Dystopia

Seeping through the gaps of a thatched house were golden rays of sunlight.

Laying on a wooden bed was a young man, his eyes fluttered open before observing the unfamiliar wooden ceiling which greeted him.

He blinked again and sat up with a pained expression, "Ugh... where am I?" he groaned.

The room was basically empty aside from the common things you could find in a room like a desk table, chair, and a wooden staff...

"A wooden staff...?" he squinted, taking a closer look at the object.

Then, he had a flash of realization as he exclaimed, "Ah! That's right! I was playing a game back then!" he exclaimed.

It was a virtual reality game called "Dystopia."

In the next moment...

As if some kind of mechanism was triggered, a mechanical click sounded in his head before a semi-transparent black game screen was displayed in front of his eyes.

[Character Info]

[Nickname: Mirage]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 0 (10 EXP needed to level up)]

[Attributes]

[Strength: 1] [Dextrity: 1] [Wisdom: 1]

[Remarks: What the bug doing? Hurry up and farm!]

Mirage's brows twitched when he saw the snide remarks aimed at him.

He didn't let it get to him as he focused on the other things displayed in his vision instead.

Apart from his [Character Panel], there were also other small icons currently unavailable to him.

Mirage did not think much of what those hidden functions were at the moment.

He dismissed the game panel and was just about to continue examining the small room when he suddenly heard a voice beside him.

His entire body flinched and he launched a punch in the direction where the voice came from when his fist met with a soft resistance.

"Huh...?" Mirage blurted out of confusion.

He turned his head to look at the person beside him.

Mirage spotted an old man clad in white flowing robes sitting on a chair beside the bed.

His presence exuded an air of unfathomable mystery and wisdom. 

At this moment, the mysterious old man was looking at him with overly kind and sympathetic eyes that made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Mirage slightly relaxed his guard when he saw that the old man didn't have any intentions of attacking him.

He then opened his mouth and weakly asked, "W-Who might this kind sir be?"

Though the old man looked kind and benevolent, this did not make him underestimate the old man's capability at all.

After all, he could also vaguely feel some sort of unfathomable power flowing within the old man's body.

Seeing the timid Mirage talking to him while cautiously looking at him, the old man couldn't help but chuckle as he answered, "No need to be so nervous toward me, young man. But, I can't reveal my name to you right now. I'll tell you my name next time."

The old man winked at him then continued, "Don't worry, this old man doesn't have any intention to attack you, for now."

Mirage, who heard such 'amiable' words, shivered as he tried to open his mouth but didn't know what to reply to the old man. "That... I..."

He knew full well that there was no way to resist this old man if he were to really attack him.

The old man was surprised when Mirage immediately saw through his words. He laughed out loud and assured, "Haha... no worries. As long as you don't do anything stupid within the city, then you would be safe from me!"

His eyes squinted as he directed a meaningful look at Mirage.

Mirage's cheeks twitched. He despised this kind of roundabout way of talking with passion.

However, he did not dare let out a sound of disagreement at all and instead showed the old man a look of understanding as he waited for the old man's true purpose.

'Now that he finished intimidating me, he should be stating his purpose next. It's also highly possible that he would offer some sort of reward for me in exchange for doing something for him...' he thought to himself as he silently waited for the old man to speak.

When the old man saw that Mirage understood his meaning, he then opened his mouth and asked in a solemn low voice, "Young man, will you help this city from danger?"

[A quest has been generated!]

[Details: You will never know what danger lurks within a seemingly peaceful city. It's your job to find the traces of the culprits and protect the city from being destroyed. Rewards: Red Maple Staff (Epic), x150 Gold Coins. Failure Penalty: ??]

"Did you get it? If you do then hurry up and get lost. I'm already busy as is and don't have the time to accompany you." the old man said before kicking him out of the room with just a flick of his finger.

Mirage had a look of confusion on his face when he was transported out of the room by the old man all of a sudden, "???"

Meanwhile, when the old man was the only person left inside the room, he fondly looked at the youth's rapidly disappearing figure.

When he was certain that Mirage already left, the old man weakly sat on the chair and started coughing up blood, "Cough! Cough! Urgh..."

He took out a white handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood off his mouth.

"Ha... I don't have much time left, young man," he muttered before closing his eyes to rest.

***

Mirage squinted his eyes when he was suddenly met with a sudden change in brightness.

It didn't take him long to adjust to the light as he slowly opened his eyes to examine the place he was in.

It was a bustling plaza that made him feel surprised.

'Crazy! How can a game be this realistic?!' he exclaimed in his heart as he continued to survey his surroundings.

After he got tired of looking at the place, he immediately went to a bench to sit down and thought about the mysterious old man he met earlier.

'However, that crazy old man, really... how can he kick me out like this when he didn't even explain what help he and this city needs!' Mirage silently swore in his heart.

He was thinking about the problematic quest that he received when he suddenly received a notification.

Mirage then opened his game panel in a hurry thinking that it might be some sort of hint for the quest.

[You have unlocked the 'Inventory' function!]

Upon seeing this notification, Mirage's enthusiasm went down in almost an instant.

"What the hell..." he muttered.

Mirage sighed as he clicked open his inventory and took a look at what was inside.

As expected, the space inside was quite small and could only contain at least ten different items.

Though, what made him feel a bit better was that it could actually store any item inside no matter the size as long as it was not a sentient being and something that he could carry.

He  saw at the corner of his eye an item that was silently occupying a slot of his inventory.

Mirage took a closer look at the item and it turned out to be an exquisitely wrapped gift box.

"Hm... this thing must be the Beginner's Giftbox that this game gives out to the players here."

He tapped on the item silently sitting in his inventory and its name as well as its details was then revealed in front of his eyes.

[Beginner's Giftbox]

[Description: A mysterious box that contains quite a few surprises.]

Indeed. It was a gift box that was given to all newbie players for free as a reward for playing their game.

Mirage did not wait any longer and clicked the box open.

[You received a 'Beginner's Armor'!]

[You received a 'Beginner's Dagger'!]

[You received a 'Loaf of Bread'!]

[You received a 'Bottle of Water'.]

[You received 10 copper coins!]

When Mirage saw the items that he received from the box, he didn't feel that disappointed since he had no expectations, to begin with.

"Well, it's better than nothing, I guess..." he muttered before wearing the armor and weapon.

Mirage quietly fiddled with the dagger for a while before he took a look at the description of the armor and weapon.

[Beginner's Armor (Common)]

[Description: An armor made of poor-quality leather.]

[Effects: Physical Resistance +2, Magic Resistance +2]

[Beginner's Weapon (Common)]

[Description: A dagger made of low-quality iron.]

[Effects: Physical Attack +2]

[Additional Effect: A 0.1% chance to inflict 'Bleed' status on attacked enemies.]

[Bleed]

[Description: A negative status condition that decreases the HP of the affected unit by 1 per second. It also decreases the HP Recovery Rate of the affected unit by 25-50% depending on the unit's resistance. This status effect lasts for 5 seconds.]

Mirage felt that the increased stats given by the equipment weren't too shabby. He felt quite satisfied with his current equipment.

He then closed his inventory with a slight smile and started to look around the place he was transported to.

***

Time passed by in a flash and it was almost nighttime.

He had already explored most parts of the city that were accessible to him.

While Mirage was exploring the city, he asked some of the people whom he met on the way about the situation of the city.

It turned out that this city was called Maplewood City. It was located to the far south of the continent and was surrounded by thick, towering trees that protected them from any form of invasion.

However, it was also due to the said forest that their ability to move in and out of the city was heavily restricted and made it difficult to communicate with neighboring cities around them.

He just found it a pity that he could not find any information with regard to the quest that he received from the old man.

"It's too bad, but at least I also received some minor quests from the people that I talked to earlier. They're not that hard to accomplish and the rewards are not too shabby either..." he said to himself as he walked toward the exit of the city.

A few minutes later...

Mirage was already standing before the huge gates of the city. He had no idea what awaits outside the city, but he never felt this excited before.

Although the idea of exploring the unknown was terrifying in and of itself, it nevertheless was still accompanied by the excitement of discovering strange yet fascinating things.

Mirage couldn't even contain his smile as he gripped the dagger attached to his waist tightly and finally exited the city. 

Author's Note: