(1) There Are Things That Mere Eyes Cannot See

May 12, 2010. Wednesday, 9:37 AM, Hemptonburg City…

How great of a day it was.

The sun isn't too hot but ice cream is still a good choice for today's weather, the place is amazing, and the overall feel is very peaceful.

I mean, towering buildings, smoothly paved cement sidewalks, delicious meals and their scents tickling one's appetite from inside the restaurants, the cars aren't belching black smoke, nor is there traffic.

In this busy city of peace and joyful atmosphere, a man wearing a gray shirt with the words "Life is a game, you just have to play it right." written on it, dark blue shorts, and rubber sandals was just having a nice stroll. He has shiny black hair with eyes of the same color and a mole near his left collarbone.

This man is named Owen Ivory.

He is a hardcore gamer who just finished his senior high school. It was still summer with 2 months left until school starts once again.

Owen sipped on the straw of his orange juice pack as he walked towards the store called, "Xtreme Gaming Central" to buy a new game so that he could play some games and enjoy his day.

He pushed open the black door, pulling the string attached to it, ringing a bell.

*Ding!*

The receptionist on the table named Rocky woke up from the sound. He was sleeping on his arms until Owen came in.

"Boss I wasn't sleeping!" Startled from his slumber, he immediately wiped his face that was numb after sleeping on his arm for so long.

Rocky straightened himself and looked at the customer. When he saw who it was, he immediately calmed down and returned to his lazy posture. "Oh Owen, it was just you."

Owen sighed to himself at the sight of his friend sleeping on the job.

Rocky is a tall, thin and lanky man who wore a red bonnet and a green, sleeveless top with a white shirt under it. He wore jeans and red sneakers. He has long brown hair and unkempt facial hair.

Owen leaned his back on the table and kicked his legs up to sit. "So, any game recommendations for me? I've been grinding a lot lately.. Also, no more of those anime RPGs. Make sure the game isn't too grindy as well."

Rocky raised his eyebrows and lips and grabbed something under the counter and gave it to Owen. "Here you go, this baby is a godly game. You have got to try it man."

The two of them have been friends for a decade now. It all started from a simple exchange of videogames when they were still small to a brotherly bond of hardcore gaming with a side of some anime and gacha gameplay.

Owen took the game and saw that it was called, "Unguarded Sheath."

The cover had a samurai clad in black armor with a mask covering his lower face, only showing his sharp, piercing eyes. He was also holding his sword upright with both hands as he stared at the camera, faint images of mountains and bamboo were shown behind him. Overall, not a bad game from Owen's perspective.

"How good is it?" Owen turned his head to Rocky as he flipped the game's case to read what was behind.

"As an employee of a super epic establishment who has access to games very early, I can totally say this game has been amazing. Hell, I've been burning hours on Unguarded Sheath, the mechanics are smooth and bosses are unique and fun." Rocky laughed as crossed his arms.

Owen shrugged and took ten dollars from his pocket and gave it to Rocky. "Alright then, I'll give it a try."

Rocky took the money and put it on the cash register. "Have fun with that. I'm already level 296, but I'm still not done with it. The game's content is insane."

"Storywise, I'll sum it up as a godlike protector of the world dying and leaving the world prone to corruption of the abyss. And your role is to kill big bosses of the abyss to prevent the corruption from spreading too fast and give time for the god's revival. Cool story eh?" Rocky added.

Owen felt that the game in his hands was now worth more than a mere ten dollars the moment he heard that.

Saying his thoughts out loud, "Damn, who's the company that made this? Fromhardware?"

"Nah bro, it's Abyssal Confinement. Sick company name am I right?" Rocky said as he leaned back on his chair.

"Also, lemme have some of that." Rocky went on to grab Owen's orange juice and removed the straw before chugging what's left of it.

"Abyssal Confinement? I played one of their games before during junior high. Sadly, they barely make games, but when they do, they're really packed with content and of course, lore." Owen didn't care about his orange juice being snagged away.

"Did someone say lore? I'm willing to geek out stuff about the story if you want." Rocky smiled as he pointed a finger gun at Owen.

Owen shook his head. "Ehhhh, I'm going to have to pass. I'm going to burn some free time playing some games, cause, you know? Two months and it's school again?"

Rocky scratched his short beard and said, "Aha, school… To be honest, as long as you remember everything relevant to lessons, you'll pass it like it's a game."

Owen smiled and spoke with a tone of sarcasm. "Well sorry I'm not a genius unlike someone here."

Rocky jokingly punched him in the arm. "That's what you get for gaming all the time ya rascal. Unlike you, I've been scoring the top for years now."

Yes, you heard that right folks.

Rocky is a consistent high scorer in his school despite his track record when it comes to gaming.

What a guy, a pro in school and gaming.

Owen scratched his head. He had to admit it, Rocky is indeed able to balance school and gaming very well, leaving him in the dust when it comes to academic studies.

But despite that, Owen revealed a cheeky smile.

"Sure, but who was the one who speedran Abyss Souls one to five without taking damage? Who was the one who beat all bosses in Primordial Ring without armor and only using a torch? And who was the one who beat Hollow Warrior in nightmare mode without dodging and speedran it to get the top time, crushing any other record in the world? And who was the one who speedran Mining And Crafting in hardcore mode in just 4 minutes? And who managed to-"

Owen began listing off his gaming accomplishments one by one.

Sure, Rocky might be the more academically brighter individual between the two of them, but Owen was the cracked gamer who spent who knows amount of time in gaming.

Rocky sighed and put his hand on Owen's face before pushing him away. "Yeah, yeah, stop yapping. Grab your game and get outta here."

"Alright dude with a massive skill issue, see you." Owen waved as he left the store.

"Mhm." Rocky nodded as he waved back.

"Hold on, did he really just call me that?"

When the door closed and Owen completely left, Rocky then realized that he didn't manage to give a comeback.

"Seriously, that guy..." Rocky shook his head as he drank the remaining orange juice. After finishing it, he threw it in the trash can that was all the way to the entrance.

He, of course, missed.

Rocky groaned and got up from the counter to grab the juice pack and returned to the counter just to attempt the throw one more time.

Meanwhile, back to Owen.

Owen went straight back home. It didn't take too long since the store was just a few blocks away.

Their house was made of gray cement with a metal roof painted red. The front door consists of two parts, a black metal mesh door and the real wooden door.

The mesh door wasn't locked, but the wooden one was. Meaning, his parents were out at the moment.

How did he know this? It was because this was one of his sister's habit of locking the door.

Owen used his key and unlocked the door. He locked it on his way in like a sane human being and went up the stairs, walking past a drawer with a picture frame of him, his two sisters and parents smiling at the camera.

He dropped his keys next to the picture frame and went on his way.

But just as he was walking to his room, he heard someone call his name.

"Owen, you home?" Jazmine, his eldest sister shouted from her room. Owen was the youngest sibling.

"Yep, I just went to grab something." Owen shook the game's case on his hand so that she could tell he was holding something by the sound of knocking of the disc on the case.

"And what's that? Lewd magazines?" Jazmine asked with a follow-up laugh.

"Oh, go throw yourself in a ditch." Owen scoffed and went inside his room.

Closing the door, he opened the case.

He took the game and inserted the disc into his computer, planning to export the game files to his PC. He has done this multiple times before, so he wasn't really worried of anything going terribly wrong.

Owen didn't wait long until he began using the software called SmartExtractor.XLY to search for the files of Unguarded Sheath.

It didn't take long, he just selected the files, pressed "Extract File." and waited for five minutes.

This was the conventional way to play cross platform games at this time, so it wasn't a strange thing for gamers to do.

After that, he began playing the game.

Cracking his knuckles, Owen said to himself out loud, "Let's see how good this game is. Let's try to finish this first session in just thirty minutes."

That was an absolute lie.

3 hours later…

Owen is already level 22, his character being the samurai. He was currently fighting a boss.

The boss was a giant white ape that only had 2% of their health left. Owen only had 45% health remaining with no heals after being constantly wrecked by the ape boss.

"C'mon, c'mon…" Owen put all his focus in the game as he dodged the boss again and again. His heart was pounding heavily, he knew that a single mistake would make all of his previous efforts in vain.

His skills didn't fail him, he defeated the boss eventually by beheading it.

Owen shouted in excitement, "Let's go!" He held his chest and breathed out. His blood was pumping so wildly that he had to take a break.

"Phew! That took forever!" Owen said despite the fight taking ten minutes. His time perception might be ruined from all this gaming.

Suddenly, the boss revived and picked up a sword despite being beheaded and oneshotted his character. Of course, Owen was unable to react since he was still celebrating away from his desktop.

Owen looked at this with a blank expression.

"Are you serious!?" He stood in his spot in disbelief. His jaw hanging down as if they were supported by loose hinges.

All of his hard work and time spent just went down the drain.

"Screw this." He sighed and turned off his computer. He wanted to take a break.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

Owen turned around and asked, "Who's there?"

"Mom and dad got pizza. You've been in your room for such a long time. Tsk tsk, now I'm totally sure you're watching something inappropriate. That explains the locked door and missing tissues." Jazmine said in a fake disappointed manner.

Owen opened the door and flicked her forehead the moment he saw her.

Jazmine wore a loose soft green shirt and maroon shorts. Because of the rising heat, this was the most comfortable for her to wear. She had long, wavy black hair, brown eyes and a mole on the left side of her neck.

She had a smug and teasing feel to her face whenever she smiled with her eyes closed lazily. But overall, she looked quite mature.

"Ow." Jazmine rubbed her forehead. "I probably deserve that."

Owen left his room and stretched his arms. "What kind of pizza did they get?"

Jazmine shrugged. "Eh, I didn't ask. It's probably good though. Also knowing you, you wouldn't reject any kind of pizza. Even if it fell on the floor."

Owen snapped back at her. "What do you think of me? A dog? Last time I remembered, you're the one who resembles one the most."

Jazmine snickered with a cheeky grin. "Alright, alright, no need to be furious over a joke. We're having good pizza and I don't want your bad energy ruining the mood." She went ahead and patted him on the head.

Jazmine had to stand on her heels because Owen was taller than her. Despite being the older sibling, the height difference was significant.

The two of them stopped bickering and went to the dining room.

The room had a lot of picture frames of them in the wall and in the corner of the room were two small stools with flower vases of various floral plants that served as decorations.

On the table sat Owen's father, Gordon Ivory, his mother, Isabella Ivory and finally his other sister, Annie Ivory.

Gordon has a stylish goatee, black eyes, brownish hair and wooden framed glasses. Isabella is a tall woman with black hair, brown eyes and she has a mole near her left collarbone like Owen.

Gordon felt like a stoic and serious husband and father, and Isabella was like a kind and doting mother and wife.

They were currently eating pizza with various toppings. It smelled quite appetizing even for Owen and Jazmine who were just walking in the room.

Jazmine whistled. "Woah, what do I smell over here?" Her eyes landed on the food and it was clearly seen on her face how much she already wanted a bite.

Owen on the other hand, managed to already snag one slice for himself without Jazmine noticing.

Taking a second look, Jazmine was about to wipe her eyes clean as she said, "What the? Owen? When did you get there? I could've sworn you were just next to me."

Giving her a finger gun and a shooting motion, Owen replied with, "Never underestimate a speedrunner." He took another bite off his pizza.

"You have to lay off on some of those videogames man… Sometimes I wonder if you're still human." Jazmine sat down next to Annie and grabbed a slice for herself.

Annie wore a thin, light blue hoodie with a bunch of embroidered cursive quotes about different trivias. She also wore gray shorts and a hair tie of black beads around her left wrist.

And again, despite Jazmine being the eldest, Annie was taller, only falling behind half an inch compared to Owen and she had a more developed body than her.

Annie had long, straight black hair, black eyes and she had a faint mole on above her left collarbone. If she wanted to, she could look quite dominant for a woman. But she was the quiet type who keeps to herself.

Jazmine took a glance at her sister and at herself before pouting as she ate her slice.

She was jealous for obvious reasons.

Noticing this, Annie spoke to her. "Is there something wrong with my face?" Annie had a softer tone since she was quite meek and shy.

"Oh no no no, don't worry, I was just letting my mind wander around. Don't mind me." Jazmine waved her hand and reassured her with a smile.

"Ah, that's fine." Annie then continued eating her food.

Owen looked at his father Gordon at the same time Gordon looked at Owen.

As men, they had the natural telepathic link telling each other what they wanted to say without a single word spoken.

Now you might be asking, does Owen have this link with Rocky? Obviously he does. And it's even stronger since those two are practically inseparable.

It's no magic, but the pure understanding between two individual men.

"Hahahahaha!" Owen and Gordon both laughed.

Jazmine went to their mother and asked, "They're using their 'telepathy' again?"

Isabella chuckled and said, "Don't mind the two of them. It's just men being men."

Gordon then began to lighten up the mood. "So Owen, when are you going to bring a girl to our house? You've been single for a long time."

Isabella perked her ears up. She wasn't letting go of this kind of information.

Owen responded nonchalantly. "I have to run my MeTube channel. Although I only have 612k subscribers, I've been able to help you guys out with the financial stuff."

Gordon patted Owen's shoulder. "See, that's great that you're helping us. But sometimes, you also have to focus on your life too. And you know me, I'm getting old so I need to see some assurance that my bloodline isn't going to stop with you." Gordon laughed heartily.

Isabella agreed. "Exactly what your father said. You also need to explore these kinds of relationships sweetheart."

Owen, with a calm tone said, "I mean, I do have some progress with Stephanie. She's not my girlfriend yet because she said she wants to prepare herself for stuff like these."

Stephanie was someone Owen was currently trying to date, but they weren't in an official relationship because she wants to really focus on her studies. She always has been until Owen asked her out. And having not experienced a romantic relationship before, she wasn't mentally prepared.

Owen then added, "If you want to worry about someone's relationship, you should worry about Annie's."

"Eh, me?" Annie pointed at herself cluelessly.

"Yeah, you have a lot of guys trying to ask you out. Why aren't you interested in one of them?" Owen pointed his pizza at Annie before taking one big bite.

"Umm, well you see…" Annie was fidgeting with her fingers nervously. She only did so for a moment. "They were all nice but they were… too pushy for me…" Annie scratched the side of her head.

"Ah, that explains a lot. So that means we don't have to worry then. After all, Jazmine got a boyfriend despite her shortcomings." Owen poked fun at Jazmine.

But just as he was about to laugh, he heard snapping sounds from Jazmine's fist.

"And which…. shortcomings are those, brother?" Jazmine said with a peculiar smile reminiscent of an ancient demon.

"Attitude." Owen had to pick an answer that wouldn't end up getting him killed.

Jazmine's temper cooled down a lot. But she still had to lash out the remaining ones.

"Alright then, how's this for an attitude?" Jazmine began clenching her fists tightly and she was ready to get up from her seat.

"I concede, I concede." Owen raised his hands with a pizza in his mouth.

Gordon laughed. "Alright you two, knock it off. Jazmine, don't beat up your siblings. That is prohibited in this household."

"And illegal." Owen chimed in.

"It's not like I was going to.." Jazmine said with a grip that could bend a metal fork. She then took another slice of pizza and chucked it on her mouth.

Gordon looked at Owen without saying anything.

"You dodged a bullet there." Said Gordon with merely his eyes.

Owen understood his look.

"Yes, yes I did."