2 Disappointment and resolve
Around 1,000 players were currently logged into the game, 237 in the Elven Kingdom, with 3 dozen still over by the spawn. It'd been around half an hour since the game's launch.
The nearby players spared only a quick glance as Kane loaded into the game, surrounded by brilliant green light.
Despite the breathtaking technology involved, the beautiful view, the surreal atmosphere, and the 4-year wait, Kane only felt disappointed.
The previously unbothered crowd quickly having their attention drawn as the silver-haired elf angrily yelled, "GODAMNIT!"
Although his sharp senses allowed him to understand his general surrounding, sensing the boring gaze of a confused crowd was very different from a building or a large rock.
Kane quickly reeled himself in and cleared his throat in slight embarrassment, as he could hear crowds of people breathing around him. A few of them let out chuckles.
He felt amazed by how real everything seemed, the only distinguishable difference between here and reality (aside from his now even further enhanced senses) was that he could feel everyone's stats in his head.
This was a special system made to help the visually impaired, relaying stats and info directly to the brain in a slightly abstract way. All he had to do was face someone's general direction and focus on them with the intent of seeing their stats.
With this system, his heightened senses, and all the time, money, and effort he's put into researching this game, he fully resolved himself to play the game seriously and aim for the top.
He didn't need sight, he'd never needed sight in the real world, and this is as close to that as it gets.
Kane made sure to study all the known information on the game as it came out, another handy little feature that would greatly help him out is that players always spawn facing north.
His dad had helped him locate and memorize each major city and area on a printed-out map, along with all the important stuff near the Elven village during the week leading up to the game's release.
It was all firmly planted in his mind as he thought of the first location he'd head to, The Terrestrial Glades.
There was little he could do in the city until he leveled up a bit and gained some resources. Stopping by a board, he slid his hand across the braille that manifested itself on the surface and made sure he was in the right place.
The quest board! He'd save a lot of time if he mixed quest rewards into the hunting he'd have to do anyway.
Quickly searching for a beginner-ranked quest, Kane found the one he wanted.
"I wonder how a blind man's gonna kill 10 deadly rabbits without any weapons," he said with a nervous smirk.
"You're blind?" A high-pitched female voice popped up behind him. He turned around and "looked" at the woman, sounding no older than a middle-schooler.
"O-ho, worse than that kid! Blind and weaponless," Kane said while flashing her a cocky smile and a thumbs up, he could sense that she was a level 2 healer.
"Your scream a while ago caught my attention." She laughed awkwardly.
I'm just playing this game for fun, so I don't really care too much about leveling up at the moment. Want me to help you out? I'm a healer."
She had what he assumed was a look of pride and excitement on her face.
He figures that since she claims she's just trying to have "fun," the prospect of watching a strange blind man battle 10 killer rabbits absolutely fits the bill.
If he's worse against these rabbits than he thought, a healer would be invaluable to him.
He clearly wouldn't have anything takeable anyways, with the only death penalty in this game is losing a random item, and the worst pain you can experience here is akin to a pinch, simply there to let you know where you're being damaged, so he doubted she was some psychopathic loli torturer.
Deciding that there's nothing suspicious, he gave her a nod.
"Sure, some help would be great!"
Moments later they began the short walk to the Terrestrial Glades, Kane made a point to check his stats on the way. The stat screen looking something like this:
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[Kane: Aporter | Affiliation-NA | level-0 | Gold-0 | Platinum-0}
[Hp-100/100, Mp-20/20, Xp-0/50] [Skill points: 0]
[Stats: Dmg-0, Def-0(5), Md-0] | {Hp Regen- +20, Mp Regen- +10 | Per Minute}
[Skills: Locked]
[Items: Beginner- *Basic Chestplate +5 Def]
[Effects: NA]
[Party: NA]
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You may be wondering why "the most expansive game ever" has such a simple status screen, there are a few reasons.
The first is that certain stats that are normally already available, are only brought up as a stat upon collecting things that add it.
If you want a luck stat, for example, you're gonna need to find an item that gives it.
Things like critical hits are entirely dependant on where you actually hit the enemy, while dodging and stamina are based on you yourself.
The young-sounding girl had been clinging against Kane the whole walk, trying to guide him, he wanted to say being blind has its benefits, but decided to hold off until after he'd confirmed her age... actually, as far as he knew, she could be some fat old guy with a voice changer.
"We're here!" She said excitedly.
He looked down towards the sound of her voice and pressed a concern of his, "How am I supposed to attack these things with a 0 on my damage stat?"
"I'm pretty sure all the human-looking races do at least 2 damage with their fists, it's just not considered part of the stat, er- that's how it was for me anyway. I'm a healer, so I didn't have any points in damage either, I had to take a risk coming down to fight these things."
Kane gave her an amused look, "I'm pretty sure fighting anything at the same level as you is a risk, with or without the damage thing."
"You know what I meant!" She shook her head and gave a sigh.
Although Kane found it interesting that he never came across this information beforehand, he decided to turn his attention to the 'Killer Rabbits.'
"So, how many are we 'looking' at here?" Kane asked politely, hoping to God she'd notice the pun.
She gazed around the field carefully before looking up at Kane, "I think there are maybe like 10 of them, they're pretty spread out though so I don't think it's a problem."
'Alright, let's get this show on the road,' he thought to himself.
Kane looked down once more at the girl helping him, "Permission to call you by your username m'lady." He said in an overly stoic voice.
She raised an eyebrow at him before promptly replying with "Sure."
As Kane concentrated on viewing her stats, a sensation went through his mind. Though he couldn't "see" anything, he felt the information enter his brain directly.
It was a strange feeling, maybe this was actually sight, it's not like he'd know. He quickly decided it wasn't, if the technology actually did that, it'd be really stupid to have it only work for player menus.
A name popped up once more, this time Kane actually bothered reading it. Ultimate Sun Goddess. He felt both sick and like bursting into laughter after reading such a stupid name.
"Ohhhhhhh, oh no, for the love of god could I please just call you Sun or something??"
She seemed a little hurt by that as she quickly looked away from him with a pout.
"No healing for you."
Kane immediately dropped to his knees and began pleading somewhat pathetically. Finishing off with, "I'll even call you Ultimate Sun Goddess, no wait, I have a much better idea, Master Super Ultimate Sun Goddess, whaddya think!"
She looked at Kane with an icy cold stare, all emotion gone from her face as she sighed exasperatedly, "Fine, just call me Sun."
Kane immediately hopped back up to his feet and made an exaggerated walking motion in the direction of the rabbits while whistling. "Come on Super Ultimate Master Sun Goddess, we've got some innocent rabbits to murder!"
Sun began wondering how on earth she let herself get involved with this strange man.
