1 Chapter 1
NEW YORK CITY
"RYAAA!!!" the man in the advertisement shouted, as he sliced a giant Minotaur in front of him in half.
On the "Broadway Spectacular" mega screen located five flights above street level in front of a building, was an advertisement being played about the new hardware called the "Augmatrix" that had been programmed by Raymond Robinson, a genius scientist and coder from Massachusetts.
"Play Augmented Reality like never before! Interact with players and monsters, and earn exp and ingame money!"
Raymond Robinson, a scientist at the University of Harvard in the United States of America, had developed a full functioning full immersive Augmented Reality device known as the Augmatrix, along with a ARMMORPG game called "Cardinal Factor". With the aid of the "Augmatrix" technology, players can log into the game, and have real life interactions with the world while facing a bunch of monsters and bosses.
The gaming stores of New York were currently heavily crowded. Many gamers were swarming near the entrance of the shops in hopes of getting a certain hardware that would enhance their gaming experience.
Currently scurrying out of the crowd, was a black haired boy with a school uniform. He had just managed to break out of the crowd he was previously in.
Luckily, he managed to get a copy of his own Augmatrix, along with the free ARMMORPG game that came with it, called "Cardinal Factor".
The crowd earlier made Haruki feel a sense of asphyxiation. It was indeed true that people were excited, but Haruki never enjoyed large crowds to begin with.
Haruki had no friends to begin with. He would mostly play video games in his room, and his online friendships never lasted long. He had lost his spark of playing online games.
However, that spark was lit back up when he came across the news of Augmented Reality. Normally, his mother and father would be against buying games. However, since the Augmatrix required you to use your physical body to play the game, his parents took it as a form of exercise, rather than a video game.
It was a plus on both sides. Haruki loved video games, and if his parents didn't mind this time, then it was a win for win.
Haruki however couldn't try the Augmatrix right now itself. The game would officially go public at 10:00 AM New York time, and it was only 9:31 AM.
For safety reasons, the government of America had instructed all AR players to play the game in New York Central Park, for obvious reasons.
If they played the AR game on the road... then well... you know what would happen...
It took a good 30 minutes before he finally reached New York Central Park via taxi. After getting off, he headed inside the park, and found an empty space near a tree, and decided to stay aloof there.
He then sat down and opened his package, which revealed the Augmatrix. After throwing the package in a nearby garbage can, he then wore his Augmatrix on his head.
The Augmatrix was designed to look similar to a futuristic gaming headphone, with some sort of curved metal near the mouth of the user. After Haruki wore it, he then stared forward at the distance, and saw a bunch of other people entering the park, already with their Augmatrixes on.
Haruki smirked for a moment, before shouting, "Cardinal Factor: Activate!"
Suddenly, the background around him began to change.
The tree behind him disappeared in glitters of dust, and the grass all around him turned into a rocky floor, along with the sky turning dark red, and the building in New York turning into Medieval Castles.
Haruki stared around his surroundings in shock. "Holy crap! This is amazing! It looks so real!"
The other players who already had their Augmatrix on, were shocked and amazed at what they were seeing around their surroundings as well. This was indeed going to be the most immersive gaming experience in history.
That's when monsters began to spawn around the augmented Central Park, which included savages such as giant Minotaurs, dark boars, and orcs.
"Dude! This is amazing!" one of the players in the distance was in awe, as he stared at the giant Minotaur in front of him.
Grrr...!
Haruki heard a growl behind him, and immediately turned around. "W-What the?!"
It was an Orc. The Orc had a dark hatchet, and dashed towards Haruki.
"YIKES!" Haruki freaked out as he took a step backwards.
However, before the Orc could slash Haruki in half, a sword suddenly stabbed the Orc through the side of its head, killing it instantly.
As the Orc died, it disappeared in the form of glittering glass shards breaking into many pieces.
Haruki looked at who had just saved him just now, and saw a guy with blond hair.
The blond hair guy put his arm forward and displayed a "peace sign". "Yo! I see that you're already chickening out in this game, eh?"
Haruki laughed. "Thanks for saving me there. You killed it so easily!"
The mysterious player shrugged. "Not really. In this game, you can target vital spots. Targeting vital spots help you deal a bunch of damage."
He then pointed his thumb at himself. "The name's DaddyJoe69. But you can just call me D-"
...
...
...
Joe chuckled nervously. "Actually, just call me Joe."
Haruki had an awkward look on his face, when he suddenly noticed Joe's nametag. "Holy crap... Your username is actually DaddyJoe69..."
Joe sighed. "Yeah... But I am thinking of changing it... Soon..."
Haruki rubbed his back head. "Did you just keep that as a joke name?"
Joe laughed. "More or less. I thought I would use this name to pick up girls, but..."
...
...
...
Joe cleared his throat. "Anyway, since you seem like a newbie, I will teach you the basics of this game."
"Aren't you new yourself?" Haruki asked with a confused look on his face.
Joe folded his arms and chuckled. "Ho! You'd be mistaken if you thought I was like the other players! I will have you know that I was one of the beta testers of Cardinal Factor!"
Haruki looked even more surprised than ever and took a step forward. "W-Wait, really?!"
Joe let his hands down and smirked. "That's right! The beta test was last month, and I'm aware of how to defeat the first boss."
"First boss?" Haruki was confused.
Joe smiled and pointed at the sky. "Look up over there. You see that bar?"
Haruki looked up in the sky, and saw the game's rendering of some sort of Green Health Bar in the sky. "Woah! That looks super real..."
Joe grinned. "Your question should be, what does that bar indicate."
Joe paused for a moment, waiting for Haruki to return his attention back at him, before continuing, "The bar ahead shows the progress of how many monsters have been defeated in this area."
Haruki then glanced around his surroundings, and saw that the players who had arrived earlier had already gotten to work and started killing monsters around them with their starter swords.
He then looked back in the sky, and saw that the bar was 90% full.
Returning his attention back at Joe, Haruki asked, "What will happen if the bar reaches a 100%?"
Joe snapped his finger and answered, "Very simple. Once the bar reaches a 100%, the first boss will spawn in here."
Before Haruki could say another word, a giant Minataur that had just spawned nearby, saw Haruki and Joe, and roared.
Haruki turned around and freaked out. "Holy crap!" as he stared at the Minatour in shock.
"Well, normally, I like to help people, but this is a ARMMO game. It's not like as if you're going to feel pain, so.... have fun!" Joe said casually, before turning around and walking away.
Haruki glanced behind his shoulder at Joe. "W-Wait what?!"
The Minataur appeared in front of Haruki, and materalized a weapon in its hand.
It was a talwar.
The Minataur raised the talwar upwards, before striking down at Haruki.
However...
Haruki quickly side stepped, and dodged the attack, before delivering a barrage of sword slashes. Everytime Haruki slashed the Minataur with his sword, it would cause red glowing cuts, rather than blood marks.
After multiple slashes, Haruki then stabbed the Minataur in the gut.
However...
The Minataur suddenly held Haruki's sword with one hand, and punched him in the face with his free hand, sending the black haired boy flying and crashing towards a nearby tree.
Haruki grumbled and staggered back to his feet. He definitely didn't feel pain. However, it was more like some sort of numbness affect that prevented him from moving properly every time he was inflicted with damage.
Suddenly, the Minataur disapeared, reapearing behind Haruki, as the beast reeled its fist backwards.
Haruki quickly turned around, saw the beast was about to punch him. However, using his quick gamer instincts, he pulled out the sword that was still stuck in the Minataur's gut, causing it to flinch and stop in its tracks.
GROWL!
THe Minataur's eyes turned red, and it kicked Haruki in the face, sending the gamer flying and hurtling towards the ground 12 feet away.
Haruki felt a numb feeling on his face, the same numb feeling he had felt earlier when he was punched by the enemy mob.
Haruki got on one knee and gritted his teeth. "D-Damn it..."
He then looked at his HP bar, which was above his head. "Only 30% health... I got to do something about this..."
The Minataur's eyes glowed crimson red once again, and charged towards Haruki to deliver the finishing blow.
However...
"Use your sword skill..." a voice of a female echoed in Haruki's head.
Haruki widened his eyes, surprised. "Wait, what?"
"Your starter sword has a sword skill that can be activated every one minute..."
Haruki saw the Minataur in front of him, and immediately raised his sword, before it started glowing blue. Once it glowed, he slashed the Minataur in half, defeating it in the process.
The Minataur dissapeared into broken glittering shards, and Haruki managed to level up.
Level Up! Level 1» Level 2!
Haruki sighed with relief and placed his sword back in his scabbard. Once he did that, a voice said, "You did well, Haruki!"
Haruki turned around and looked at Joe with a surprised look on his face. "How do you know my name?"
Joe was dumbfounded. "Bro, we can all see your nametags. Don't tell me you actually used your real name as your gamer name."
Haruki looked at his nametag above his head for a moment, before looking around his surroundings at the other players with nametags. "Oh... that makes sense..."
Joe was surprised. "So, wait... Your name is actually Haruki?"
Haruki stared at Joe and smiled. "Yeah. I'm half japanese and half american."
Joe was amazed. "Wow! That's amazing! Man, so you know Japanese?"
Before Haruki could answer that question, a giant figure suddenly materialized in the middle fo the augmented Central park.
It was a hologram of the creator of Cardinal Factor... Raymond Robinson
Joe turned around and stared far ahead at the hologram in awe. "T-That's... that's the creator of Cardinal Factor!"
Raymond smiled and placed his hands sideways dramatically. "Greetings gamers! Welcome to Cardinal Factor, the world's number 1 interactive gaming experience! Allow me to introduce myself..."
Raymond then put his hands down and continued, "My name is... Raymond Robinson. I am the programmer who created this interactive game... Cardinal Factor... I see that all of you are already having a good time and getting the hang of this game, so why don't we proceed to the boss?"
As soon as he said that, a giant werewolf materialized next to a group of random players.
Raymond continued to tower over the gathering of players below him with his large figure and smiled. "This is the first boss, you will be fighting... Nothing too special, just a werewolf... However, to spice things up, I'll have to make certain system changes to... enhance your gameplay.'
The players cheered excitedly. "Alright! This is amazing!" one of the players cheered.
Another player, who was a female, cheered exuberantly, "I'm so excited!"
While everyone was cheering, Haruki suddenly notice a smirk crawl upon Raymond's mouth.
The creator of Cardinal Factor's expression changed into this dull look, when he suddenly said in an icy tone, "System Access: Enable Sensory Manipulation..."
Some players were confused by Robinson's sudden icy tone, while the other players just shrugged it off.
That's when Raymond's hologram slowly began to fade away. However, right before fading away, Robinson said, "Good luck... And... don't die..."
"Huh?" Haruki was confused.
Joe laughed and patted Haruki's back. "Relax... He means don't die in the game... not in real life."
A bunch of players now began to surround the giant werewolf. It wasn't long before one of the players charged towards the werewolf and slashed its legs.
The werewolf roared in pain, before suddenly gritting its teeth, and wacking the player away, sending him flying and crashing towards a nearby wall.
The werewolf seemed to be angry, as it began running forward, and rammed any player in sight.
Haruki trembled in fear. However, Joe simply placed his hand on Haruki's shoulder and assured, "Don't worry... During the beta testing of Cardinal Factor, the same boss had appeared. I've studied its movements and attack patterns, so we should be able to get it."
Haruki hesitated for a moment, but then nodded at Joe with a confident smirk on his face. "Alright, let's go and be the ones to kill him."
Joe looked at Haruki and grinned. "I like that fire! Let's go!"
And with that, Haruki and Joe charged towards the Werewolf.
As the Werewolf continued to ram through players, Haruki appeared in the line of sight of the werewolf, and jumped up into the air, raising his sword upwards.
Wait a minute...
While in mid-air, Haruki looked at the ground below him and widened his eyes in shock. "Wait a minute... I'm LIKE 12 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND! HOW DID I EVEN JUMP SO HIGH?!"
This did not make sense. After all, this was only Augmented Reality, and not Virtual Reality. There was no way he could jump 12 feet into the air in real life...
Because of this distraction, the Werewolf growled with glowing red eyes, and used it claw to slash Haruki who was in mid-air, sending him flying and crashing towards the ground 20 feet away.
However, something was different this time...
Haruki tried to get back on his feet, but couldn't because of the immense pain he was currently feeling.
Wait...
Pain...?
Haruki stared at his arm, and saw a three deep cuts on it, along with blood seeping out. "W-What the hell?!"
He didn't even notice the pain earlier. But now that he was seeing his injury for the first time, the pain started to register.
A giant shadow loomed over Haruki. The boy looked upwards, and saw the Werewolf staring daggers at the gamer.
With a terrified look on his face, Haruki covered his head and face with his hands.
However...
Before the werewolf could strike Haruki again, a bunch of players suddenly jumped onto the werewolf's back, and stabbed it multiple times.
GROWL!
"You bastard!" one of the players stabbing the Werewolves back shouted.
The werewolf growled and grabbed one of the players by the head, and chucked them away towards a nearby mediaval building, causing them to cough out blood upon the impact, before their body tumbled onto the ground.
Haruki widened his eyes in shock. "T-This is not normal... What's going on?"
Joe ran into the scene and slashed his sword at the beast. However, this ended up angering the beast even more, as it began to move its arms around vigrously in an attempt to land a blow at one of the players.
It was not long before one of the players got whacked away by the werewolf.
One of the players who was hit by the werewolf scrambled away from the ground and panicked. "T-This is not normal! Why are we feeling real pain?! This is just Augmented Reality!"
The Werewolf finally managed to whack all the players that were on its back, and turned its attention towards the player who was currently crawling away in fear.
Before the player could escape, the Werewolf stabbed the gamer through his back with his claws, causing the fighter to cough out blood.
"N-No... Stop..." Haruki murmered.
The Werewolf then grabbed the injured player, and removed its claws from his body, which ended up tearing his stomach.
"N-No...!" Haruki stammered.
The player could only scream in pain, as the Augmatrix he was wearing started glowing red.
Haruki used his willpower to get back to his feet, held his sword, and shouted, "NO!"
The Werewolf dropped the player's body on the ground, before turning around and focusing its attention back at Haruki.
"YOU BASTARD!" Haruki shouted, and ran towards the Werewolf.
Joe from a distance reached his hand out and shouted, "Haruki! STAY BACK! SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT ABOUT THIS GAME!"
Haruki seethed with rage, as he ran towards the Werewolf.
The werewolf boss simply roared. However, that did not faze Haruki, as the black haired player jumped 12 feet forward into the air, and stabbed the Werewolf in the eye.
"Grahhh!" The werewolf agonized in pain.
Haruki held his sword tightly, and closed his eyes. "D-Damn it... How do I activate my sword skill again? How did I do it before?"
Before the Werewolf could make a move, a bunch of other players stormed towards the boss, and started stabbing it from behind, essentially distracting it.
"Say the name of your sword skill out loud..." a voice of a female said.
It was that same voice he had heard from earlier. Haruki had no idea from where the voice had even come from. However, he decided to just listen for now.
Looking at his sword, he saw it glow blue once again. This time, the skill name of the sword appeared as a small nametag near the side of the weapon.
Haruki gritted his teeth in anger and shouted, "Lightning Burst!"
Sparks and streaks of Lightning appeared around Haruki's sword. The sword that was already in the Werewolf's eye, transfered and infused the electricity into the beasts's eyes, causing it massive damage, and killing it in the process.
The beast glowed white for a moment, before exploding into millions of glittering shards.
Since the beast was killed and had dissapeared, Haruki ended up falling onto the ground along with his sword.
Haruki groaned and staggered back to his feet. "W-What the hell is going on...?"
A sound of clapping was heard somewhere in the distance.
The confused and terrified players looked towards the sound of the clapping, and saw Raymond clapping while walking towards the middle of central park. This time, raymond was in his normal size, and was no longer a hologram.
It was the real Raymon Robinson...
Raymond smiled gently and extended his arms sideways. "I'm surprised you beat the boss! GG to all of you!"
There was silence for a moment, before a random player suddenly burst out, "H-Hey! What the hell is going on?! Why do we feel real pain in this game?! What's going on here?!"
Another player gritted his teeth in anger. "Something's not right about this game! I'm removing this stupid headphones off my head!" and with that, he took off his Augmatrix, before throwing it aggresively on the ground.
The other players followed suit, and also started removing their Augmatrix.
Haruki clenched his right arm in pain for a few seconds, before slowly removing the Augmatrix off his head and dropping it onto the ground.
However, Raymond simply smirked. "It's too late... Even without the Augmatrix, your senses have now been altered."
It took a moment, but that's when players who had already removed their Augmatrix, realized that the surroundings around them did not change.
"H-Hey... wait a minute, why isn't everything back to normal...?" A random player wondered, slightly worried.
Raymond sighed. "Like I said... removing your Augmatrix isn't going to solve your issue..."
Haruki took a few steps forward and demanded. "H-Hey... What's going on?"
Raymond stared at Haruki and smirked. "Allow me to explain... boy..." he then pointed his finger at Haruki, and shot some sort of air bullet.
Haruki was impaled by the air bullet, which made him cough out blood and fall down onto the ground.
Joe ran towards Haruki and kneeled next to him. "Haruki!"
Another player demanded, "You bastard... What's going on...?!"
Raymond chuckled menacingly. "I've programmed the Augmatrix in a way that it affects your sensory organs and brain forever... After using the Augmatrix for a bit, it scans your brain and manipulates your senses, making it so that even after removing the Augmatrix later, you will still see the Augmented world... And plus, I have made it so that the brain can receive pain signals upon getting hit by an enemy..."
Joe looked at Raymond in confusion. "What are you talking about? Altering our senses? That shouldn't even be possible... I'm sure the Augmatrix was tested firsthand by the government."
Raymond shrugged. "Well, what I presented to the government was only a prototype... not the final product... In the final product... i modified and made changes so that the player can feel... real pain..."
Haruki staggered back to his feet and groaned. "W-What is the point... of doing all this?"
Raymond turned around and looked far up ahead into the sky. "To bring the virtual world and the real world together..."
Joe snapped back. "Quit the bullshit! What's the actual reason you're doing all this?! I'm sure the feds will find out about what you've done soon... You won't get away with this!"
Raymond glanced behind his shoulder at Haruki and Joe with an icy stare. "If you want to escape, then reach level 100 for your character, and find the Final Boss area before beating it... Only then, your senses will return back to normal, and you will be able to see the real world again..."
One of the players clenched his fist in anger and shouted, "You've got to be shitting me! What kind of sick joke is this?!" he then quickly ran towards Robinson with his sword.
However...
Robinson suddenly dodged the attack by flying upwards. Everyone stared at the sky in shock.
Robinson looked down at the players and warned, "Just remember... if your brain receives too much pain signals during fights and boss battles, it may lead to permanent brain damage... or death..."
And with that, Raymond dissapeared into thin air.
Everybody could only stare at the sky in shock.
Haruki stared at the horrified players. "T-This can't be happening... How did this even happen...?"
To be continued...
