Chapter 2: Otherworld

I am Izumi Yuu, seventeen years of age, and living in a decent house in Tokyo.

I'm a gamer and I believed I was born for that very purpose.

Oh, and if you're asking if I have a girlfriend, well, I do not have one.

I'm single but ready to mingle should the universes conspire to give me someone.

"Yo!"

"Morning, Kisuke."

This one here is my close friend, Ukatagawa Kisuke.

He's easygoing and have lot of complexities sometimes.

With his fair complexion skin and sweet smiles, he's pretty popular among the girls.

Every boys in the class envy him and I'm also one of them.

"Good morning, Kaori-san"

"Morning too, Yuu-kun"

She's Kushino Kaori, sixteen years old and the current class president.

A smart and hardworking girl.

Her deep red eyes and blonde hair, combined with her charming smile, she had captured the hearts of many of us boys.

Even girls idolized her and no one envies her as far as I know.

Moreover, she's my long-time crush. We've been classmates ever since pre-school.

"You should have been there, Yuu. You've just missed the fun."

"I need to buff my brain a little just for today, you know. There's nothing I could do." I shrug.

Kisuke was actually referring to a certain event in the game we played, Neferia Online.

A popular full-dive VRMMORPG that was first released a year ago.

Kisuke and I are playing it since the first day it was released.

He and I are part of the same guild along with our friends.

The game is the coolest thing out there. It's a kind of virtual reality simulation. Hence, the term VRMMORPG.

The most exciting part though is that it's full-dive which allows us to explore the world of Neferia as if we are physically living in there.

The  so called Hyper Augmentation Device, the gear used to play the game, made it possible.

I don't actually know how it exactly works but based on the manual provided, it can tap on the user's mind and senses triggering various "feels" based on what is being programmed to it by the game interface to which players manipulates, thus, allowing for a full-dive experience within the game.

Every month, various events are being introduced by the devs into the game. This is a way for the them to keep Neferia Online engaging and exciting.

I just missed that event Kisuke was talking about.

It's an event about defeating a world boss in the game that appear only once every three months.

Defeating the boss would make it drop super rare items that cannot even be bought in-game.

Since I'm pay-to-win player, I can just buy anything in-game but not those super rare items dropped by world boss events.

I have no choice though since I have to study for the exam which we will be taking today.

"Hey, Kisuke."

"What is it?"

"How about 500 yen?"

"Can't make it higher?"

"1000 yen, take it or leave it."

"Deal"

"Yes! I'll give it later,then."

"Sure"

Now that I made a deal, I can now get my hands on those precious items.

I just can't wait for it.

A while later, the sound of door being opened echoed throughout the entire classroom.

Their teacher have arrived with the test papers.

The exam will now commence it's first day.

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"I'm beat. What's with those questions? I barely understood them."

"Isn't it because you didn't study?"

"What? But I did. They intentionally put those hard questions so that we won't ace the exam."

"Excuses again."

"I swear. You should believe me sometimes.

"Right, right, whatever it is. Here it is by the way"

As the hour hand hits 4 at the clock, the first day of the exam is over.

In fact I'm actually exhausted now. Before I departed school, I handed over my promised 1000 yen to Kisuke in exchange for the super rare items he got during the world boss events.

As I arrived at our gate, I met a woman in semi-formal clothing ready to go out of the house.

"Yuu, I'll have to go now. I will leave the rest to you."

She's my mom. Her work requires her to leave the house this late. It's because she works as a manager of a store. After my father died, my mom has been very busy lately. Well, she's always like that but not as busy as she is right now. She has been working very hard just to provide both of our needs. I'm the only child but my mom said she will strive to give me anything I want. I appreciate her but I'm content with my life to be honest.

"Leave the house to me. Be safe, mom."

She gave me kiss on my cheek as she bid goodbye.

As for me, I'll rather spend my time playing my favorite game.

My first day of exams is over. I'm beat but now I can relax.

I'm not really the type of person who can ace an exam but I'm pretty sure my grades are fine. I have nothing to worry about.

"I'll have to message first Kisuke for what we agreed upon."

I put off my shoes and bag in the living room.

After that, I went to grab some food from the fridge and went into my room.

I took a hold of my Hyper Augmentation Device and put it in my head.

"Trigger Link"

A sound can be heard into my ear as bands of light flashed into my view in a brightly manner.

Soon, the surroundings have changed. Walls and tall pillars made of stones are revealed before my eyes.

Banners hanging in the wall, expensive-looking furnitures, huge statues, and a red carpet can be seen from above here.

The whole place is circular in structural design with high tables and throne-looking chairs.

And I sit in one of those currently.

This place is the Central Room of our guild base.

Our guild base is a kind of mansion that looks medieval.

"Yo, Meerus."

A strange-looking individual approach me as I stride to leave the room.

He's clad in dark cloak covering his entire body.

His face is covered with hood and nothing can be seen except purple floating orbs of light that act as his eyes. In his back is a huge scythe that glows bloody red aura emanating violence and extreme power.

"You're as early as ever, Devil44."

Obviously, this one in front of me is Kisuke's avatar.

He named himself as Devil44.

As for me, I'm Meerus Valentine in this world.

As one of our rules in guild, we must address each other with our in-game names and are prohibited to use our real names.

We are your usual role-playing folks that's why we added those odd rules.

"I already sent them to you. Just check on your mail tab."

"Aight, got them. Thanks."

"So what we should do now? The others are still busy. They said they would catch up later."

"I'd like to kill some dragons to farm arcinite metals. But, I'm too tired right now."

"Is that so? You should take a rest, you know. I'll see you later then."

"Sure. I'll just take a nap. Thanks again."

We both returned to the Central room and bid him goodbye.

I'll join them later. But for now, I have to take a little rest.

When I was about to log out, a glitch on my interface happened.

Suddenly, I felt a sting in my head and my mind became hazy.

I felt like I'm about to lose consciousness and before I could remove the gear, glitches in my game interface has become even more wilder.

Then, it followed a flash of light and everything went dark.

                         ◇◇◇◇◇

"As I thought, this is not my real body. It's my game avatar."

I confirmed this as I looked into my reflection from this running water of the river.

It's been almost 3 days now after I woke up to this strange world.

For the past few days after my first encounter with a huge beast, I had to confirm everything about my avatar body.  It seems I can use all the magic spells and abilities I had acquired in the game. Furthermore, aside from these items I equipped, I also had all the other items with me in my inventory before the last time I logged out in the game.

All I need to do is just to make a mental command to open [Inventory] to gain access of it.

Though opening [Inventory] works in the same principle as activating magic spells and abilities.

This means that [Inventory] can be considered a spell on its own despite it being the usual feature of any games  which actually doesn't need to be learned compared to magic spells.

Unfortunately, what I only had with me are my original equipments, magic items, potions, scrolls, and those super rare items I got from Kisuke.

Speaking of items, I'm glad I also had my main weapon.

But it seems I can handle myself pretty much even without it.

Still, it would be one of my last resorts, just in case.

Other than those, I still have a few dozens of rubies and four million gold coins left.

Rubies are rare in-game currency in Neferia Online which also goes the same with gold coins except that it's easy to obtain.

"I doubt I have any use of those now that I'm in this strange world." I sighed.

Moreover, I did not have any food items in my [Inventory].

I don't think I can survive in the wilderness without food.

Though, it is strange that I do not feel hungry nor any thirst at all.

It's been 3 days now.

"Does it have something to do with my race and class?"

When I started playing Neferia Online, I chose Angel as my race and wizard as class.

Angels are benevolent beings in myths. They are considered as spiritual life-forms.

"Is that the reason why I don't feel hungry nor thirsty? Because I'm a spirit or something? But, I can clearly touch my body and that huge beast I fought last time saw me."

It doesn't make sense at all.

I don't know if there's really angels in this world.

But knowing this world is magical, it's not impossible.

"Regardless, I have to be careful of my identity and not to give away information. I must survive this somehow until I find a way to return back."

Yuu had already made his resolve and starts making a plan inside his mind.

He doesn't have any experience in camping or surviving in wilderness.

But because of his powers and items, he had felt confidence he could overcome this alone.

All he had to do is how to get out of the forest.

There should be humans out there. Yuu thought.

It would not make sense if there are no humans in this world.

If he can meet them, he would make sure to approach them and ask for their help to increase his chances of survival. Moreover, he is curious if they look exactly like in his world.

If not, he will try his best not to be rude.

If they happen to be the same, then, that would be good.

His appearance is pretty much human despite his avatar's race so it shouldn't be a problem.

"Before I forget, I do looked weird in these clothing. Besides, these are my most powerful equipments. I should find something that doesn't stand out."

Yuu activated [Inventory] with ease. Unfortunately, he cannot find any spare equipments.

He had actually stored all his other equipments within their guild base so

that he will not lose or drop them in case he were to die in a PVP match with other players or being killed whenever there's an expedition.

Suddenly, something came into his mind.

"Activate 3rd level-magic: Change Dress"

Almost immediately, his body glowed so bright.

It only lasted for a moment but Yuu's appearance didn't actually change except for his clothing.

He is now wearing a maroon clothing underneath a green cloak.

His beloved original equipments were stored at his [Inventory] space.

This is the effect of third-level magic [Change Dress].

It is a utility spell that immediately swaps the user's equipments with another equipment of inferior quality.

These equipments he's wearing are on par with unique-grade equipments in Neferia.

They are not as powerful as black-star equipments, the highest quality and the best in the game.

Those have their own enchantments unique to them.

That is why, there are only a hundred of them in the game.

And most of them can only be obtained through events and cash shop.

Stats from artifact-grade equipments, the second best quality and the highest quality that free-to-play players could acquire without spending money, are still far superior compared to these.

These wouldn't be able to provide protection if someone stronger than Yuu would try to kill him.

"But still, these would keep me under the radar. Besides, I could always swap into my real equipments using the spell should it's necessary.", he affirms to himself.

It was now time for Yuu to continue in his journey.

He had walked for miles having no knowledge on how will be able to leave the forest. He didn't expect it to this vast.

Suddenly, he stopped in his track when he sensed something not that far from where he stood.