Chapter 1-Character Stats

Void— where nothing exists.

Zach's eyes were open, at least he thought so. But he couldn't see anything. Everything was dark.

Suddenly, a bright light enveloped Zach and blinded him.

[Welcome to Gods' impact!]

Zach heard a voice ringing in his ears.

"Huh? Weren't we supposed to play Abyss online?" he wondered to himself.

After opening his eyes, Zach found himself in a garden.

He looked to his right to see Shay and Kayden standing beside him with a puzzled look on their faces.

"Hey Shay, I think we are in the wrong game," Zach stated.

"Yeah. I heard the voice over too," Kayden stated.

"But that's impossible! I have never heard of a game named Gods' impact before," Shay proclaimed.

"Maybe it's a new game that just got released?" Kayden wondered.

"Without any promos and advertisements?" Shay sneered. "Then it will definitely flop."

A black matter appeared in front of them and took the shape of a slime.

[Welcome to Gods' impact, mortals!]

Zach raised his brows and asked, "What is this?"

[I am the mascot of this online world. And I am here to give you information about this game.]

"This is a common thing," Kayden muttered to Zach.

[This game is created by the Gods! And the souls of—"

"Pff!" Shay snickered. "Hahahaha! I am sorry, but it's just so funny."

After laughing for a while, Shay uttered, "I know that the developers can be considered as gods, but this is my first time seeing anyone claiming it. It's just so funny and cringe!"

[All of you are transported to this world because you angered the gods. This game will be your punishment, and you have to survive in this.]

"Playing a game as a punishment? Sweet! That's the best punishment I have ever heard of," Shay remarked.

[Don't laugh, mortal! For you shall cry when you find out that those who die in the game, die in the real world too.]

After uttering that sentence, the black slime disappeared.

"..."

"..."

"..."

No information was provided by the slime.

After a few seconds, the slime appeared again and said, [You can obtain the rest of the information about this game from the menu.]

Then, the black slime disappeared again.

Kayden glanced at Shay with a concerned look on his face and asked, "What should we do now, Shay?"

"You don't seriously believe in all that crap, do you?" Shay scoffed. "It has to be some kind of unique game promotion. And I have to admit it, it's great."

"But what if everything that slime said was true?" Kayden wondered.

Shay knitted his brows and asked, "You don't actually believe in gods, do you?"

"I am skeptical about them. If I see one, I will believe in them," Kayden answered with a shrug.

"That's the way it should be." Shay turned to Zach and asked, "What about you, Zach? Do you believe in gods?"

Zach tried to dodge the question and asked, "Let's see the information of the game."

They opened their menu and read the information.

After reading the information, Shay stated, "Everything is the same as all the other VR games."

"Did you read this, though?" Kayden pointed his finger at a sentence that said, [The players can use their real-life skills and talents in the game.]

"That is something new," Shay muttered.

"Hey, look at this one too." Zach pointed his finger at the sentence that said, [The money earned by the players in the game shall be added to their real-life bank accounts.]

Kayden and Shay stared at Zach with a judging look on their faces.

"What?" Zach asked, feeling confused.

"It's all about money for you, isn't it?" Shay commented.

After reading some more information, Kayden said, "Let's log out now."

"Why… do you want to log out?" Shay asked with a confused look on his face.

When Kayden tried to log out, he got a prompt on the screen saying, 'Unable to log out.'

Shay said it was because they were in a long dive, and they wouldn't be able to log out before three days passed in the real world.

So they decided to head to the nearest town. When Shay opened the map, the nearest town showed to be 3 kilometers away.

On their way to the town, Shay asked Zach with a curious look on his face: "What class did you choose?"

"Huh?" Zach made a face like he had no idea what Shay was talking about.

"When you logged into the game, you were asked to create a character, right?"

"No…"

"What the— how is that possible?!" Shay exclaimed.

Shay opened his stats on the menu and showed it to Zach.

Name- Shay Ramsay.

Level- 1.

HP- 100.

ATK- 100.

Physical Strength- 100.

Physical DEF- 100.

AGILITY- 10.

MP- Locked (can be unlocked after reaching level 5.)

EXP- 0/1000 (to level up.)

Physique- Mortal- 0.

Class- Swordsman (can be upgraded to warrior/ Knight/ Paladin knight after reaching level 10/ 25/ 50.)

Secondary class- Locked (can be unlocked after reaching level 10.)

Guild- Not joined.

Title- No titles.

Kayden opened his stats on the menu and showed it to Zach.

Name- Kayden Russel.

Level- 1.

HP- 100.

ATK- 100.

Physical Strength- 100.

Physical DEF- 100.

AGILITY- 10.

MP- Locked (can be unlocked after reaching level 5.)

EXP- 0/1000 (to level up.)

Physique- Mortal- 0.

Class- Bandit (can be upgraded to / Hunter/ Rogue/ Assassin after reaching level 10/ 25/ 50.)

Secondary class- Locked (can be unlocked after reaching level 10.)

Guild- Not joined.

Title- No titles.

Shay and Kayden turned to Zach with a curious and shocked look on their faces and asked, "Did you seriously skip the character creation?"

"I didn't skip it. When I logged into the game, everything turned black. Almost as if I was in a… void. And then a light came, and when I opened my eyes, I was here." Zach explained.

"Open your stats and see what it shows," Kayden suggested.

Zach opened his stats and furrowed his brows.

"What does it say?" Shay asked.

Other players can't see the player's stats unless the host allows them to. Shay and Kayden couldn't see Zach's stats, and he was glad they couldn't.

Name- Zǟ̵̩͋ƈ̸͚̽ɦ̷̼̔

Level- 1.

HP- 100.

ATK- 100.

Physical Strength- 100.

Mental Strength- 333

Soul Strength- 0

Physical DEF- 100.

Mental DEF- 696

Soul DEF- 0

AGILITY- 10.

MP- Locked (can be unlocked after reaching level 5.)

EXP- 0/1000 (to level up.)

Physique- Celestial- Max.

Class- Adventurer (no class)

Secondary class- Locked (can be unlocked after reaching level 10.)

Guild- Not joined.

Title- 1) Forbidden Existence. 2) Child of Atrocity. 3) Sign of Impurity.

Zach's stats were a little different from Shay and Kayden's, with the addition of some extra stats. However, he wasn't surprised after seeing his stats. It was almost as though he had already predicted it.

"What does it say?" Shay asked again.

"It says adventurer," Zach replied.

"That means you haven't chosen any class," Shay stated.

"Which class is the best?" Zach asked with a curious look on his face.

"There is nothing like the best class. If you know what you are doing, then you can be an unbeatable player. So I think you should choose a class which you think suits you the best."

Shay's knowledge of VR games was coming in handy to Zach.

"Can I change the class later if I want to?" Zach asked, as though he was sure that he would need to change classes.

Shay nodded and uttered, "You can. When you reach levels 10, 25, and 50, the game will give you a 'class token'. You use it to either change or evolve your existing class."

"What would happen if I didn't choose any class and keep playing?" Zach asked with a curious look on his face.

"Heh!" Shay scoffed. "You will be assigned a random class when you level up. So make sure to choose a class."

Zach pondered for a while and muttered: "What should I choose?"

"Choose Mage," Kayden suggested.

"Mage is only available for the secondary class," Shay remarked. "You can unlock magic points when you reach level 5."

"I am going to choose it as my secondary class, by the way," Shay added. "Then I will become a Knight mage."

Kayden opened his menu while uttering, "If I recall correctly, I read that there are also some hidden classes that can be unlocked if the player has potential."

"While you are at it, can you see if there is anything about the floor system?" Shay asked.

There was too much information about the game, and they had only read the basics so far.

"Floors?" Zach pondered with a puzzled and confused look on his face.

"Some games call them floors, while some call them worlds," Shay stated. "It's like a different world where you eventually ascend to when you get strong enough."

"Found it!" Kayden babbled. "But… they are called 'realms' in this game."

"Ooo~ That's a nice catch."

Kayden closed his menu and said, "Now, let's go to the town and get ourselves some weapons."

"Yeah."

Zach, Kayden, and Shay found themselves in Gods' impact with no weapon or equipment. They were heading to the town to get some equipment and receive quests, so they could finally start playing the game.

"It's a bummer that the game didn't give us any default weapon or equipment," Kayden sighed with a groan.

"Some games give them, and some don't. They do it to make the game more realistic, although I think it's a nuisance."

"Imagine getting attacked by a monster when we have no weapons," Zach uttered with a scoff and glanced at Shay and Kayden to see their reaction. And it was exactly as he had predicted.

"Don't raise flags!" Kayden yelled.

"Well, even if that happens, we will respawn at the nearest safe zone," Shay shrugged.

That would have happened if they were in an ordinary VR game. But if they died in Gods' impact, they died in real life too.

Shay and Kayden were still thinking of their situation as a mistake by the store worker. Zach, however, was starting to believe in it.

Even if three days passed in the real world, they still wouldn't be able to log out.

Even if their body were removed from the VR capsule, they would still be in the game.

Even if there was a power outage in the real world, nothing would change in the game.

They didn't know that it wasn't their consciousness in the game. It was their soul— which was connected to their body in the real world.

Eating in the game would give nutrients to their real body. Sleeping in the game would give rest to their brain. Leveling up in the game would power up their real body.

They were stuck in a game where they had to deal with their daily struggles, quests, and monsters. They had to eat to stay alive. They had to sleep to rest. They had to grow strong to level up. And most importantly, they had to survive to live.

****

Total players in the game- 43,941.

===

Author's note- The Total player count will increase as more people log into the VR games. Also, the player counts from one chapter to another are the time passed between and in the chapters.