Hiro, a young freshman just starting out in college, sat at home with a serious look on his face. His average build, average short brown hair, average clothing taste, and his noticeable emerald green eyes emitted an aura of intimidation.His hands were interlocked together, and he stared as though a fashionable, timeless vampire was in front of him.
As the situation became even more tense, he yelled out with absolute conviction,"I refuse!"
"You know what you say doesn't matter, right?" his younger sister replied while rolling her eyes at her pathetic older brother's thoughts. She was wearing a one-piece red dress that suited her long, night-black hair and her seemingly ruby eyes.
Seeing the lack of responses from either parent in the room, she turned to the weaker link, her father. Her eyes turned into that of a dog begging for food, with the threat of waterworks should she be denied."Daddy, can't I go…?"
"Ugh!" The father, Jake, of these two children clenched his heart and almost immediately agreed. However, the glare from the demoness, Alane, next to him prevented that."I don't know, honey. You know your brother is worried about—"
"Oh, you mean my loner brother that can't get a girlfriend himself and wishes to deny me the joy of spending Valentine's Day with my boyfriend? That brother?"
"I refuse to acknowledge that brat as your boyfriend!"
"Well, too bad! He asked, and I agreed. It's quite simple. Oh wait, you wouldn't know since you don't have any relatable experience."
Hiro gritted his teeth. However, he didn't say anything back. Instead, he glanced at his mother and waited. He waited for the demoness of the household to deny his sister!
"Sigh! Alright, you can go, Noe," the mother—no, the demoness of the household—proclaimed!
"Ahahah! Serves you, wait what? She can go?"
"Yes! Thank you, Mommy!"
"Yes, yes. Just make sure to be back by 10 or, hehe, I'll leave that to your imagination."
Noe exclaimed with excitement, quickly gave her mom a kiss, closed one eye, and stuck out her tongue slightly, mocking her brother, and ran out before anyone could stop her.
However, someone did wish to stop her—her father, the one person who didn't even get a hug before she left.
As Jake sulked and Alane comforted him, Hiro clenched his hands together even tighter while his face scrunched up as though he was constipated.
"Don't make that face, it's annoying," Alane reminded her son and continued to caress her husband's hair.
"Stupid sister, stupid love, heh, who needs love…" Hiro complained to himself as he left the house, kicking rocks as he walked. Although he didn't have anything to do at the moment, he had plans to change that, and what better way than to indulge in his addictions?
In the era of rapid technological progress, the world introduced Full-Dive technology! Although most games were trash—absolute garbage—Hiro enjoyed such trash. While others would claim he was a pervert for this taste, in Hiro's own words, he would argue,"This is an acquired taste, a taste you are unable to comprehend."
Although that hasn't stopped his notorious reputation from growing.
Hiro arrived at his regular game store, RealIze Games.
"Oh Hiro, didn't think I would see you back so soon. Already done with Aria Online?" A woman with bright red hair and sky-blue eyes asked. She was on the taller side, reaching 6 feet, and she was the perfect example of a mature beauty! The green store apron only added to this charm.
"Ugh! Don't remind me of that trash. I-it makes me want to throw up every time I remember it."
"That bad?"
"Please, Rita. I still have PTSD from that stupid overgrown lizard."
"Ahaha!" Rita laughed as Hiro's body shivered. She had known Hiro for a few years now. However, this was a rare occurrence even for the Masochist Eve.
"So, anything new come out recently that you would stamp the Trash label on?"
"You know I don't really play games. Although, I haven't heard anything from our regulars." Rita explained. While Hiro became depressed, she continued,"Although, an interesting game has been gaining a lot more players due to a new update."
"Hmm?"
"Although, I doubt you've heard anything as it doesn't fit your perverse tastes."
"Acquired tastes, get it right, my beloved Rita."
"Ew, no." Rita recoiled in disgust and continued, "Well, unlike your supposed acquired tastes, it's a bonafide God-Tier Game."
"Meh, got anything else?"
"Pfft! You should at least try it, you know. Maybe a girl would actually talk to you instead of running away from the Masochist Eve."
"I told you not to call me by that name, Rita!"
"Ahah!" Rita laughed as Hiro tried to regain any sort of reputation he had. However, his flushed face certainly didn't help. She then continued, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Still, maybe playing all those trash games has turned your brain to mush, and you need some God-Tier juice to get it better." Rita pointed to a poster behind her—a poster from this supposedly God-Tier Game.
"Hmm." Hiro looked at the poster titled Vibrant Wasteland.The poster showcased gigantic, sturdy wooden ships sailing across a stormy and chaotic ocean. Lightning filled the stormy skies, while one of the ships was swallowed as though it was prey in front of a predator by a massive wave.
An hour later, Hiro was back home wearing a sleek white helmet over his head as he laid down on his bed. He smiled with anticipation at this supposedly God-Tier Game."All right! Let's see what you got, Vibrant Wasteland!!"
Hiro sat in the middle of a white space with only a waist guard, his weapon, and a half-fox mask that covered the top half of his face. His hair was dark purple, his eyes were an almost transparent ice blue, and on the side of the bottom right eye was a small tattooed star that was still visible even with the mask.
While many would consider Hiro to be a pervert, to clear his already less-than-stellar name, time would need to be rewound by 20 minutes.
At first, Hiro loaded up the game, and a blue box appeared in front of him, requesting his name. His fingers swiftly inputted the name he always used in games.
[ Eve ][ Username Registered ]
Hiro was then presented with a carbon copy of himself with a near-infinite amount of options to customize and personalize his avatar.
"Woah! Haha, I would expect nothing less from a God-Tier Game!" Hiro exclaimed as he looked through the nearly 50 pages of different customizable options and styles. The options included changing height, gender, and even the tiniest mole on your face!
While he didn't change his avatar much as he felt the best in his own body, he did change the color of his hair and eyes. He made his eyes an almost transparent blue and his hair a dark purple—a near-perfect representation of his inner chunibyo!After his avatar was completed, he was left with an avatar the same height as himself—sitting at 5'9—with short, dark purple hair that looked oddly similar to a man-eating king with only a single eye, transparent blue eyes, and a small star tattoo near the bottom of his right eye for dramatic effect!
[ Choose a Following Class!Mage—Mercenary—Weapon Specialist—Warrior ]
He looked over the four options. However, before he made a decision, he quickly noticed the expansion option for each class. As Hiro tapped on it, each class expanded into multiple variations of the subclass.
For example, the Mage class expanded into multiple variations from priest to shaman and even specific elemental magic.
The Weapon Specialist class expanded into things like swordsman, assassin, archer, etc.
While most of them were self-explanatory, the most unique of the four classes was the mercenary class. The expanded classes of this type were of various weapons. However, their prowess couldn't compete with the specific weapon classes. Instead, their class perks were more versatile.
"Hmm, what to pick, what to pick. I could go with a standard swordsman build, focusing on strength and speed. Or a speedy mage that just evades all your attacks. Hmm?"
[ Mercenary:TwinbladeShort SwordLong SwordRapierArcherKatanaDaggerAxeHammerStaff… ]
"I mean, if it's an option, you have to go with it, right?" Hiro laughed as he placed his finger on the Katana Mercenary option, sealing his fate for his fights to come. A mercenary sounded the most fun out of the four and also the most solo-viable.
Now it was time for the starting equipment to choose from! Hiro was an extreme believer that the best defense was the best offense. So, he did the most logical thing and sold off his entire starting equipment to start out with a better weapon. However, he did choose to equip himself with a half-fox mask, as even he didn't want to be seen mostly naked by people face to face. Finally, the last part of the character creation was a unique feature of Vibrant Wastelands: the character origins.
[ Dweller:
Extra points in Strength with each level. Low growth for agility. Starts in the first city, Liken.
Wanderer:
Extra points in Luck with each level. Low growth in defense. Starts in a random area near the first city, Liken.
Survivor:
Extra points in vitality with each level. Low growth in strength. Starts in the first city, Liken.
Scholar:
Extra Points in Mana with each level. Low growth in Stamina. Starts in Ivory Tower of Liken ]