"Come on! I dare you! ... Do you wish to kill me?"
He glanced down to reveal a sharp blade pierced into his chest. He inched closer and closer to the end of his life and his ego couldn't let him die without standing proud, so it was only natural to demand his own death.
The sword handle clanged as the woman standing over him twisted the sword, without saying a single word.
Blood squirted uncontrollably from his chest unto his body, yet he didn't let out the slightest of sound.
The man slowly raised his hand and he began to to feel life gosh out from his body just as his blood. He draped his palm across her face leaving red streaks of blood across it.
She stared at him with no emotions, and her heart was as cold as ever. The very quality that had caught his attention in the first place.
The man smiled faintly as his head made contact with the floor.
"Thank you..." He muttered.
***
"Thank goodness. It's not glitching anymore, so far I guess..."
He sighed in relief as he stared at the screen on his monitor which displayed the character's setting and characteristics.
--------------------------------------
[Zaroth Kaldar]
Class: Necromancer Class
Primary Occupation: Head Lecturer
Primary Mana: 3,357
Talent Grade: Grade 6
Talent Type: Demon Magic - Manipulation/ Elemental properties of Earth And Fire= Lava
Attributes: 6
Personal Traits: 13
-------------------------------------------
Zaroth Kaldar, he was one of the many named villians and a weak boss in the game. Normally, there would have been many errors because he was a crucial villain in the game as his role was to prepare the hero or heroine for the bigger and more advanced villains and bosses.
The results of the Heros victory would lead to a variety of branching paths in the interactive storylines based on the players choice.
Fortunately for the man staring at the screen, Zaroth met his demise after ten hours of playtime from a wound inflicted by his wife, and most importantly without any bugs while he played.
"Knock, knock... Cháng Liqin?"
Just as he placed his left hand on his mouse to continue playing the game, a familiar voice called out his name.
"Ah yes... Sū Qing" he said as he spun around in his rotating chair to take a glance at her.
He ran his eyes across her figure. Even without makeup, she always seems to be the most beautiful woman in his eyes. Her eyes seemed particular large and her long hair shine effortlessly in the light.
She held the position of team leader and for a few months, they were once a couple. But, he would like to think that she was the one who had the most work to do in the relationship.
"I take it the test is going well?..."
"Yes, I was working on it right before you stepped in" he replied with with a shrugged shoulder.
Sū Qing nodded slightly which triggered the accessory hanging on her neck to dangle ever so slightly catching the rays of light dancing around the room.
Cháng Liqin noticed the new neck piece and he couldn't help but feel slightly perplexed.
"I take it that your dating life is going well..." He asked with twitched lips.
"Hmm... I guess..." Sū Qing replied also twitching her lips. A testimony to when they were still a couple.
"Hmm... That's nice" he finished as he returned his gaze to his monitor and scrolled up and down pretending to be as busy as ever.
"Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, I'm just hoping you guys make it till marriage" Cháng Liqin replied sarcastically.
It was merely frugal for him, he no longer had the feelings he once had for her. They had broken up six months ago and the distance in the relationship only made them grow apart even further.
He had expected it. But, deep down he wished she wouldn't find happiness with someone else. Maybe it was a befitting revenge thought towards her for taking away his happiness.
Being unfaithful and blaming him for not having time for her when they both of them were basically work mates.
She was more of a workaholic than he was, she made more income than him- upto 2 fold. He came to the conclusion that she didn't value him just as much as he valued her. At least he was at peace with himself fully knowing that he put his absolute 100% into the relationship.
She let out a huge sigh just as he finished his statement.
"Sorry, we did agree to forgive and forget right... Just like the lord said". He raised an eyebrow in a mocking expression, but surprisingly she didn't budge at his provocations.
"Yes, forgive and forget. We can just be working mates" she grimaced.
The creeking sound of the rotating chair he sat on followed suite her statement as he sunk deeper into the chair.
"Problem is... I'm not the Lord, I'm stupid not schizophrenic. So there's no way I'll forget" he said as he reignited the eye contact with her.
"I'm just gonna get back to work, since there are some changes in the settings. I might as well need to update the modeling." Cháng Liqin broke the silence he imbued in the room.
"Again? What's with the writer always changing things... Makes things hard for us..." Sū Qing groaned.
Cháng Liqin glanced a the clock, it was already 10pm. Night had come but the testing team were nowhere done with there work for the day.
Sū Qing strode quietly across the room as she moved closer to him and proceeded to glance at his monitor revealing the information displayed on the screen.
"I see, your looking at Zorath Kaldar..." Sū Qing blurted with a slight chuckle as she peered into the monitor.
" Yeah, he dies in the first couple of hours. But from what I've been tweaking around with, he tends to die right at the start of the game, that's if you get your juice right. Is he really a villain or a trampoline? "
Sū Qing let out a soft sigh and peered deeper into the monitor, taking into detail of all the information written on the screen.
"Well that's the beauty of this new game. From what the writers told me, the longer you leave Zorath Kaldar unchecked, the more villainous he becomes with that takes longer to kill him. But, the difficulty changes based on the player's choices". She said.
"... Right" Cháng Liqin replied with an affirming nod.
He had participated in the company-wide game testing numerous times with a couple of other game developers, the testing had been replayed about a thousand times. However, Zorath Kaldar died in all but one scenario.
"Cháng..."
"Yeah?"
"Are you aware some people said this character model is purely based on you?," Sū Qing asked.
"Who? Zorath Kaldar?"
"Yes... "
Cháng Liqin let out a slight frown as he stared at the screen that flickered with the words "Thank you--".
"Hey, you didn't notice? He looks a lot like you do," Sū Qing chuckled.
"I think that's highly unlikely Sū Qing, I've only met the writer like what?... Two times..."
"Must've seen you passing by the company. Anyway, look. Even the personality matches" she said as she pointed a darting finger towards the screen.
Cháng Liqin furrowed his eyebrows and arched his lips even deeper.
"Is that supposed to be some kind of joke..." He said wrly. "Tch, that's why I dumped you," he finished.
Sū Qing expression changed immediately as a result of his statement and locked eyes with him.
"You know you don't have to rub it in every chance you get..." She blurted out. "That's really petty for real..."
"Anyways!..." Cháng Liqin rolled his eyes and focused his attention back to the monitor. "The game itself is really fun, it's set in a fantasy world with a cultural mix from the 14th to 20th centuries. It's a large scale RPG though, with a lot of focus on story telling".
" But, the problem is- if this game fails, the company fails with it... "He continued.
The company, DragonByte Interactive had emerged like a revelation in the console gaming world of China and gained worldwide recognition after consecutive successes. Now, this SSS class game was their golden geese, utilizing all the profit and capital they had accumulated over the years and massively investing in the game.
An all in bet. If it fails, DragonByte Interactive was sure to be screwed.
"Don't worry, it won't fail. The gameplay videos have been doing massively well online, so that's a good sign yeah?" Sū Qing replied.
The gameplay videos had taken the world by storm because the storyline carefully of crafted by the writers and difficulty of the game could be changed based on the players, not to mention the highly suffisticated AI and named characters. Although it was a single player game, the fresh approach and the company's reputation helped position it among the strong contenders from the Game Of The Year.
It seemed like a no brainer, because the game truly featured many appealing characters and classes.
Knight, mage, demons, demon slayers, necromancers, bureaucrats, adventures, mercenaries, assassins, kings, nobel men, etc. and the players could choose to be anyone.
"With the reputation the game has managed to raise, I'm very confident we can take in ten times as much as we spent on the game". Sū Qing said, her words filled with optimism.
"Yeah, that'd be great for me too since that means a big fat bonus.. hehe" he said with cunny smirk as he turned his gaze towards the window. "... Ahh, there he is. Surprise, surprise..."
His desk sat by the window, offering a view of the massive court yard within the company's territory. Walking along the pavement of the court yard was an elegantly dressed man making his way gently into the building.
He glanced up to go see that the sky had changed it's look as if it were about to rain heavily.
Sū Qing leaned in to see who he was talking about.
"You left me for this guy... Cause he has more money than me I guess, cause if it's for looks- I'm very disappointed" he said with a genuine disgust on his face.
"... He's really a good person... " She defended. "Yeah, uh... there's also something else..." She finished.
"What's that?" Cháng Liqin turned to face her again.
" Oh, don't worry. Nevermind...hehe" she brushed him off, turning herself to face the monitor completely.
"Now you HAVE to tell me..." He boomed.
The room fell silent for the next couple seconds, the only audible sound was the gentle ticking of the clock that hung on the wall of the room just above the door frame.
" Well... Cháng Liqin, I'm heading out. See yah!"
"Yeah you are ... cause your mister big money is here. Fuck off" he replied rudely as he placed his hands back on the mouse.
Her heels echoed as she walked away. Her callismastian figure perfect, but her inner scrutiny surpassed her outer beauty and he just couldn't over look that. She was truly a wonderful person until the rich fellow came along, then she started acting up. She was the first person to show him that people can really change, they just needed the right motivation.
He watched her as she existed the room...
"Huh, how do I even tell you that he doesn't value you like I did. He sleeps with every which woman that comes his way..." He mused within himself. "Oh well, I guess that's your punishment...".
He tried focusing on what he was doing as he started to feel pathetic for his jealousy, he let out a sign and focused back on the monitor seeing the character Zaroth Kaldar, who had already been killed.
"This guy is supposed to be me? Ridiculous, although he does resemble me" he mused again. "I had been wandering who he resembled even as I was modeling him and it turned out to be me..."
"If it's me, I'm sure as hell better looking than that..." He furrowed his eyebrows releasing a slightly disgusting face.
"Better upgrade his looks then..."
He said out loud as he grabbed his mouse and logged into the companies server where the tweaks for the characters appearance were located. The company gave permission to such access to its high grade employees.
"Hmmm... let's see what I can do here" he placed a finger against his chin and began to let his brain get creative.
"No one is gonna chestize me for making him look more handsome than before, even if he was a villain- I ought to boost him up since he is based off of me. After all, I've never been called ugly ".
He quickly went through the adjustments, tweaking everything he didn't find to his taste at them moment.
"... Done".
He finished, sinking deeper into his chair while admiring his artwork. Then, he noticed the character's unique aspects.
In the game, a character's individuality could be defined by two types of unique aspects: Attributes, which has direct impact on basic specs, and personality traits, which influenced the character's basic specs indirectly. Named characters, especially have numerous attributes and personality traits.
--------------
[Attributes]
Intimidation and Dignity
Average Mage
Resolute
Aesthetic Sense
Villain's Fate
----------
[Personality Traits]
Elitism
Obsessive -Compulsive Disorder
Regular Habits
Noble Etiquette
Sensitivity
Authoritative
Pretense and Composure
Strong Mental Fortitude
Cultural Obsession
Atheism
...
__________
Numerous other traits were listed after.
"The personality traits are actually bad... Zaroth Kaldar might be based on me, I definitely don't have those attributes like elitism, obsessive -Compulsive Disorder or pretense."
"... Hmmm"
He kept scrolling through the attributes and personality traits. He came across one trait that seemed to please his eyes.
Comprehension.
"That not so bad... I'm guessing it probably similar to empathy..."
He added comprehension to Zaroth's attributes. Next, he added wealthy magnate, Midas touch, sharp eyesight, iron man and a couple others.
A smile played on his face as he seemed pleased with himself as he made Zaroth to his own taste.
"That's enough, don't want to do too much so it's not noticeable..."
Clap!!!!-
The sound of lightning and thunder crashing across the sky scared him out of his skin.
"Whoa!"
He gasped in shock as he looked outside the window to see that it had already started raining heavily and the thunder and lightning that came with the rain seemed to be in competition to who can make the most appearance.
He watched the night sky, it looked very unusual. It didn't rain this much around this time of the year and it dawned on him.
Through the clear glass, across the sky, there was a flash as a lightning bolt descended and illuminated the clouds surrounding it.
He couldn't have seen it coming, or reacted any faster to it. The intense beam of light surfed towards him, a massive shock that rocked both him and his surroundings. The burst of light enveloped the office in a brief lighting and then everything went dark. It was loud, all within the blink of an eye.