The Mysterious Package

EVEN BEFORE HE WAS PROCLAIMED A BOOKWORM BY HIS CLASSMATES, Antonio preferred to not rely on anyone but himself.

Whether it was something related to curriculum or co-curricular activities, he aced them all. Every teenager around his age has a thing for inferiority complex but, the case with him was 180 degrees.

He was affected by his superiority complex. He saw his classmates as nothing but trash that will only waste his time.

"Wake up, Kid. You are pretty much dead this time." someone called out in a harsh tone which interrupted Antonio's little nap.

Rubbing his eyes, Antonio turned to face the professor who was staring directly into his eyes. Anger was clearly visible on his wrinkled face.

Meeting the sharp gaze of the professor, Antonio snapped. "What do you want from me; didn't I already answer the question you asked earlier?"

Seeing the reaction of Antonio, the professor rubbed his forehead and calmly said, "You know, Antonio. This rudeness and arrogance will one day become the cause of your annihilation."

Holding his shoulders, the professor continued." I am telling you once and it's upon you to mark my words or not. You shouldn't consider yourself perfect; it will only lead you to imperfection and destroy you."

Antonio pushed the professor a little and got up from his seat. "Whatever Old man, I don't care. If my superiority destroys me, I would love to die being superior instead of stooping low to save myself."

Commenting casually, he picked up his bag and strolled out of the classroom.

Antonio Weiss was a seventeen years old teenager who just enrolled in the College of Dunmouth by acing in all the subjects. He was tall, around 5'11 ft. His skin has a wheatish complexion, he has straight trimmed black hair which was oiled and combed in a way that enhanced his beauty further. In one way, he was the role model for a perfect teen. But, at the same time, some of his traits tend to taint his overall personality.

After the death of his parents, he preferred to live a silent and peaceful life. He doesn't like to meddle in others' matters. Everyone around him either addressed him as a bookworm and arrogant or silent and gloomy, but Antonio didn't care a bit.

Gazing at the sky, Antonio whispered to himself. "I know, I haven't been living the way you wanted me to. But, I don't see anything without you. I miss you both."

Wiping the tears that flowed down his cheeks, he continued. " Everyone calls me a bookworm, a person with arrogance, shady, gloomy, and silent. But, not even one of them tried to know the reason for this behavior."

Antonio took a deep breath before looking at the house that stood before him. The house was nothing like the new ones that were constructed these days. An old house with leaking ceilings and creaking wooden floors, walls decorated with rusty old paintings and cobwebs covering them, this was the house which was inhabited by the Weiss family for a decade now.

There wasn't any furniture since Antonio had to sell all of it for taking the scholarship examination for entering the College of Dunmouth. He remembered the days when he was a hardcore gamer and had many friends, but as the years passed, Antonio was left alone in this whole world. And in the last six months, he saw the deaths of his parents; he was left with no one but himself.

Antonio opened the door to his room that was on the first floor. He placed the bag on the floor beside a wooden table and grabbed the photo frame that was kept on the table. Looking at the photo, he said. "I wish, you both were with me on my seventeenth birthday. I never cherished the moments, I spent with you. I am sorry for that, I should have done it."

Antonio broke into tears as he spurted out these lines.

Today was June 17th, 2048, his seventeenth birthday and he never felt so lonely in years. Placing the photo frame back on the table, he moved towards his old wooden bed and removed the mattress to find a silver package under it.

Suspicion arose within Antonio, he couldn't think of anyone who would send him a gift. He immediately picked up the silver package and read the words that were written on it.

'HAPPY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY MY FRIEND'

After reading the words, Antonio ripped open the package. Inside it was a new brand new set of the newly released Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game [VRMMORPG] called Eternal Battlegrounds. Along with the cassette of the game came the device called 'Spirowyre', the technology that read the brain waves and alters them to assist the person in experiencing the virtual world of Eternal Battlegrounds.

There was a small letter attached to the bottom of the package. Antonio got hold of the letter and flipped it open to read it. It was a handwritten letter that mentioned that this package was to be delivered to Antonio and the sender was someone called, Hector Romford.

Hello, my dear friend, I know you don't remember me. But, I do.

The legendary player of the AlterEGO, I was a big fan when you used to play it with the legendary character, Vodrik, and remained in shadows without revealing your identity.

Well, I don't know the reason for your retirement from the game but, I am sending you a package for your seventeenth birthday. The package consists of a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game called, 'Eternal Battlegrounds' developed by Arteria Gaming.

Along with the hardware required to play it. If you have any issues regarding the functioning of the Spirowyre, you can contact me via the contact number that I wrote on the back of the package.

I hope you will consider it once and meet me in the City hall of Keldar, Kingdom of Kalvar, and the County of Horium. Also, you have to pass one small test to meet me. I will wait for your arrival.

Regards,

Hector Romford.

Holding the cassette of the game, Antonio thought. "This Hector guy, he looks suspicious. How did he find my home, I mean, it's true I used to play the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, AlterEGO but, my privacy was highly protected. Also, how did he know of my legendary character, Vodrik, it was a secret and even my parents didn't know about it?"

Antonio picked up the bag that he earlier kept near the wooden table and took out an old smartphone. The screen of the phone was cracked and the display was a bit hazy. He opened the internet and searched for information related to the game as well as Arteria Gaming.

Opening the official Website of Arteria Gaming, Antonio read the information provided by the company. "Arteria Gaming, A company that was established in the year, 2016 and developed the famous MMORPG called 'The Inferno' in the year 2018 has completed its thirty years of launch. The CEO of Arteria Gaming, Mr. Jason Romford has announced an upgraded version of The Inferno, called 'Eternal Battlegrounds' which was launched this year."

Antonio was reading further when he read the name of the CEO once again, 'Jason Romford' and he immediately got the idea about who was the person named 'Hector Romford'.

Antonio slowly inserted the cassette into the drive and connected the wires to attach the drive and the Spirowyre. His aqua blue eyes shone brightly as he looked at the device in his hands. Inside Antonio, he was determined to dive into the game which will swap the two realities.

He placed the Spirowyre on his head and exclaimed. "I will turn myself into a different being; I am determined to do this. It's now or never, the opportunity to change my fate has arrived."

Antonio took a deep breath, he was nervous and anxious. But, one thing was for sure, He won't trust Hector Romford, even if he's the one to give him another chance at life. "Start the Spirowyre and get the Connector online," Antonio exclaimed as he felt a rush of adrenaline inside him.

A mechanical voice immediately answered after hearing the command from Antonio. "Connector is Online. Beginning the process of connection establishment, Connection is currently at ten percent."

"Connection establishment is successful. Please wait, while connecting to the mainframe of the system."

"Spirowyre Online, Connection to the mainframe is successful."

Antonio was a bit overwhelmed after seeing the Artificial Intelligence which was processing on its own and at an alarming rate. "I find it amusing seeing that Science and Technology have developed quite a bit." He commented.

The same mechanical voice interrupted his thoughts as it informed, "Link established with the Asterium, the world of Eternal Battlegrounds. Now, the system is linking the brain to the world."

After some time, Antonio heard it again, "Transporting the Player to the World of Asterium."

Antonio immediately felt that his whole body was dumped into an ocean. The first thing that came into his mind when he heard the term, 'Water' was that he can't swim. He felt as if he was drowning and the supply of oxygen slowly deteriorated, while Antonio tried his best to stay afloat. But, slowly and steadily the water consumed him wholly.

Antonio immediately forced open his eyelids hoping that it was a nightmare but to his surprise, he found himself standing in a town square. The Town Square, a place that was heavily populated by people and surrounded by buildings with medieval architecture that featured the Gothic style. There was a fountain in the center of the Town Square.

Antonio was in awe of the realism that the world offered. "It surely can become a second home to many people. I fell in love with the medieval fantasy setting." Antonio commented as he explored the area with his aqua blue eyes.

He took a look at himself. He looked the same as before, 5 ft 11 inches in height, trimmed black hair, and wheatish complexion. All that changed was his clothes, he wore a black t-shirt with a logo of a long sword intertwined with a dragon in the middle, a pair of black tanker boots, and high-end black combat trousers.

The same mechanical voice echoed around the place as Antonio was checking him out. "Welcome to Piazza de' Principium, all the new players are instructed to complete the registration process with the use of the ALTDEVs that is provided to everyone."

Antonio looked around for the ALTDEV and saw a leather belt holster around his waist. A device that was same the size as a smartphone was placed inside the holster. He took out the device from the holster and turned it on.

The words 'REGISTRATION PROCESS BEGINS' flashed across the LED screen of the device and three options appeared on the screen.

ENTER NAME

GENDER

DATE OF BIRTH

Seeing the options, Antonio complained in an irritated tone. "I need to do this too, this sucks."

He entered the name as 'Vodrik', Gender as 'Male', and Date of Birth as 'June 17th, 2031. Immediately, a notification informing that 'Player Vodrik has been successfully registered' popped up on the screen. But, the registration process continued to the next stage. The screen stating a Species selection, Profession selection, and Realm affiliation appeared.

Antonio saw eight species options from which he could pick one for his character. He repeated all the species' names in his mind. "The races are Human, Half-Elf, High-Elf, Dwarf, Centaur, Half-Giant, Minotaur, and Ogre."

After thinking for a while, and going through the detailed description and abilities of every species, Antonio found the human species more relatable and balanced in comparison to the others.

The screen immediately shifted to the process of profession selection. In Eternal Battlegrounds, there were a total of twenty-two professions to choose, from which fifteen of them were available for the 'Human' species. It included Assassin, Battle Mage, Bishop, Blade Master, Brawler, Fighter, Fist Master, Guardian, Knight, Monk, Myrmidon, Paladin, Sage, Samurai, Shadow Blade, and Warrior.

Antonio went through the profession names one by one but nothing caught his eyes. He tried to find a way to forfeit the profession selection and saw an option in the bottom right corner of the screen which said, 'Forfeit Profession Selection'. Without a second thought, Antonio tapped on the option and successfully forfeited the profession selection.

The screen forwarded Antonio to the Realm Affiliation. Antonio tried to remember the information mentioned in the letter but, he couldn't remember anything related to realm selection.

He immediately recalled something from the letter and cursed, "So, this was the test you were referring to, you son of a."

Antonio focussed on the seven names that were shown on the screen. "Satusvia, Belzeis, Leviathia, Belphar, Tybor, Karnith, Luficius." He called out loudly as repeatedly read the names.

Antonio selected the option that read 'Satusvia', as for why he also didn't know the answer. A voice within him guided him to select the Realm of Satusvia. A huge world map popped up immediately after he selected the Realm. Antonio looked for the Kingdom of Kalvar and soon found it on the top right corner.

The County of Horium was situated in the heart of the Kingdom of Kalvar, decorated by the Fiery Volcano Caves in North-East, Wildwood forest in the East, and Woodrow forest covered the Southern borders of the Kingdom.

Antonio further selected the City of Keldar as his hometown. A notification immediately came up as soon as he touched the 'COMPLETE REGISTRATION' option.

'Player VODRIK, since you haven't selected a suitable profession, you will be receiving a custom profession.'

As soon as Antonio read the notification, he flinched. "A custom profession, what's that?"

'Custom Profession is a legendary profession which can be obtained by profession denial in the profession selection phase. Out of the twenty-two original professions, two of them are regarded as a legendary profession.'

After reading the information about the Legendary Profession, Antonio switched to his status menu that displayed his stats. Skipping all the numeric information, he searched for the 'PROFESSION' tab.

Antonio leaped off in the air after seeing his PROFESSION tab. "PROFESSION: Dragon Knight.

Now, that's what you call a true profession." Antonio exclaimed as he couldn't contain his excitement.

He looked for more information on the Profession 'Dragon Knight', his eyes fell on the skills menu. He tapped on it immediately and saw three consecutive options: Weapon Skills, Assist Skills, and Miscellaneous Skills.

Antonio clicked on the Weapon Skills option and found four different weapons that he can use. Without thinking much, Antonio tapped on the Sword Skills option while led him to another menu containing a skill tree. There were two initial skills a sword-wielder could learn and follow the skill tree.

Cleave: deals damage to more than one enemy. It also has an area of splash damage. It can be further improved. Skill points required: 2

Slash: deals lethal damage to one enemy at a time. It also has an area of splash damage. It can be further improved. Skill points required: 1

Furrowing his eyebrows, Antonio allotted 1 skill point to slash. He then opened other skill categories and brought three Assist Skills and two Miscellaneous Skills. He reopened the tab and checked upon his skills.

Sword Skill: Slash

Assist Skill: Heal, Sprint, and High-Jump

Miscellaneous Skill: Tamer Skill, Smith Skill

After allotting his skill points, Antonio opened the 'Character' tab and allocated ten attribute points in four Ability scores. He added three points in 'Constitution', three points in 'Charisma', two points in 'Strength', and two points in 'Intelligence'.

After setting up his initial character stats, Antonio took a deep breath. "Okay, everything is set and I am ready for this now. Finally, the time to prove myself has arrived. I am coming Hector Romford. I will find everything about you before I will have an audience with you. Until then, wait for me!"

Antonio's heartbeat rose as he looked at the Teleport button on his device. Closing his eyes, he pressed the button and everything started to blur. His body started to break into small white fragments and soon Antonio vanished from the Piazza de' Principium like he never existed.