First mission (1)

Jake suddenly opened his eyes and then got up from his bed in a hurry while covered in sweat.

"What a crazy dream…" Jake muttered as he facepalmed.

The dream had been so intense that Jake could hear his own heartbeats… that had never happened before. Still, he soon calmed down when he noticed the sunlight passing through the window, and then he saw a VR helmet on the side of his bed. He probably dreamt of something as insane as that because he was really eager to play Dungeon Masters Online. He finally got lucky enough to be selected to be a member of the group of players, so he had a hard time falling asleep the previous night.

Jake got up from his bed and then went to the bathroom to take a hot shower. He really sweated a lot last night. He laughed while he cleaned himself since he was too old to feel that excited over a game. Still, it was understandable since the players could receive money prizes by reaching certain goals inside the game. Jake finally could become a professional player in a game.

Around two years ago, a rumor began to spread that a special VR game would be launched. At first, no one knew a thing about the producers or about the game, but then three months ago, the game's first trailer was launched alongside the VR helmet. At first, no one tried to use it, even though the game looked amazing, but then once some authorities confirmed that everything was fine, those who got lucky enough decided to play. It was only natural that people would react in such away. After all, no one could explain how or why the game developers would pay people to play their games. To enhance an AI? To get information about rich individuals? To scam people? There were many rumors, but after three months, not a single one of them had been confirmed… However, a rumor began to spread in the last month… some players had vanished from the world while they were playing.

Jake was naturally skeptical of such things. After all, it didn't pass on the news a single thing about them. It was only baseless rumors… Besides, the fact that he gained one thousand dollars after receiving the VR helmet in his bank account also was an important factor in his choice.

His account in the game would be available around eight in the morning, so Jake made sure to take his time while making his breakfast. His apartment was small and simple since he was just eighteen, and for certain reasons, he never had the chance to finish high school. Hence, his jobs paid as little as they could. Still, his life certainly will change from now on.

After eating some toast and then drinking some juice, Jake cleaned his apartment. While things weren't that dirty inside it, he decided that it was time to do some cleaning since a few days had passed since the last time he did so. Besides, he quit his last job three days ago when he received the VR helmet, so he messed things up a little bit in his apartment.

Jake finished things around the time he was supposed to log in, so he jumped on his bed and then put the helmet on. At first, Jake didn't see anything, but then eventually, the space around him changed, and he felt his body getting lighter. He saw himself standing in the middle of a city bustling with people in the next moment.

"What the hell… where is the character customization screen?" Jake frowned in shock.

Jake saw some guys wearing some pretty strong-looking gear, and they also looked at him, but only for a moment. It seemed that receiving newbies wasn't that rare. He also could see some NPCs, but those looked at Jake with more interest.

Health: 20/20

Mana: 20/20

Stamina: 20/20

"Hmm… the interface is really different," Jake thought while he was looking around to see things like a mini-map and other helpful bars, but he found nothing.

Jake had seen some videos of gameplay, but he just assumed that the players made the shortcuts disappear. Regardless, he eventually found his status and skill list.

Class: --/--/--

Race: --/--/--

Fame: --

Health: 20 (0,0016)

Mana: 20 (0,0016)

Stamina: 20 (0,0016)

Strength: 08

Dexterity: 05

Speed: 08

Intelligence: 06

Endurance: 08

Control: 05

Mentality: 07

Luck: 05

Recovery: 01

Willpower: 09

Coins:00

Status: 00

Skill List

Active Physical Skills:

Passive Physical Skills: Hyper Body Lv 01, ????, ????, ????, ????, ????, ????,

Spells:

Support Spells:

"Too many parameters… Why make so many attributes that will only trouble the players in the long run?" Jake thought. "Wait… what are those question marks? Is it a bug?"

Something was weird. The game was already three months old, so that kind of bug shouldn't exist. Now that he thought about it, the initial value of health, mana, and stamina was supposed to be ten. When Jake checked that skill, he found his answer.

Hyper Body Lv 01 – Passively increases your health, mana, and stamina by ten points.

If it was a bug, it was a bug with an explanation… Still, maybe Jake could take advantage of that. He didn't do anything wrong, after all. The game masters certainly couldn't punish him for something like that…

Jake tried to look for his inventory and see what he had, but he didn't find such an option. When he tried to ask other players about it, they laughed at him. That confirmed that the game didn't have an inventory.

"The developers sure are crazy… this makes things pretty hardcore for players," Jake thought while smiling.

The idea of a game where things weren't explained in minimum detail for the players was quite nice. Even more, nowadays were, every single fucking game has tutorials. They even teach the players how to walk. Nevertheless, Jake decided to walk around and forget that. The idea of virtual games was to have an adventure, but first of all, Jake needed to see what he could in that town and then find some weapons to then finally hunt some monsters.