character.

My full name is Arthur Strauss. I thought of a name that made me chuckle a bit.

Arthas.

Arthur Strauss.

Then came the character design. And they did go all out on this one.

The sheer range of character designs available in the game was amazing.

There was even an option for changing the gender, although it was permanent so I stayed away from it.

I chose a character of my size. I didn't know how the motor functions would be affected by the change in body size. Rather not take any risks.

As for the looks, I myself looked pretty fine. I inherited the good looks of my parents. The blue hair from my mother and the golden eyes of my father. This was the only fact that told me that we were in a different world until I was old enough to know more about the outside world. The hair colours of people in the world are straight out of anime.

The Game was advertised to have over eight hundred classes but they would need to be unlocked. It reminded me somewhat of the Final Fantasy Games I had played in my previous life. The first job class was the same for everyone, A Villager.

We can unlock other classes as we progress in the game.

Then finally when it was the time to start the game. The countdown reached zero and a message appeared in front me.

A man in black hooded cloak spoke the words in an ancient sounding tone.

Welcome to the world of Arcana. Here the wildest of your dreams will come true. You will face your wildest imaginations and if you prevail, achieve the greatest of rewards.

This world will challenge the furthest extent of your whole being. Adapt and grow stronger. After all, 'Human beings are strong because we can change ourselves.'

Do you wish to put yourself on the line - mind, body, heart and soul to explore the ends of this world?

[Yes][No]

I clicked yes and the world around me flashed, sending me to my starting point.

- Scene Change -

The Redwick Village is the starting point that I was sent to.

The game has over 50,000 starting villages for the players. The location is chosen at random. The player can level up to a certain level and teleport to any of the locations after completing certain quests.

It was not quite user friendly, especially for those who wanted to form guilds with the members of their previous games and family members but it did teach people to become self-reliant. The game developers said that it was to stop the initial bullying phase or at least delay it a bit. Some guilds can capture certain starting points and become a nuisance for the players at the start of the game, monopolising the resources. This will prevent that from happening at the very start of the game.

Well, that's what they said. There were short term rumours that the creator of the game was crazy. I mean sure, I believe that. Geniuses are crazy and it will take something far more than a normal genius to make this game. I mean look at this beauty.

The first thing I did after entering the Game was check if the Game had a Logout button.

It did.

I made a trip from my room to make sure as well.

This was thankfully not like Sword Art Online.

I could smell the fragrance of the fresh countryside air.

The Sky looked amazing and we could see different masses of land floating in extremely distant skies.

The touch and feel of everything was as original as it could be. It was fucking perfect.

The game's event was going to start when the total participants reached 20 million. Until then we were free to do as we liked.

The Class System was basically, all Classes were divided into Tiers.

The Villager was a Tier 1 class.

It had 10 levels.

The Max Level of each Class was equal to 10*(It's Tier).

For example a Tier Eight Class would have a max level of 80.

The Class Window was divided into ten slots, one corresponding for each Tier. The Player can Unlock any Class but they can only keep one Class active in each Tier and they will get the Stats and Skills corresponding to the active Classes. The Equipment will correspond to the Class in the Highest Active Tier active to the player.

This allowed the players to play and explore each class in the Game if they could unlock them and were willing to level them, that is, as well as enjoy completely different playstyles if they were willing to work for it. The Game Developers had worked a lot and it showed. 

I saw that some players had started appearing around me and I stepped into the village to get the quests and probably get some way to unlock stuff.

Early game progress is very important.

I noticed a shop sign on the street and entered the shop that looked like a general store.

It was manned by an old woman, dressed in a mediaeval European villager dress.

"Welcome to Martha's Store, child. What do you want today? A piece of bread, mabe some ointment or a new set of shirts?"

"Hello. My name is Arthas. I'm new to this place and was wondering if there was a place where I could find some new work. I do need some money to pay for things?"

"Oh dear me. A newbie in the Village. Well, welcome to Redwick, Laddie. Work you say? Hmm, let me see. I wouldn't mind getting some blue moon grass from the nearby grasslands. It grows just outside the village although they are a bit hard to spot. This is what it looks like. I would like to have twenty of these but I can take more if you get them."

Quest received:

Martha's List.

Martha needs the Blue Moon Grass to make her healing salves. Find her enough to complete her requirements.

Objective: Blue Moon Grass(0/20)

Reward: 100 Exp. +5 Exp for each extra piece you collect, 1G for each piece of Blue Moon Grass.

Accept: Yes/No,

She showed me the picture of the herb and I got the message that the quest has been received.

I look in my inventory. I have one hundred gold.

"Are there any dangers in the area? If so, where can I find a weapon?"

"No no. There aren't any dangers in the area. The dangerous things only come out at night if you go near the forest. At best some rabbits and such. As for the weapon part, you can look at the Blacksmith shop two alleys down the street. Braham makes very good weapons. Was a Knight once, that old man. Too bad he encountered a dire wolf. Survived with just a leg, that one."

"Thanks granny. I will get those Blue Moon Grasses for you but before leaving can I see some of your wares?"

I left the shop with some bread, ropes and an ointment and quickly hurried to the blacksmith's shop.

The man himself wasn't present at the counter and a younger assistant was present who looked like he would faint at any instant. After some talk, I found out that the guy had been working hard to save something for his sister's birthday present. I bought a Knife from him for 20 gold and two basic traps for another twenty and left towards my first quest.

He did give me a quest to find something for his sister if I could.

The village was starting to get crowded as new players were popping in every instant.

I raced towards the corner of the village. The basic Health and Stamina Bars showing on the top left corner of my screen. A Villager was the lowest of the job classes and thus the stamina on this Class is shit.

I reached the outskirts of the town pretty quickly. It was a rather open field with some trees and bushes here and there.

I even saw a rabbit or two around the bushes. The bushes themselves had several berries and such. I don't know the respawn time on these things so it will be better to get my hands on as many resources as I can.

I quickly set up the traps near the area I had seen the rabbits appearing and got down to picking up every fruit I could get my hands on.

The Blue Moon Grass that Martha said to look for were rare and hard to find but there was one thing in common among them and that was that each of them was in the shade of other plants or rocks.

In about another hour, the other players started coming out to this area but by that time, I had emptied the bushes and netted several rabbits. There were plenty of rabbit holes near the area.

I wonder what their respawn times were.

I had however collected more than twice the amount of the grass needed for Quest along with several other herbs that I didn't know anything about. It was in front of me so I picked them.

The logged in players were also starting to reach the required mark.

I went to the old shopkeeper lady and completed the quest, getting 1G for each piece of Blue Moon grass for a total of forty, recovering the amount I had spent. The fruits were bought by her too. I completed the quest from the quest menu to receive the rewards.

+200 Exp, +40 G.

Level Up!

Villager Lvl: 2(100/200)

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 DEX.

T1 Class: Forager Unlocked.

On her recommendation, I went ahead to the Butcher's shop who could buy the rabbit's meat while the blacksmith or the tailor could make stuff with the rabbit pelt.

I sold half the meat while keeping half for myself.

It was at this time, the counter reached the 20 million mark.