Elysium

[-ting-]

'Seven fucking years'

[Good Morning Elysium! We're coming in fresh with the latest raid reports! Don't burn your toast, tips on how to make the best out of your dungeon rations.-]

"Seven fucking years, Margaret. Let's hope we can get a power spike after the 6th re-awakening." Said a black haired teen. Chester was now 23 years old, but his appearance was locked and could only be altered with items from the cash shop. Items no longer available after Exodus.

"We can only hope C-daddy, a lot of people have come to term with living here and just gave up on the climb." A girl with strawberry blonde hair replied while sidestepping a kick from the now annoyed teen. "Chester, or Cheetah. Stop calling me that. I can't believe that you get stuck with your nickname for life, they shouldn't allow kids to have that kind of power over their future." His name was Chen Wang, but ever since he moved to America he asked to be called Chester.

Chester walked in the direction of a massive open temple, it looked like a Greek pantheon, and in the center of the temple was a platform that looked to be made out of light. Today he was getting his 6th re-awakening.

In Brave Quest Online, after the calibration and character creation, you could choose your class, once chosen you had to stay with that class unless you bought a reclass ticket from the cash shop, went over level 100, or reached the level cap of your current class.

As he made his way to the platform he started to reminisce of his journey so far. A string of memories from people he had not seen since he logged in and got stuck in this hell. His first class was a healer. A smile formed in his face.

When he was little, being the youngest out of four, he got stuck playing the odd class out in games for the sake of balance. He hated it at first, and it wasn't until he played with some classmates during his time in high-school that he grew to enjoy it.

The countless games he played with those he used to consider friends soured his mood. Back then he used to relish and act like a psychopath because he believed healers to be in control of who lived and died in the party.

That changed when the game became real. If anything now only those aiming to clear the game respected healers. Being able to heal your teammates' mangled body just meant that they could take the hit again. The realistic pain felt during the game just made it easier for people to make the decision of giving up. Many of those who stayed preferred to die and respawn rather than keep getting healed and taking damage.

Out of the 4 billion players when the anniversary disaster occurred, only 2 million kept challenging the Tower of Trials. Even Chester's friends gave up on the climb. Only Margaret stuck around...

Each floor had a different limit of players allowed to challenge simultaneously as well as a different clear condition. It had taken them 7 years to make it to the 347th floor.

Most elite players, like Chester, had re-awakened multiple times. Once you reached the max level of your respective class you would stop earning experience, including skill mastery. It was then found that in the temple of Elysium you could reset your level or choose another class and you would keep the stats and the skills you had reached 100% mastery in.

Standing in the white platform he relaxed, the calibration system in this game was centered around the way you breathe and what Chester could only describe as being aware of how the system moved within your body and how much you could sense and follow with all of your focus.

The better you followed the system coursing through your body, the more information regarding your class you could remember. Doing well during the re-awakening process would save time in raising the mastery proficiency.

Some skills could only be obtained by perfectly recreating the path it took around your body. The person who discovered it chose to repeat the Berserker class five times in a row and in the last calibration he said the way to get a legendary skill was to overcome the system and impose your own calibration.

Chester fixed his breathing and prepared to try something he wasn't sure if it had been tried before. And then it happened.

A dark red spot started to corrupt the white glow and the very virtual space. In less than a second it enveloped Chester and dissolved. Only Margaret, who was looking at Chester from far away, noticed the change.

On the white platform, a completely different person from the one standing there a second ago let out a heart-rending scream, and then passed out.