2 A FIRST INTRODUCTION

The gentle violin sound coming from the village performer NPC fills Han's ears. He moves around the village, completing the latest mission to talk to the potion master. The night had fallen and the day rose. It wasn't too early in the morning nor was it late in the afternoon. ShiHan had hopped on his computer to play more of the Ethereal. Before he went to bed last night, he had added YingTai on Discord. He alongside doing that had texted his friend if he got accepted for the beta testing.

He clicked around on his computer, eyeing a message back from XiaoBei.

"Yes, I did. I'm guessing you did too? Tell me your username so I can add you."

ShiHan affirmed giving him his username, "We can do a dungeon together, I found a party of five."

Han had asked messaged YingTai asking for her and her friend's character profiles. Ling Xing Yu was a mage with a clear affinity for wind. She was of the fairy kind, her powers slightly amplified as a passive. A constant breeze seemed to be when around her. Her looks were fair, with piercing blue eyes and very light blonde hair. It looked almost white but was slightly tinted. It was long and wavy, emphasising her curvy frame. Liu Xing Yu donned a blue cloak that were of the same color of her eyes with her amour being of a thicker leather material.

Jing Ye Si was a slayer with his weapon currently, being a Claymore sword. Elven kind didn't do much for him but gave him more health and agility. He was slightly tankier with the classes combined.

YingTai did reply to him, informing that her one of the two friends were called "Mei Li Nan Shen" meaning pretty male god. It was a quirky username but mentioned that he could be called MeiNan for short. MeiNan is a fae as well but was a cleric. His robe was in a periwinkle shade. The model for MeiNan was interesting. The face had a soft appearance with a eye of large, green eyes that seemed to be the color of emerald. The nose was small with small peachy lips. It was indeed more feminine then Jing Ye Si, and had more comparison with Liu Xing Yu.

Her other friend was another girl called "Huan Di Liu Mang". ShiHan found it amusing, as it meant "Emperor Hooligan". She was a human that chose the paladin class. Her appearance was much like Saber from Fate/Stay Night or Violet Evergarden. Her hair put up in the same hairstyle and color. But her eyes were as peerless as a cloudy grey sky.

The developers at Aitherios spent a grand amount of time on customization and range for the game itself. The storyline and quests were like other MMORPGs.

Actually, the Ethereal was a mmorpg and moba in one. The game was developed to have a combat system separate from the RPG. The two different could be used interchangable with most of the game focuses on the Ethereal. The combat system "took place" on a seperate island, with battle areas and 5v5's similar to the game of League of Legends except you had your own character.

Right now, ShiHan was more focused on completing the first dungeon. This team compilation was currently pretty average. He had a tank, a healer, a ranged dps, and a melee dps. XiaoBei, was a gunslinger. He usually picked the class or a class most similar to it in an rpg. He had a gifted talent in the specific class. XiaoBei fit into the team perfectly with being someone who could fill in. As a gunslinger, he can either shoot from a distance to start the aggro with all the damage towards him. The other members would just follow through.

Half an hour later, the all of them gathered into a group call on discord. They hastily made introductions about themselves.

"Hello everyone, I am ShiHan. My in-game username is Jing Ye Si. I am a slayer."

ShiHan had a surprisingly low, raspy voice. It was an alluring sound that tempted many girls.

"Aiya~, your voice is so handsome. Everybody, hiiiiiii. My name is FenFang or you guys might know me as "Huang Di Liu Mang"." A small, chirpy voice piped up.

MeiNan took the initiative to greet next, "Hiii, I am MengYao but please call me MeiNan. You guys probably figured out I am Mei Li Nan Shen. I am YingTai's cousin."

YingTai went next after her name was mentioned, "I am YingTai. In-game is Liu Xing Yu." YingTai's words were very short showing a timid side of her. Despite the friendly charade she had shown to ShiHan, when physically talking to people, she is very shy."

XiaoBei had went last, the rest of the group wasn't really aware of who he was aside from ShiHan.

"Hello, greetings everyone. My name is XiaoBei. My in-game name is Ni De Nan Ju Jiao. I play a gunslinger on the Ethereal and I use the cannon. My character is descended from the phoenix which allows for the senses to be heightened and agility. I hope you guys will enjoy having me around."

ShiHan speaks next after the greetings were done, "So everyone has reached level 5 right?"

Multiple replies of "yes" were heard from everyone simultaneously. Everyone was prepared for the first dungeon.

"Okay, we should be prepared to start the dungeon now. Everyone party up and meet up in front of the portal at the Crystal Forest. We will go into the Dungeon of Black Icicles. The demons from the neighboring kingdom has absorbed some black magic from there."

Jing Ye Shi moves from the village. He quickly buys the cheapest mount to get there but it was only a turtle. The turtle moved faster than walking speed but wasn't much faster. The journey there took a minute and a half to reach. He gives a silent chortle.

He seemed to be the first one to reach. He cleared the gate of the guards that surrounded the portal that were from Tanyenia.

Moving around in circle, the rest of the team arrived quickly later.

"Let's go in now. Make sure everything is set, once again. Have your health and mana potions set and check inventory to see if you have an extra set of amour. If anyone is missing anything just ask me since I do."

Getting the armor and potions weren't hard as long as you did your missions. They also cost pretty cheap as it was the beginning village and was the most basic items.

The call once again murmured with "yes" from everyone. ShiHan, after hearing the response clicked enter to join into their first dungeon.

"We can do this."