When the VR reached it's peak, the term "Full Dive" was finally introduced! Making the dreams of countless teens come true after watching the anime called "Sword art online". When the Nerve Gear or NvG (not Night Vision Goggles) was introduced almost the whole world got a piece of it and a lot of virtual communities were also introduced in it! SAO, Dash Online, Guns and Glory, Civilization Online and World of Prandis. These are some of the hundreds of online games that were introduced in the Virtual community. Compared to VR head gear in the past, this is more convenient to use as the user doesn't need to move around in real world but just put on the helmet and lay on the bed and Bam! You're in!. Just like always, the devs planned to make a new game for the VR and selected a few number of test players for the test servers. This game was announced in the VR community and was even more exaggerated and it quickly piqued the interest of the players. Eclipse Online, a game where you can either be a normal adventurer or a hero or be a normal soldier for a NPC Kingdom or create your own Kingdom and be a King. This is exactly a fantasy game that you will fantasy about! The main part of the game is the role "King" because it's not like any normal VR or IRL game where you just be a king of a normal country or just train soldiers and collect resources everyday. In this, you can actually choose a route for which civilization you want to rule! The Kingdom of Britain, the Kingdom of France, The Kingdom of Rus, The Kingdom of German, The Kingdom of China, The Kingdom of Korea and finally The Kingdom of Japan! Just as it sounds each Kingdom or civilization has their own way of growth and special army units. For Britain it's Royal Knights, For France it's Templars, For Japan it's Samurais and so on. And so the MC of this story, Ichirou Mikagawa, a normal High school student with average looks and average grades with no friends. In real world he is just an everyday normal guy you would find everywhere but when he logs into the VR he's a complete different person! And so one day after Eclipse Online was released, a new event took place which made all the players go crazy for it and that event changed the lives of all those people. (Author: I tried to get a mashup of Overlord and Log Horizon to make this. I just hope you reading this will make your boredom go away. Enjoy!)
Just an normal everyday in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. A normal morning rush hour at the train station. A normal High school student, Ichirou Mikagawa, the protagonist of this story. He wore a hooded jacket above his school uniform and is looking at his phone while hearing Hatsune Miku's, the Digital DIVA, an old song called "World is mine" on his headphones and a backpack on his back.
His eyes looked a bit lazy and he seemed like the type not wanting to interact with others much. While browsing the news feeds, a message popped up.
Hikari:
"Hey Onii chan~, I forgot to tell you but we are out of eggs and milk so buy some on your way ok? Byeeeee~!"
And that's the end of the message. It was actually from his little sister. Ichirou lightly said as he looked at the clear blue sky, "What a pain".
The train finally arrived at the station and people started to get in and out. Ichirou eyed the people and some of those that's getting in are students from the same school as him. Ichirou then disregarded the people in the surrounding and started to browse the net.
He then stopped browsing after a while and put his phone in the pocket and just continued hearing the song. He looked around and saw half of his schoolmates in the train are couples and then other half is friends. He sighed to himself, "Maybe I should also try getting along with others? Nah, I'm used to being alone anyway".
Even though he's a second year in High school, he has yet to have a single friend or girlfriend. After finding out the kids in kindergarten were just "using" him in the name of friendship, he just learnt how the world works and neglected others and stayed a lone wolf.
He just looked out the window while hearing song till he reached his school's station. He got off the train walked out of the station. It's seven minutes walk from the station to school so he just keep on hearing songs on the way.
While walking he noticed that he was the only one who was alone without any friends, but he didn't care about it since he's already used to it. He changed shoes and went straight to the class and took his seat near the window.
"Peaceful" he mumbled and lay his head on the desk as he looked out the window. He removed his jacket and put it near his bag on the left side while his headphones were hanging around his neck. No one wanted to speak to him nor did he wanted to speak to anyone.
There was still an hour till the homeroom starts so he decided to take a small nap. Just as he thought everything was peaceful and relaxing, his headache came through the door.
A gal with extremely beautiful face and a hot body came inside the classroom and looked everywhere. The boys were still in awe of her sudden entry.
"Hey, don't you think that chick is too hot? I'm actually sweating!".
"Oh shut the crap door! She's hot af dude!"
"Hey bro, do you think I have a chance if I were to ask her out?".
"You? If she said ok to you then I'll give up on life and hang myself to a road signal!".
Boys were fired up by the hot chick while the girls just gave her a glance and then started their regular gossiping. The gal looked everywhere and finally found her target sleeping on the desk near the window.
She smiled and walked past every boy that approached her. The boys were dumbfounded by this and looked at where she's headed to and the first thought that came to their mind was, 'She seriously can't be?!'.
She stopped in front of Ichirou and said, "I'm here to see you after all these years and you are sleeping instead of greeting me with a hug? Just how lazy did you get?". Ichirou lazily open his eyes and looked up and found two mount Fujis.
"Huh? A dream? Just how low did I get?" Ichirou lightly said and went back to sleeping. The gal was both shocked and pissed off. After six years of being separated and finally a chance to meet again yet he acts like he didn't even know her.
She then pinched him in the neck and he jolted back up like electric current passed through him just now. "Fufufu~ looks like that is still your weak point, Ich chan~" she said.
He looked at her while rubbing his neck. "Beautiful face, stylish body, huge racks and exposing outfit, definitely a Gal" Ichirou assessed the girl. She maintained a smiled while gritting her teeth and said, "Ich chan, it's ok if you talk like that to me but if you talk that way towards other girls then you will get hit you know?".
Ichirou now scratched his head as he asked, "Who are you again?". The gal received a huge hit! He totally forgot her! She then asked, "Don't you remember? I'm Akari! How could you forget me!?".
Ichirou then asked again, "Akari? You are Akari?". She became bright again and said, "Yes! That's right! I'm your Akari!". And then our brother here dropped a bomb on her head once more, "I'm Ichirou, Ichirou Mikagawa, nice to meet you but I don't know any Akari, you got the wrong guy" and he went back to sleeping.
The gal suppressed her ragging anger and said, "Hikari chan said that you are helpless but I didn't think that you were beyond what she mentioned! I'm Akari! Umeno Akari! Don't you remember me? Your childhood friend?".
Ichirou said without lifting his head, "If you are talking about Akari chan who was friends with me back in kindergarten and middle school, sorry I don't remember so could you please go away and let me enjoy my peace? You are being an annoyance". Akari was speechless, he remembers her and yet he doesn't want to talk to her and she's being an annoyance to him? She burst out, "Oh, if that's how you fell then sorry for disturbing your "peace" and goodbye! I only came here because of Hikari chan asking me and thought I would help a childhood friend but it seems like I'm not welcomed here, goodbye!" she then walked out of the classroom angrily.
Ichirou opened his eyes and gazed out the window as he thought to himself, 'Hmph, some childhood friend when it was you who neglected me and avoided me in the first place and now you want to get back all friendly? No way in my lifetime!' he gazed out the window all the time till the class starts.
It turns out that Akari is a transfer student joining their class. Her introduction caught a string in every boy, except one. Ichirou didn't even give her a second look and just looked at the peaceful blue sky.
In class, Ichirou was very attentive when all the other boys were ogling Akari and few other girls around her. She hit off well with other girls right from the start and became famous in their class on the first day.
When the break time came, everyone let out breaths of relief. The boys started their own talk, "Hey dude, are you hyped for the new game?". Another boy said, "Of course I am! When the beta test ends and the global server releases, I'll be the first one to buy it!".
Another boy said, "If you have luck then we can see about it, you do know that there are only three hundred thousand releases for the first month right?". One more boy joined them, "Yea, but I'm envious of the beta tester you know?".
The previous boy said, "Yeah, they get to play one year before the official launch! I'm really envious!". "All we can do is just rant and argue about it, we are not one of the selected two hundred so we can't do anything about it". The boys gave up on talking about it anymore.
On the girls side, "Hey Akari chan, did you hear the boys? They seem really hyped for it". Akari said, "Of course they are! After all the game itself is awesome! I'm just sad that I have to grind from the beginning after the official launch which is only five days to go".
The girls were shocked after hearing her say that. One of the girls asked, "Akari chan, are you by chance....?". Akari said with a smile, "Yes, I'm a beta tester in Eclipse Online".
The whole classroom heard it and were utterly shocked! She's a beta tester for Eclipse Online! One of the chosen! The boys went nuts about it. Ichirou who was sleeping till now also opened his eyes and looked at her.
Akari also noticed him and said, "Yes, that's right! I play the beta version of Eclipse Online!". Everyone in the classroom surrounding her were in awe. Akari looked at Ichirou through the side of her eyes and he didn't seem that interested.
One of the boys asked, "Hey, what character do you play?". Another one asked, "What race!?". And another one, "What is your level?". Even the girls were very enthusiastic, "Hey, how far have you gone in the game?".
Akari calmly said with her smile, "Wait wait, I'll answer all your questions". The class calmed down and listened to her talk, "I took the Hero route, my race is human and since I'm not one of the early players I'm only a level 86 and I'm not that much strong in it and my character is a female Knight!". The class was still in awe.
"Your a level 86 and how could you say you are still weak? Isn't there like only hundred levels?" a girl said. "That's right Akari chan, your already amazing!" another girl said.
"That's right Umeno san, you shouldn't worry about it! You are pretty amazing" someone said. Everyone looked at the source of the voice and noticed that it was from the dream guy of girls and enemy of boys, Koujo Tendou.
"Kyaaaaa~ it's Koujo kun! It's really him!" the girls started going nuts. While the boys started to grit their teeth, "Tch, looks like Mister genetically perfect is here". Koujo has two nicknames given to him by both boys and girls. One of them is "Prince charming" given by girls and the other one is "Mister Genetically Perfect" which was most certainly given to him by boys.
He approached Akari and said, "I heard that you also play Eclipse Online, how about this? Do you want to form a party with me? We can go hunting in the field". The boys whispered among themselves, "Oii, look at this! He already started hitting her!".
The girls surrounded him and asked, "Hey Koujo kun, are you also a beta tester on Eclipse Online? What are you in it?". Koujo just flashed a smile and said, "I took the King route and my level is 91 and my class is spear wielder".
"Wow! That's really amazing Koujo kun! Can you form a party with me when the game launches?".
"No, form a party with me!"
"No, me!"
The girls started their brawling while boys just looked at the scene with jealousy written all over their faces. Akari asked, "Tendou kun, you said you took the King route right? Which is your civilization and Kingdom?".
Koujo smiled and said, "My civilization is China and my Kingdom name is "Wu Gong"! You are welcome to visit anytime you want". Akari was shocked, "Wait! Wu Gong!? Your the ruler of Wu Gong!? That top fourth Kingdom!?".
Koujo nodded his head, "Yes, that is my Kingdom and I'm happy that you know about it". Akari jumped from her seat in excitement and said, "How could I not know!?! Everyone in EO knows about you! The undefeatable ruler and the godly spear user! You slew the red dragon for crying out loud!".
The whole classroom was in shock after heading it. All of those sounded so powerful and awesome plus Akari, a high level player also got twisted after hearing his Kingdom's name so it must be awesome. A girl asked, "Akari, is he a great player?".
Akari looked at her like the girl asking thus question was dumb. "Of course he is! The word "Great" won't even cover his achievements! He's sooooo awesome! He won 20 wars and 50 battles straight up! Plus he also soloed a dragon that league players find hard to defeat! He's a legendary rank player!".
Koujo stopped her right there and said, "Your over exaggerating Umeno san, I'm not that great and my war win rate is 19 and my battle win rate is 47". Akari then remembered, "Oh yes! I totally forgot it! Your defeat against him! I'm sorry for remembering something like that".
Koujo still had his smile while shaking his head, "No no no, it's alright Umeno san, it was my mistake to think I was undefeatable after all".
The girls asked Akari, "Akari chan, what happened?". Akari said, "Well after winning his 19th war and 47th battle he wanted to even his win rate so he targeted his last prey, Yamato, a civilization of Japan and the land of Samurais!".
Koujo stopped her and said, "I'll continue from here Umeno san". Akari gave him the stage and he continued, "I was getting full of myself due to continuous victory and I marched with my elite forces, the Song spearmen and Qing crossbowmen and I even had thirty thousand of them! But in the end, I still lost to thousand Samurais and ten thousand normal soldiers".
The boys were escalated after hearing that he lost and girls asked, "Is Samurais that great?". Akari replied, "Nah, to be honest, Civilization of Japan is the weakest civilization even though Samurai class is one of the strongest, it's really a shame".
Another girl asked, "Wait! Then how did he lose if Japanese civilization is said to be the weakest? Did he cheat?". This time, Koujo answered, "No, that's not it, Japan civilization could rank top because of the Samurais but the problem is that you can only have up to a thousand Samurais even if you max out and that guy I fought was also a brilliant strategist! He lured me right where he wants and showered arrow rain on my troops and thus wiping my whole army of elites out! I tried to get my revenge but I just can't read his movements so I just gave up after three times".
"Ain't that great? Looks like there is someone else that's even more perfect!" the boys said. The girls gave him a glare and the boys shut themselves up. "Are there any other Japan civilization?" the girls asked.
Koujo said, "There were, but they all changed civilization after learning about how they can have only a thousand Samurais and he is the last remaining "Shogun", if possible I would like to meet him in real life". "Do you know his name?" a girl asked.
Koujo was about to say his name but at that moment, Ichirou went past him and gave him a side along glance. That single look gave Koujo shivers and he thought, 'It's just like that time!'. He immediately turned around but Ichirou was long gone.
"Hey Koujo kun, do you hear me? What are you spacing out for? Do you remember his name or not?" a girl asked.
Koujo came back to reality and said, "Sorry for that, it was nothing and his name is "Benkei", he is also called "The last Shogun" in the game".