Brave New World

ABYSS OFFICIAL DISCORD:

"Hi, guys! New substitute reaper here! Does anyone know more about the upcoming Deathly Challenger's Cup?" user Jaybird asked. "I just read about it in the forums but there's not a lot of info available…"

User SilentMild added the meme [Kurosaki Ichigo from Bleach introducing himself as a Shinigami Representative].

"They've only teased the name on the A.B.B. so far, but there's a rumor from OTAKU MAGAZINE that it'll be a tournament style event," User LilHyz responded.

"Whatever it is, it's not something a n00b should be worrying about," User Grimthorn added. "Focus on getting stronger first and get to level two… then maybe you'll become a challenge for the other 217 of us."

"For a game that now serves 10K players, 217 level twos is an extremely low number," user May1st commented.

User Jaybird added the meme [eyes-popping Bugs Bunny].

"Only 217 players are at level two?" user Jaybird asked.

"Levelling up is quite the challenge… It's not just the number of SS you absorb but the type of SS, its rarity, its composition, all of it matter when it comes to evolution," user LilHyz explained.

"[Laugh-out-loud Emoji]!" user SilentMild reacted. "No one wants a crappy evolution and that's why people are being picky about levelling up… that and it's extremely f**king hard to achieve."

"And yet there's a rumor that two players are about to break through to level three…" user Grimthorn replied.

User Grimthorn added the meme [Monk meditating in the lotus position while he's floating above the street].

"Who?" user Jaybird asked.

"Who else? [eye-roll emoji]," user Grimthorn responded.

User Ath3na has just logged in.

"Goddess of gaming wisdom in the house!" user SilentMild reacted.

"Have you guys seen the A.B.B.?" user Ath3na asked. "There's some sweet update news!"

"We know about the Deathly Challenger's Cup, goddess," user SilentMild replied.

"No, I'm talking about the new system features!" user Ath3na wrote.

User Ath2na added the links: https://www.abyssbulletinboard.com/news/update/COVEN and https://www.abyssbulletinboard.com/news/update/PROFESSIONS

User SilentMild added the meme [Shiba Inu with its mouth wide open meme].

"Covens = guilds, right?!" user LylHyz asked. "We can finally form groups larger than the current ten-party limit!"

"I just finished reading professions too," user Ath3na wrote. "It looks like we can finally learn a craft and make our own items!"

"It says launching soon… can't wait!" user Jaybird wrote.

"LOL, play the game first, n00bie," user May1st replied.

---

The feeling of logging into the Abyss felt to Jaybird like he was plunging headfirst into a freezing pool and then coming out the other side of it from the bottom.

It was very disorienting, and as this was only his second time experiencing this phenomenon, the vertigo that struck his brain nearly caused him to hurl his lunch onto the cobblestones below.

"Wish I could play around with the sensory settings a bit…" Jaybird wondered aloud as he wiped his mouth with the back of his sun-tanned hand. "This feels way too real for VR."

Once his initial discomfort was gone, Jaybird raised his eyes to the wooden signboard by the right side of the road while a smile slowly grew on his lips.

WELCOME TO ADVENTOUR, THE TOWN OF BEGINNINGS

He thought it was an apt name for a town that welcomed new players to this incredible world Leonardo Dante built for everyone who could find it, and the thought of exploring it birthed a warm fuzzy feeling inside him.

"The call to adventure is strong and I'm here to answer it!" Jaybird stated loudly and proudly.

"Sure you will, tubby," a passing blonde male player teased.

His friend, a spritely-looking teenage girl with green highlights in her hair and honest-to-god gossamer wings on her back, laughed at his joke.

Jaybird was so caught up by this brave new world he'd just entered that he hadn't even noticed the dozen or so players hanging around the town's front gate. He noticed them now though because they were all laughing at his expense.

The teenager felt the heat rise on his cheeks but he shrugged off the embarrassment seeking to overcome his emotions because he didn't want the depression he constantly battled back in reality to surface now. The Abyss was his chance at being something more than the butt of everyone's jokes — that's what he hoped for and so that's what he chose to believe.

Jaybird rushed into the town gate while doing his best to ignore the mocking looks and mean barbs sent his way by the players who reminded him of the bullies who hounded him in school.

"This isn't high school," he whispered to himself. "It's a call to adventure."

Besides, it's not like he wanted to be chubby in-game like he was in real life, but the Abyss didn't have a cosmetic option for player avatars, he reasoned in his head. No one knew why, but you came into the game looking exactly like you did in reality. At least until you evolved.

Of course, none of the players knew that their spiritual bodies in the Abyss mirrored who they were in life. That fact was known only to the two game designers who'd tricked them into coming to this realm.

Speaking of game designers, one of them, the Game Master himself, was actually observing Jaybird at this very moment from the shadows of the gate's guardhouse entrance.

Jaybird hadn't noticed him, and so he continued into town while being delightfully unaware he was being tailed through the crowded streets of Adventour — and the streets were indeed very crowded now with both players and NPCs.

A month had passed since Ath3na's arrival, and just as Morgana predicted, the secret of the Abyss didn't stay secret for long. There were now over ten thousand active players in the game, and with them came a whole host of issues that Leo and his team were just barely managing to patch up.

Luckily for Leo, The Abyss was still only available for early access to users who solved the Easter egg, and so the millions of interested gamers who watched Ath3na's, Don Coyote's and other influencers streams were locked out until they too could solve Dante's final riddle.

In fact, Otaku Magazine, GameSpotter, and other well-known game sites had already written extensively about the bizarre way this interesting new game could be accessed. And although some of them new the secret already, they couldn't spread the word either for the curse Leo had Morgana place into the Easter egg after Ath3na had divulged its secret to hundreds now kept those who knew the truth from spreading the word to the uninitiated.

In Leo's words, "Only the worthy shall find the grail…" as he imagined the Abyss was quickly becoming the illusive Holy Grail of the gaming world.

But Jaybird knew none of the woes that troubled the Game Master who dogged him through the town's main thoroughfare. He was too preoccupied with exploring Adventour's many attractions which helped him feel much better than he did back at the entrance to town.

Eventually, Jaybird found himself staring up at a signboard that read, MASAMUNE'S ARMAMENTS, and below that were the words, Smithing weapons and armor since the late 1200's.

"Maybe I should check it out," Jaybird wondered aloud.

He glanced down at the rusted iron rod strapped to the white sash tied to his waist. It certainly looked like it could break after one or two swings.

"Yeah, I should definitely check it out," he said while his fingers scratched at the top of his curly blonde hair. "But do I even have money to trade?"

Jaybird glanced down at the black bag slung across his shoulders.

It was the abyssalweave bag of holding given to all players, which according to the forums could hold roughly five-hundred pounds worth of stuff.

He opened its flap, and then pulled out the item he imagined in his mind's eye, the two complimentary low-grade soul stones given to all new players so they wouldn't have as hard a time as Ath3na's harrowing first day.

"Is this enough?" Jaybird wondered. Then he shrugged. "I won't know until I ask."

Jaybird hopped over to the front door. As he opened it, his face was blasted by intense hot air that blew back his ear-length, curly blonde hair, and it only served to excite him. Eagerly, he walked into the shop and discovered he'd just interrupted a situation that was the very definition of weird.

Two men could be found next to the central furnace at the back of the interior. One of them, the tall, and thin fellow with extremely pale skin was looking down at an armored man who was kneeling on the floor in what Jaybird knew was the Japanese Dogeza.

His abrupt entrance forced both men turned to look at him. One had narrow, slightly slanted eyes while the other had big round, scarlet eyes that glowed with a soft inner light.

"Um, I can come back," Jaybird said hesitantly.

He took a step back, but that was all he could manage to do as the red-eyed man had extraordinarily bridge the gap between them in a moment's breath and shut the door behind Jaybird.

"How fortunate, a customer we have," the man said. "Settle our dispute, perhaps you can."

The red-eyed man was smiling down at Jaybird, and as close as he was, Jaybird finally noticed the two sharp fangs dangling down his upper lip. Above him, his NPC tag read, [Masamune, vampyre smith of legend].

Jaybird gulped. "Um, h-how can I help?"