1 Just Trying to Drink Some Tea
Today is Monday morning of November, the rest of the date...not important, In fact it is so unimportant that I have forgotten about it in my shock. Today was any other day of my life as any random gamer would do after they wake up (not a gamer by the way) I would IMMEDIATLEY check my cabinets for some tea. But to my utter horror it was... not there, oh yes this is the tragedy that has left me stumped today, but alas now isn't a time to fret I must quickly acquire myself some tea.
Anyways my name is Josiac, having always lingered in the background doing mediocre things like any random mediocre guy would do. As a 23 year old man with a very healthy (unhealthy) obsession with tea, his desire of tea was exceptional and unexplainable but alas he was mediocre in the field of tea as well, not in tune with all the world of tea has to offer. Of course he had other things he was into, these things being video games, novels, (though not as much) comics, and of course board games (sorry anime fans). He was a unique guy who could be found browsing the internet for novels and video games...aaannd tea.....
But today was different, he was missing his daily morning tea and he'd be darned if you thought he wasn't going to get it; So as a tea obsessed crazed man who truly needs some therapy would do, he ran full sprint towards the door grabbing his wallet on the counter to his right and hurriedly unlocking and opening his apartments door. Immediately after opening the door he bolted to his left forgetting to lock the door and also the fact that he was only in his boxers...
Sprinting Josiac was desperately running to the coffee shop... just 2 blocks away, on the way there he got quite the looks from his neighbors, people which he has never spent the time to greet.
The day was cold and carried a chilling breeze, this of course made him regret not taking his coat with him.
Then sudden realization hit him, he didn't even put on clothes, he was in so much of a rush to get his tea that he forgotten to put on his clothes first.
He quickly came to a abrupt stop and was now looking at all the people staring at him, then at himself, then back at them, looks of disgust, pity, horror, cringe, and curiosity was directed at him.
Honestly Josiac had no idea of what to do or say as his eyes scanned the ever growing sea of eyes.
Suddenly he felt someone touch his right shoulder, turning around he saw a more or less pale man most likely in his early 20s wearing a blue jacket, red pants, and blue sneakers standing before him with a questioning gaze.
"You mind if I ask you what you are doing, is it some type of dare or challenge that your doing for a video?" He continues with a slight smile, "If so I would love to see where I can find you."
Oh uhh well... it's not what you think it is, I'm was just going to the coffee shop for some tea, Josiac replies.
"Tea? Your going to the coffee shop for tea?"
The man seemed to be holding his laughter back.
"I mean there is packets for green tea there, but usually people would go to the supermarket for some tea packets." Seemingly glossing over the elephant in the room (the reason why a crowd of people are staring at Josiac) he was about to continue.
Cutting off the other man, Josiac hurriedly says, that is true but the coffee shop is only two blocks away from my apartment thus I go to the coffee shop for my tea.
Josiac comprehending his currently interesting situation he continues, though, now with an embarrassed look on his face, I seem to have forgotten to put on my clothes since I was distracted thinking about something else as I set off to fetch my tea. I think I'll be going back to put on my clothes, Josiac says this before he starts sprinting for his apartment.
With the same fervor he had when running to the coffee shop he ran back to his apartment.
With utter embarrassment plastered on his face he makes his way back to his apartment. Once there Josiac realizes another thing he had forgotten to do before he left, with his head hung low in shame at his own actions and forgetfulness he walked into his apartment and closes the door that has been open for a good while now.
Sighing he moves into his room and immediately puts some clothes on himself and sits on his bed grabbing his phone off of his desk. Searching through his notifications he notices a message from an anonymous source and clicks on it. Reading this message immediately reminds him of a game coming out in a weeks time.
This game was a VRMMORPG game with new technological advancements passed the ordinary VR helms of the current time. It's name was "Three Flowing Shadows", the developers claimed that it felt extremely similar to the real world, except some tidbits that say otherwise, this was to ensure that players do not forsake their health while playing the game, and also fully realize it is nothing but a game.
This game was a classic fantasy game with a twist of there being 3 deadly shadows holding the place of villains.
These villains slowly nurtured their power during the dark ages where the undead legion and all dark related creatures reign supreme over the land of Avacian ("ahh" "vah" "sian"). Eventually becoming the three pillars of horror on the evil side they attacked the suppressed races that didn't align themselves the dark side, razing villages and towns to the ground and crippling any source of opposition.
Players are being summoned before the 3 shadows start gaining power with the purpose of slaying these 3 shadows the players must grow strong, learn skills, explore and understand the game world, and learn about the enemy and their habits. This was stated by the game developer of the game and he also included that surviving for as long as you can is the best way to play the game.
With that Josiac also recalled about some of the unique way of improving in the game or how stats were allocated.
It wasn't like the usual RPG games where your beginning character would look like an ant that can die by the flick of your finger later on in the game. In fact, players would most likely be weaker than the average NPC with out dying a couple times.
Players were called runic warriors and can revive 3 times after death, unlike other games where there is a penalty to dying you come back stronger and with more potential than before.
First of all players had 7 attributes these attributes being:
Vitality: which corresponds to "health" or "hp points" and "health recovery".
Constitution: which corresponds to "stamina" or "Sta", "stamina recovery", and "environmental resistance".
Strength: which corresponds to "carry load", "Impact potential", and "posture strength".
Agility: which corresponds to "movement speed", and "flexibility".
Dexterity: corresponds to "attack speed", and "limb nimbleness".
Willpower: corresponds to "mental strength", "mental clarity", and "processing speed".
Intelligence: corresponds to "elemental capacity", "elemental recovery", and "learning/understanding speed".
These are the basic stats that players have to improve slowly through out the game.
Now, how does this death system work exactly?
Well first off when players start in the game they do not start out with a class. And that's not the only thing missing. The stat system has quite bit of peculiarities. In fact the stat system looks a little like this:
__________________________________________________________
Username:___
Skills:___
Abilities:___
Stats:
Vitality: 0.7 max: 0.9
Constitution: 0.7 max: 0.9
Strength: 0.7 max: 0.9
Agility: 0.7 max: 0.9
Dexterity: 0.7 max: 0.9
Willpower: 0.7 max: 0.9
Intelligence: 0.7 max: 0.9
Equipment:___
Potential: 2*
__________________________________________________________
If these stats were being compared to the average adult NPC's attributes in the game, this means players are all around 30% weaker than the average adult NPC in the game. This will obviously affect what the players can do in the game. But this isn't even the worst of it, because there is another stat that affect player's ability to improve, that stat being the potential stat.
__________________________________________________________
Adult NPC
Skills:___
Abilities:___
Stats:
Vitality: 20 max: 1.5
Constitution: 1 max: 1.5
Strength: 1 max: 1.5
Agility: 1 max: 1.5
Dexterity: 1 max: 1.5
Willpower: 1 max: 1.5
Intelligence: 1 max: 1.5
Equipment:___
Potential: 5*
__________________________________________________________
So I'm sure you noticed that there is no leveling system in the game right? This clearly provides a possibility that players aren't seeking the usual experience from doing quests, killing, and lifestyle jobs to do the usual level up. This system massively improves the player's stats and at a rapid pace too.
Instead there is the "potential stat" which right down from the start tells you how much you can improve your stats by. every stat point added to your attributes and improve them by 0.1 points. The potential stat number represents how much stat points all attributes can be improved by. This means that at most your attributes stats will reach 0.9 as indicated as the max stat in the character panel.
This means players will not be able to call themselves equal to NPCs from the start to the peak of their characters.
This is where the revival comes in to play, when a player dies their stats reset to the base or beginning point, all equipment, items, and all that they had on them can be found on their bodies, the players that had died will have to wait for 3 days in a ghost state before they can revive.
When players revive they are not forgotten by the game world, as this is part of the game, after all their even given a name collectively by all races, called Runic Warriors, summons that can be revived a set amount of time; There are even Runic Warriors that are also NPCs in the game.
This means any NPC or monster a player offends or befriends will not forget their interaction.
When a player revives all stats would be improved by a stat point meaning attribute stats will start off at 0.8 and the potential stat will increase by 1 point, this would be 3 if we're only looking at 1 death in total.
From here, a new mechanic is added, this mechanic being attribute prioritization which at 3 potential allows players to change any of their stats by one, this increases by one every point above 3 the potential stat reaches. This means at 4 potential players can change their stats potential by 2 or at 5 potential they can change their stats potential by 3, this is also the base line players would have on their last life.
Now, how does the stat prioritization work exactly?
Well it's relatively simple, First you lower 1 one of your attributes potential by one. Then you raise another attributes stat potential by one. This means if your going for a mage build and you have 3 potential you can lower your strength stat's potential by one to increase/raise your intelligence stat's potential by one.
Kinda like this:
__________________________________________________________
Strength: 0.8 max: 1 Original: 0.8 max: 1.1
Intelligence: 0.8 max: 1.2 Original: 0.8 max: 1.1
__________________________________________________________
But do not be confused for a stat can only be changed once with 3 potential, whether that change be an increase or decrease.
As you would probably guess or so Josiac thinks, unless you die at least once you have no way of actually specializing in a specific class. Players will also have to die once to have the potential to reach the average adults attributes (albeit in the future).
After recalling this brain wrecking amount of information (A bit smol brain) he returns his attention to the message on his phone, a deep frown had surfaced on his face.
The contents of this message was something to frown about. If what is on this message is true then that means that the new VRMMORPG game coming out in a week is nothing less than a trap. The final death players of this game can experience would end up being their last too. Not only that but there is also no way to log out of the game once you enter into the game. The reason why he doesn't completely discount the chance of it being real is because of how it is presented and structured. This message was presented in a way that it seemed like he wasn't even suppose to see it, as if it was a private message.
The person who wrote this is obviously the boss here or is portraying to be one and with amazing skill at that, besides that he seems to be talking to one of his subordinates. The information found in this message definitely didn't sound like a joke and even if it is was, it would be one heck of a dark one. They seemed to aim at being some twisted sort of kings in this game (Three Flowing Shadows) and rule as evil lords which is pretty cringe, the message also includes a crap ton of inappropriate ideas and thoughts on what they would be able to do once their in the game.
Honestly Josiac was starting to doubt his intelligence after thinking it over. Although the message seemed quite real the focus of it was seriously too ridiculous. To be honestly this was presented in an eerily formal way while also being dark and cringe, so it was more probable that it was just a twisted and cringe joke.
Sighing Josiac straightened his back and directed his gaze away from the phone and to the front door of his apartment.
Josiac waved off the anonymous message as a joke from some pranksters with a creative mind for the wrong stuff.
Josiac stood up and walked over to the door and opened it. A cold breeze flooded into his apartment instantly reminding him to take a coat with him. Now with a coat covering the upper half of his body and some clothes on he went outside and locked his apartment door. He then started jogging over to the coffee shop, his eyes suddenly regained a crazed glint and he started moving faster.
Tea
He had remembered that HIS tea was waiting for him in the coffee shop. With that he immediately started sprinting, tears in his eyes as he could already imagine taste of it in his mouth. Finally, he had reached the coffee shop and a familiar person was working there as reception.
The person had noticed Josiac and his crazed eyes, unexpectantly, they were not surprised or got nervous looking at the crazed man who entered the store. In fact they were indifferent to it.
This person was Viela.
She was a good looking woman in all green clothes, her hair was red (not dyed red) and her eyes were also red giving her a...lets just say, unique look.
Anyways, she has been working at this shop for as long as Josiac could remember, long accustomed to his black-like brown crazed eyes and bloodshot glare as if she had just betrayed him for his bestfriend, she then asked him with a slightly annoyed tone as if the mere sight of him had ruined her day,
"tea again isn't it?"
Yes, Josiac stated firmly.
"Sighing, she replied, alright 40$ for this overpriced cra-
It's not crap, it's a delicacy I'd take over you any day of the week.
"70$, she stated coldly."
Whatever I don't got the time to argue with you, Josiac says as he begrudgingly pays now most certainly at least double the proper price of tea. Thank you very much I'll be leaving now, as Josiac was leaving he suddenly stopped, do you know anything about that new VR game that's coming out in a week, it's name is Three Flowing Shadows isn't it?
Finally, a shocked look had surfaced on the woman's face, "wait a minute, are you actually interested. A slight smile was starting to form on her face, completely forgetting about the heavy offence Josiac had committed against her.
"I thought you said you weren't interested in VR games."
The 2 of them were quite accustomed with each other and liked to chat from time to time, against what others would assume. Although they could sometimes appear to be enemies at times, frenemies was a better word for their relationship.
I'm not, Josiac replied, I just want to warn you since you seem to like to play most VR games you come across. Usually I'd let you go and do whatever but this one...is unique, wait 3 days and observe the situation first, you must remember this isn't the normal stuff this time, it's some type of pod you enter which covers you head to toe, and there's other other techy things that could possibly be dangerous, of course that isn't the point, the point is it's new game that the company might have a agenda behind and in the policy files it is stated to be experimental.
"You looked into it?" she asked asked strangely.
Yes I did, somethings off about it, and I don't trust it. Promise me to wait at least 3 days before you enter it okay, Josiac reaffirmed.
"Hmm, would you promise me to never drink tea again if your wrong." she asked with a devious smile plastered on her face.
With only a slight moment of hesitation Josiac agreed, he had to be honest even though he had been trying to down play what he had read in that anonymous message in his mind, he had this bad feeling every time he thought about it. The thought that it might be real was plaguing him and left him unable to think normally so he decided that it would be better to be safe than sorry. This meant warning anyone he could possibly convince.
Shocked Veila looked at him, and the words that came out of her mouth made him immediately regret warning her.
"So what you mean is you would take me over tea!" Her eyes were practically beaming at him, the devious smile turned devilish, and Josiac was already running away.
Opening the door he stopped for a moment, no it's not that, it's just that I am completely confident in my assumption. If you still don't believe, You can even marry me if I'm wrong, at this point he was betting it all.
Turning red the Veila replied, "you, who would want you, leave you shameless bastard." With how she was she looked like a tomato with hair.
Josiac saw that as his cue to leave. Leaving behind a shocked tomato that was trying to process what she had just heard.
Laughing he ran away from the coffee shop.
Thud...Thud Thud Thud Thud
Man 1:"He's getting closer, are you ready."
Man 2: "Yep, ready as always bro."
2 men were in an alley way seemingly ready to jump the person closing in on their position. One was huge and stout being 2.3 meters tall and had a hulking frame that probably wouldn't budge even if 2 strong muscled men tackled him. The second was much leaner and was only 1.9 meters tall, still somewhat tall the second man had devilish eyes and a playful smile on his face, if you read the synopsis you already knew this man, RATCHET.
(also read author's comment thank you)
