Chapter 10

After the transition disappeared, a menu screen manifested in its place.

Mikael curiously swiped his arm to the left and watched as the menu would follow. His eye's shined with childish light.

Using his finger to point at the menu, he could scroll down or up without any lag.

"This is awesome." A big grin formed on Mikael's face as he played with the menu. As he scrolled, he noticed a few small and hollow buttons.

They were of different icons and they each had a specified drawing. His excitement and curiosity had already reached its peak so he pressed one without a second thought. He pressed on the icon that was shaped like a handbag.

The darkness evaporated and he was suddenly transported to a small shop. Peaceful music played as the lights on the ceiling shined over the entire store.

Mikael turned as he spun around, he looked at all of the cabinets and shelves surrounding him. Many of them were filled with merchandise, such as stickers and toys.

He began to explore the store. Passing by many shelves, he saw many plushies and plastic weapons. As he wandered, he arrived at the center of the store.

There, he found a large counter with only a tablet laying over it.

"What's this..?" Mikael picked up the tablet, curious to see what was on it.

It was a trailer with the promotional thumbnail of 'Stone and Hammer'. Below it, was the game's description and its download.

"I have to buy the game, still?" Mikael frowned as he tapped the download button.

Mikael pressed the screen again to confirm the purchase. He waited as he saw a loading bar hover above the screen.

Mikael lethargically waited as the download bar slowly filled. From the corner of his eye, he saw something that interested him.

He left the tablet on the table and went to investigate. After passing by a shelf, he unconsciously let loose a gasp of amazement.

A multitude of weapons were arranged within the entire row of large cabinets. Weapons from the medieval era like swords and spears were hung on display.

He stretched his hand to grab a small shield but was forcefully stopped by a materialized screen.

"$50 for a wooden shield?!" Mikael sweated as he saw that it was a price tag.

Mikael pulled away and swept his hand to a small dagger.

[ $30.00 For 'Durable Dagger', Confirm Purchase? ]

"Oh hell no!"

Mikael frighteningly backed away and bumped into a suit of armor.

[ $1,000.00 For 'Full Knight Armor', Confirm Purchase? ]

Color drained from Mikael's face as he screamed.

"Ah!! Mommy, I'm scared~!"

Mikael frantically denied the purchase and immediately started running away. But as he passed by a weapon, he subconsciously stopped.

His dry throat gulped as he suddenly felt a flame of desire in his heart. Reaching for it, a price of $120 immediately materialized in front of him.

"..." Mikael's expression became twisted after seeing its expense. He remained still in front of the display case.

He deliberated for a long time before pressing 'Confirm Purchase'.

'I'll regret this...'

The screen disappeared and the weapon was liberated for him to take.

[ Ruby Sword: One-Handed Weapon ]

Durability: 80/80

Effect: [ Mesmerize ]

Atk Dmg: +10

...

This was Mikael's first time playing a fantasy type game so he didn't know much regarding stats and damage percentile. His face was simply gushing at the mere appearance of the sword.

Grasping onto the handle, he grasped it from the cabinet and swung it lightly. It was surprisingly heavy, its weight felt around 7 pounds.

"Damn, it's heavy... But, this is a pretty good sword, right?"

A rose red after-image would follow whenever Mikael swung it. He walked back to the center as he played with it.

After a couple of minutes, the download was complete.

Mikael joyously stood up and pressed the 'Launch' icon. His vision blackened before appearing in an empty space.

Blue light would stream and vanish as it glided within this space. Mikael clicked his tongue at the cool effect.

Two screens revealed themselves in front of him. One screen displayed an old stone hammer while the other showed a black steel sword. Two words stood below them.

" 'Survival' and 'Run'." Mikael muttered.

'Run' is the most popular of the two game modes. In this mode, you are given an extensive amount of time to craft items and create weapons in order to arm yourself before the world around you falls into destruction.

The mountains and the sea of the world would quake and crumble around you. Monsters and ferocious beasts would then start to hunt you without any purpose other than to kill. To survive, you must reach the edges of the world before the world is completely destroyed.

To reach that edge, you need to be both well armed and sufficiently protected, the time you're given at the start is indispensable.

'Survival' on the other hand, isn't given a timer at all. It's more relaxed and even has a story line in which you can explore. For those who don't like the chaotic game style of 'Run', this game mode is a lot more preferred.

On some occasions, the world would also quake and destroy parts of itself but it isn't as terrifying as the ones in 'Run', most players are able to survive it.

Mikael chose not to play 'Run' and opted to try 'Survival'. His silhouette became transparent as he vanished instantly.

He appeared inside a desolate forest. Mikael looked around and saw nothing but trees and grass. A somewhat visible mountain peak could be seen a little farther away from there.

The sound of the rustling leaves were the only thing he could hear within this forested mountain.

"I'll explore for a while before checking out this egg." Mikael kept that thought in mind as he began scaling down.

After walking for a few minutes, he saw a small town through the gaps in the trees. Mikael quickened his pace and ran down without care for his stamina.

[ You are exhausted. You are unable to run until you have rested. ]

Mikael gasped as he let out heavy breaths. He was only a few hundred meters away from the small town. His chest heaved as he felt the sweat drip on his face.

"I can sweat? This feels so real."

Mikael felt appreciative of the developers of the game. He suddenly thought of sitting down to see if his stamina would fill up again.

His stamina bar filled up after a few seconds. Mikael smiled as he got up to run again.

***

As he reached the entrance of the town, he saw that it was walled off by large stone walls. Four gates were placed in different directions.

People would come in and leave as they were mounted on carriages or steeds. Mikael saw someone riding on top of a huge butterfly as it landed in front of the gate. Its large wings would cause a gust of dusty wind, creating a disturbance to the surrounding people.

"Halt!"

Just as Mikael was about to pass through the gate, he was blocked by two armored guards.

He looked at them confused and asked why they were stopping him.

"You are to pay a fee for entry."

"What. Isn't this supposed to be the beginner village, why do I have to pay?"

The guard on the left looked at him blankly and answered, "Because of the recent influx of visitors, we are unable to accommodate all who journey. You must pay a fee of 30 copper coins to pass."

"Recent influx...? Just admit that you want to make an extra bit of money, you ain't got to lie to me. I respect it."

"..."

"30 copper coins. Pay up or leave."

"Well okay, but uh, how exactly am I supposed to do that. I'm flat out broke."

"You may hunt monsters within the mountains, they occasionally drop materials and coins."

"Really? Alright, thanks."

Mikael turned around and left, the people waiting behind him quickly took his previous spot. Passing by him, he saw other people leave the town with health bars over their head, presumably being the other players' health bar.

As he walked back to the mountain. He unexpectedly saw them walk in another direction from him. He then recalled that he hadn't seen any large animals when he was inside that mountain.

"Maybe that's just the spawning area, and the hunting place is in another mountain..?"

Mikael followed after them. As he reached the mountain, he saw many people running around, chasing after the beasts inside. Everybody's' health bar filling almost everyone's vision.

They would chase after some small beasts and kill it as quickly as they could. Sometimes, multiple people would be hunting after the same beast and end up fighting against each other over it.

Mikael didn't feel like fighting with other newbies for some monster so he chose to go somewhere more secluded. As he left, he noticed some of the players take out armor and weapons from out of nowhere.

He was suddenly reminded of his storage area and decided to check.

He was disappointed as he found no money in his inventory but he found a red sword inside.

Taking it out, he held in his grasp the ruby sword he bought before.

"Sick! Now, I don't have to worry about buying a sword."

Before, Mikael was unsure of how to hunt the monsters without a weapon but then thought that he could just bludgeon the beast to death if he had no other choice.

"Alright! Let's 'humanly' kill some innocent animals." Mikael grinned and tightly grabbed the hilt of the sword.