Round One (1)

I remember when Phantom Fighters was released. It was a crazy day. First, the company behind it, Thunderstruck, came out of nowhere with the Prism, a new kind of "console," though I'd argue it's similar to a headset, that is capable of rendering these crazy environments that you can interact with. It was that day that I got my hands on a Prism, and it came preinstalled with Phantom Fighters on it. In fact, it's the only game that will run on the Prism. Then again, there really aren't any other games that anyone plays anymore. I played my first match in my room, right after I set up the game. There wasn't a tutorial, but there was a brief overview that read:

"TRIAL BY COMBAT. YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO," and immediately dropped me into a match. No choosing my loadout, nothing. A deep voice calls out, "FIGHT" and I look across the virtual arena and see my opponent. We're both clad in armor and are wielding a sword. Based off his body language, he seems pretty confused, too. I take a moment to take in my environment, and I find myself in awe of how the prism has transformed my room into a huge, broken down facility of some kind. The walls are rusting and there are vines creeping down from the ceiling. Flora lines the ground as sunlight comes in through the roof. This map has come to be dubbed by the playerbase as 'the facility,' which isn't very creative, but memorable nonetheless.

As I'm captivated by the environment, my opponent wastes no time in closing the distance between us. He swings with a horizontal slash and I'm just barely able to block it in time with my own sword, and I'm pushed backwards. I gasp, caught off-guard and attempt to send the tip of my blade into his stomach. He parries, knocking my sword back, leaving my body unguarded. He prepares an overhead strike but I manage to land a kick on him, knocking him back a bit, and his slash misses my head, instead hitting the foot I kicked him with. My health bar, somehow always just on my peripheral, grows larger for a moment and flashes as it decreases. A red symbol also appears below it, with a red droplet Icon. This Icon, I can only assume, means that I'm currently afflicted with a status effect of some kind-bleeding. I look down at my leg and the red stain on my armor corroborates this. There's no pain, but a red side effect at the edge of my vision tells me I've taken damage. Although his strike missed, my adversary is emboldened with confidence, and charges forward at me again. Reacting quickly I step to the side and jab his back with the butt of my hilt, in a move that will come to be known as a pommel by veterans of this game. He falls forward, unable to contain his momentum, and I swing horizontally at his back. His health bar halves, and I can see that he's also now afflicted by bleeding, however his bleed icon has the number two at the bottom left, which I now know means that means the bleed damage he's taking is increased twofold. Taking advantage of his unenviable position, I swing down at him, but he rolls to the side at the last moment, my blade only grazing him. He quickly recovers back to his feet, but in the time it took him to stand up, I was able to advance forward enough that he had only moments to block my blade. Thinking quickly, I deliver a punch to his gut, which deals minimal damage, of course, due to the armor, however it's enough to put him off-guard and knock his hand wielding the blade out of the way. Wasting no time, I take this opportunity to slash him across the chest, bloodying my blade further. His health bar drops to a sliver, and he falls to his knees. I waste no time in delivering the final blow with a horizontal slash across the neck, and the fight ends.

I'm met with darkness. The facility falls away, as does my adversary's body. I look down at my leg, and it's now completely healed. The heat of the battle, however, still lingers in my chest. Adrenaline surges through my veins. I couldn't believe how real that fight felt. I mean, I've played video games in the past, but nothing quite as blood-pumping as this. I cold feel that this game would put all others to shame. There is truly nothing like the feel of cold steel in your hands, and I couldn't get enough. After a moment passes, I'm met with a screen as my room replaces the darkness.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Read the message, "YOU ARE THE VICTOR. CLAIM YOUR PRIZE."

My prize, as it were, was a choice. I clicked on the icon labeled "CLAIM" and I was met with a virtual environment, later dubbed as "the dojo," again, by the fans. At my dojo, there now stood a weapon rack. The bloodied sword I had used in the last battle now sits on the rack in front of me, as well as three outlines of weapons. Their shapes were that of a staff, a greatsword, and a weapon that I didn't know the name of at the time. It was an interesting sight, it appeared to be a small scythe attached to a chain. I put my hand over the outline and a message popped up in front of me. "YOU HAVE CHOSEN: KUSARIGAMA. PLEASE CONFIRM" I withdraw my hand from the outline and the message disappears. It would appear I infer that I must only get to choose one of the three weapons as my prize, so I take a moment to think about which one I should choose.

As I study the outlines of the three weapons, I think about what kind of player I want to be. Obviously, the goal is to be the best in the world, but I also have to think about what I want to be known for. If I attain the goal of best in the world, then everyone will look to me as someone to follow and study from, naturally. Therefore, I want to build up a sort of... "persona" I suppose. I want to be known for something specific, like flashy plays, or maybe using weapons in unconventional ways. I shrug to myself as I think on this. It doesn't really matter, first I should worry about actually being the best. 

The Chain-scythe thing definitely looks way too hard to master, so I'm able to narrow it down between the greatsword and the staff. On the one hand, I muse, Swords clearly have the ability to inflict the bleed debuff, which I doubt the Staff can inflict, due to it's obvious lack of a blade, however on the other hand, picking the greatsword makes me feel like I won't stand out as much, considering the starting weapon is clearly the shortsword, and the message telling me to claim my reward implies that only the victors of the trial get access to this selection, and that the losers would be forced to continue on with their shortswords. Therefore, the greatsword is less interesting by comparison, as it's just another sword variant.

Furthermore, I have to assume that the staff is the least popular choice of the three, because the greatsword is probably what most players find natural to use, and the Kusarigama is by far the most interesting of the choices available, leaving the Staff to be underutilized. And if less people pick the staff, then less people overall will fight against players using the staff, meaning I can catch more people off-guard with it. I reach forward, now with certainty, and a message pops up. "YOU HAVE CHOSEN: BO STAFF. PLEASE CONFIRM"