The Game: One Life

Ryan got board of playing lately, he jumped on from now and then but most of the time he spent reading novels, or watching youtubers play games, he kept thinking.

'Am I getting old, or are games just **** nowadays'

Ryan decided to jump on his computer and search through his Game-Hunt for a game he could play, but reading down the list, nothing caught his fancy.

*Sigh*

Just as he was going to shut down his computer, he received a message.

Sender Unknown

Opening it, knowing Game-Hunt would not download any viruses onto his computer.

'Are you a true gamer, will you play my game' appeared on the young man's computer screen, with a link to a Game-Hunt game page.

Clicking on it, the page was shown to Ryan.

Game Name: One Life

Description: a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) game combining Sci fi, modern world and fantasy elements in a survival of the fittest struggle between players as you attempt to become an all-powerful god, able to influence the world in never seen before ways and interact with NPC like never before.

>Trailer<

Release Date: 07/03/2022

Ratings: Unrated

Comments: 80 sec ago – 'Hacker?'

72 sec ago – 'Most likely, I wouldn't install'

60 sec ago – 'Its 89GB, may actually be a game'

46 sec ago – 'Released today'

24 sec ago – 'May try it, ill post if it's bad, want a new computer anyway'

Ryan knew that it most likely wasn't true, the description didn't look the best written, but the trailer seemed incredible, the best part was a man in a space suit drifting in the vacuum of space, drawing his sword, and releasing a slash of sword light that distorted the space in front of him, tearing apart a spaceship in two.

Ryan took his chances and quickly pressed the install button, thinking he could test his luck, but slowly lost consciousness on his chair, the game page slowly disappeared from his screen, Later that evening, his parents would find him, and call emergency services when they couldn't wake him, he would be brought to the hospital and hooked up to life support to survive, to others, he was in a coma.

But for Ryan, he slowly opened his eyes to see he was in a white room, he heard a mechanical like voice speak.

[Player: 199718]

[Origin: 182957]

[Identity: Ryan Wright]

[Confirm]

"Yes"

Ryan felt wide awake, but he felt he had no control over his body, he answered instinctively, otherwise he would be asking questions instead of answering them.

[Identity Confirmed, starting character creation]

[Please chose name]

"Ryan"

[Please allocate starting attribute points, Player will receive 20 attribute points to split between Strength, Constitution, Agility, Mind and Spirit]

Ryan once again attempted to ask his questions, but could not speak, in his view was a game panel listing Strength, Constitution, Agility, Mind and Spirit, each at 0 points.

Ryan assumed how the attributes work, split between physical and mental attributes.

'Leaving spirit at 0 is fine, the other attributes are more important' Ryan thought, as he assumed spirit probably involved mana capacity and regeneration.

[Please Confirm stat allocation]

"Yes"

[Character Creation Complete]

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[Name: Ryan]

- Health: 60

- Stamina: 120

- Level: 1

- XP:0/100

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• Strength – 4 (-F)

• Constitution – 6 (F)

• Agility – 5 (F)

• Mind – 5 (F)

• Spirit – 0 (0)

- Rank: -F

­

[Welcome to One Life Ryan, locating unfilled Beginner Zone, Zone found, Beginner Zone - Infected City, enjoy your experience]

Ryan felt an uncomfortable feeling as he witnessed his body's limbs slowly start to disappear, leaving the white room empty.

He opened his eyes once more to find himself laying on a bed.

[Infected City] – Open

Ryan could hear screams and he saw more floating text, but instead of reading it, he laid on the bed in shock.

'What's happening' Ryan thought, confused, the events taking place did not make sense, he was pondering on how he got to the white room and this unfamiliar bedroom from his his own bedroom, or more specifically his computer desk, but it just left him even more baffled.

He slowly got off the bed and walked to the window, his body felt a little different, slightly weaker, it felt like each step took more effort, but he quickly got used to it, when he got to the window and looked outside, he noticed people running all over the place, or wrestling each other on the ground and a car halfway through the opposite buildings wall on fire, absolute chaos.

Ryan was in a daze.

'What's Happening' he thought, as he quickly remembered the experience of the white room.

'Is this the game' he thought of such an inconceivable possibility, VR may be a thing but with present technology, it was a helmet and gloves and had normal graphics, this felt and looked real, the bed he was on even felt better than his own.

He tried to put his hands to his face, to see if there was anything on his head, like a helmet.

"Logout" he even said to see he could leave, but everything was unresponsive, he was stuck here.

'Open Infected city' remembering the text, Ryan quickly thought and was able to correctly devise the way to open what he saw moments ago.

[Infected City] – Opened

[World: Tau-Ren / Open – Small: 8/10 players]

[Difficulty: Beginner]

[Main mission: Survive]

[Background: A virus has been released in Sodrine, infecting a good deal of the city's population, the virus quickly kills its host, but unlike normal, those infected still move after their death, attacking all non infected life akin to mindless animals, the city has been placed under a strict quarantine, and many approaching the city exits are shot on sight. Survivors have been instructed to remain hidden until the city is retaken. The current military force present is not capable of taking back the city, reinforcements will arrive in a week's time and the plan to retake the city can commence, you are in your apartment and have just woken up to screams from outside, your only goal is to survive]

[Character Memory download - Confirm?]

'It is a game' he thought as he read.

'A zombie apocalypse, how the **** am I supposed to survive this'

The scenes from the street started to become clear, he started to panic, he did not have enough information, with how lifelike it felt and how he wasn't able to leave, would it be painful to get bitten, what will happen if he dies, these were the thoughts racing through his mind.

"Confirm" Ryan spoke, as he did, memories of another life directly entered his mind, growing up in a small town, moving away when he turned 18 and spending the past 6 years in the city going from job to job, finally to the current moment of time.

He was currently on a planet called Tau-Ren, it basically was like Earth but here, only 3 countries existed, Vreozia, Wrenor and Canodia, the 1st World War on this planet was dramatically harsher then both of earth's, at the time, over 200 countries both big and small fought for their ideals and at the end, over 3 billion civilians and soilders were killed, the end results where 2 dominate powers splitting the planet, and a 3rd was created by the remaining in the act of survival, Ryan was a citizen of Wrenor, and was in one of its many cities, Sodrine.

'I've got to make sure I'm secure first' he thought after the memory transfer, he quickly made his way through the bedroom door, greeted by an empty adjoined kitchen living room, his false memories home for the past few months, and quickly grabbed the knife he left on the kitchen counter.

[Knife]

- Sharp Weapon – Dagger

- Common

- Damage: Low (2)

- Special effects: None

- Stamina Cost:5

- Critical Hit Chance:5%

[Remarks: At least it isn't your hands]

­

Having a weapon, he quickly ignored the stats that popped up in his view and checked the last room of his apartment, the bathroom, confirming he was alone.

'What now' he contemplated as he went to sit down on the couch, but he realised, he was not even wearing boxers, he literally 'woke up' naked. So, he quickly went to the bedroom to get clothed, first he opened his underwear draw, no man would go commando if they didn't need to.

After finding and putting on boxers, he went to the wardrobe and started to put on cloths but was surprised to see a faint white glow coming from a Jacket, he must have missed the glow from the knife due to the kitchen light, but in the dark wardrobe, it was unmissable.

[Ryan's Jacket]

- Armour/Chest

- Common

- Defence: Feeble (1)

- Special effects: None

[Remarks: Better than nothing]

After getting dressed and putting the jacket on, he searched around the rest of his apartment, looking for any more glowing items, finding nothing.

After searching the apartment, he felt his stomach grumble, 'I actually feel hungry' he thought, the unknown possibility of what death meant here and how everything felt normal made him worry.

He searched the kitchen and with his new memories remembered where he stored a bit of food, surprisingly, when he picked it up, the food showed up as a item in the system.

[Biscuits]

- Food

[Remarks: Something to eat]

The biscuits looked like digestives, but the brand labled them as biscuits, although they tasted just like digestives and this thought scared him even more, the fact he needed to still eat and that it tasted like it should made him worry about this being a game or reality.

'I can't hide, there's not enough food to last me, who knows if I can die from starvation' he considered as he continued eating.

Finishing the biscuits, Ryan feeling parched remembered that he kept a water bottle he had in the fridge.

[Plastic Bottle]

- Container: 100% (Water)

- Effects: Water: Quench Thirst

- Refillable

[Remarks: Need water to survive]

He quickly drank about half it off, but knowing he was going to leave, he quickly refilled it at the sink to have some water with him when he left but was troubled with the new item stats the system provided.

[Plastic Bottle]

- Container: 100% (Infected Water)

- Effects: Infected Water: Death

- Refillable

[Remarks: If you want to turn, drink]

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Ryan realised the water supply was contaminated he started to contemplate a plan, he had little information, and needed to survive, he was not sure if hunger and thirst may affect his wellbeing but staving himself for a few days and maybe dying from dehydration wasn't an option, as he once again contemplated what dying in this game meant and if it would let him go home, but he wasn't going to take the chance with no info.

'Better leave now before I am not storng enough' he thought, he knew he would have to leave his apartment at some point, and he could see if any of his neighbours apartments have any supplies, as he slowly approached his front door after throwing away the bottle of infected water, l knowing that the water supply was likely the source of the virus he would have to find a new clean water supply.

He looked through the peep hole, clearing the immediate vicinity of his door, and slowly unlocked the lock, minimising the sound and opened the door.

Suddenly, Ryan's eyes widened, in front of him, less than a meter away, right in front of his apartment door, was a dead body, or what was left of one, laying there.

Ryan instantly stumbled back inside his apartment and wrapped his hands around his stomach as the contents he just ate came out, Ryan has never seen a dead body, let alone one that was missing half its face and had its skull cracked open, with blood and bits of flesh and brain littering the floor.

"This is the game, this is the game, it just a game" Ryan repeated to himself, trying to soothe his current anxiety with the information he had, he wasn't entirely sure if this was a game or real life at the moment, everything was too real, even with his RPG game like menu, but before he could calm himself down, he heard it, a moan, directly from the entrance to his apartment, and when he looked up, he saw it, a zombie standing at his front door, now open, looking directly at him.

Drawn by the noise of Ryan vomiting, and his rambling, the zombie must have been nearby in the hallway before it made its way to the apartment's door.

Ryan in a state of shock and panic at the zombie backed away while the zombie started to move towards him, hitting the counter of the kitchen, his thought process in scrambles as he just stood motionless for a second allowing the zombie to get closer.

'What the **** am I doing' he screamed in his head, as he slapped himself, he quickly calmed down and just before the zombie could grab a hold of him, quickly dodged to the right as he could finally think again, grabbing the the grip of the knife from his pocket he stared down the zombie in front of him, greeted by an awful sight of what looked like a 40-year-old man's rotting corpse, in a tattered suit, and the zombies Status menu.

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[Infected]

- Health: ?

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• Strength – ? (Zombie Virus x2) {cap is 15, for example, strength 30+15 instead of 30+30 for zombie strength}

• Constitution – ? (Zombie Virus ½)

• Agility – ? (Zombie Virus /5) {always rounded down, cant be reduced to 0}

• Mind – * (Instinctive)

• Spirit – * (Soulless)

­

He patiently waited for the so called infected to attack again, it was honestly slow, fitting for a beginner enemy, no player even with their below average attributes would have a problem fighting them, when the zombie did attack, Ryan easily dodge to the right, and delivered a quick slash at the zombie, getting its shoulder, unfortunately, the feeling of cutting into flesh and the resistance of bone made Ryan uneasy, and due to Ryan's poor skill with the knife, allowed the zombie to turn and retaliate before Ryan recovered from his attack, using its nails it clawed at his right arm, hitting his jacket sleeve.

'****, this hurts' he thought, quickly backing up into the living room away from the zombie clutching his right arm with his free hand, looking around the room, and with the zombie coming at him as slow as it was, he was able to come up with an idea and positioned himself behind the couch, the zombie, going directly for Ryan, didn't follow the prey around the couch, but instead attempted to crawl over, with half its body over the couch and the weird manoeuvre of the zombie, it quickly stumbled and fell, Ryan quickly grabbed the zombies hair, twisted its head to the side, and stabbed the knife directly through the zombie's temple.

Not sure if it was dead, Ryan repeatedly stabbed the zombies head until he was sure if was not moving.

In his view, two new game notifications had been presented to him by the system, Battle Log and A Sub Mission.

'Battle log' Ryan thought as he was getting use to the game system and was presented with the information of the fight with the zombie.

[You dodged Zombie's grab]

[You dodged Zombie's grab]

[You Slashed The Zombies shoulder using 'Knife' dealing 8 damage (Melee: Knife Damage Low (Low = 2) + Ryan's Strength (-F = 1) - Zombie Constitution (? = 1) = Overall Damage (Low (2): 20% HP (8 damage)

[Zombie Clawed at your Right arm dealing 8 damage (Unarmed: Strength (? = 4) - Ryan's Constitution (F = 2) – Heavy Jacket (Feeble = 1) = Overall Damage (Feeble (1): 10% HP (6 damage)

[Zombie has stumbled, Status Effect: Exposed inflicted, Next attack in 2 seconds will be a Critical Hit]

[You Stabbed the Zombies Head, Fatal Point destroyed (Brain), using 'Knife' dealing 80 damage, Fatal Point destroyed (Brain): Lethal (40 Damage), Critical Hit: Damage x2 (80 Damage))

[Zombie HP -48/40, Zombie is killed]

[Congrats on killing rank F Infected, 20XP]

Reading the log, Ryan had gained some understanding to the games combat, but It didn't feel like a game, it was real, his right arm was bleeding, and his own blood was on his knife along with the zombies, he would have to be careful, but strangely, he felt really good after killing the zombie.