NOVEL FROG Chapter 9: Reality? Or Just a Game?
Inside one of the chambers in the Nexus Tower, two incubation pods unlocked simultaneously, their translucent hatches smoothly gliding open. As the misty interior cleared, Alfred found himself sitting up, his mind reeling with disbelief. His wide eyes scanned the unfamiliar surroundings, and he couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
“What the fuck! Is this real?! Holy shit!”
As the expletives echoed through the room, he felt absorbed in the growing sense of reality. Until a moment ago, he still didn’t believe that a fully immersive VR game was real. But when he opened his eyes, he was already in this strange room. His body felt hot, as if he had just emerged from a sauna. The gentle breeze from an overhead air outlet caressed his shoulders, leaving a cool sensation on his sweaty skin — it was then that he realized that he was naked. But there was also a faintly unpleasant odor, making him scrunch his nose in slight discomfort.
“Is this really the game world?” Alfred muttered in disbelief, momentarily ignoring the fact that he was butt-naked.
Nevertheless, being a collected individual and a professional gamer, Alfred was able to calm himself and check the situation he was in. Sight, smell, touch, taste, sound. All five senses were here!
After that, he took a better look at his surroundings. There was a hard, stony floor beneath his feet and purplish-black walls with blue torches around him… He touched the rough floor and noticed that sensation was so vivid… Still, the interior made it look like they were inside a medieval tower.
Suddenly, a brown-haired person shot up from the pod beside him and frantically began bombarding him with questions. “You! Who are you?! Are you an NPC? Is this some kind of overly elaborate prank?!”
“What? No, I’m Al— ZeroXScyth…”
“Oh… It’s you, Zero!” Realization dawned upon him, and he introduced himself, “My username is PleaseBugMeNot.”
“Ah, I see… Wait! Weren’t you a man in your twenties? How come you look to be fifteen or sixteen years old?”
“Huh? Now that you mentioned it… You, too, look a decade too young to be a consultant in a multinational corporation!”
Both of them exchanged puzzled glances and pointed at each other, equally bewildered by their overall situation. Then a shout coming from outside the chamber snapped them out of their daze.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me?!” It was the voice of a young man.
“Who’s there? Another player?” Alfred said quietly.
“I think so… Let’s check it out!” PleaseBugMeNot replied, eager to investigate the source of the noise.
“Wait!” Alfred intervened, taking PleaseBugMeNot’s arm, preventing him from thoughtlessly rushing outside.
“Wh-What? HEY! I’m not into men! Unhand me!” PleaseBugMeNot protested, trying to free himself from Alfred’s grasp.
“Get lost! What I was about to say is, are you sure you want to go outside naked?”
“O-Oh, yeah…” PleaseBugMeNot blushed, realizing he was still in his virtual avatar’s default appearance. “Thanks… That would have been embarrassing.”
“No problem.”
The intense reality they were in must have befuddled his friend’s mind, although two men being naked inside a room could indeed be a bit misleading in itself. So they frantically searched the room for something to cover themselves. To their relief, they discovered a huge wardrobe filled to the brim with clothes.
“Wow, look, there’s gray robes here! Like the ones used in magic schools!” PleaseBugMeNot exclaimed, grabbing one of the robes from the wardrobe and draping it over himself.
Alfred followed suit and dressed himself in accordance with the available wardrobe items, agreeing, “Exactly. It’s the game’s setting, after all.” He then tried to adjust his glasses, only realizing that his virtual body didn’t wear any. How peculiar.
Now fully clothed, the two of them pushed open the iron door and exited their chamber. Outside, they discovered that the place was even more magical than they previously imagined… The interior was reminiscent of the kind of magic towers that would be owned by great mages in novels. Not far beside them were four other chambers like the one they had just come from, and one of them had its door open.
“…I thought it was all a joke. Even now, I still can’t accept it.” PleaseBugMeNot sighed, still trying to process the surreal experience.
“I know, right? Is technology really this advanced now?”
Bizarrely, they discovered one naked youngster with a nicely shaped face, who appeared to be a player, desperately pecking the stone floor like a chicken not far from the white pool in the center of the structure. He was even tearing up all over while muttering “Oh my god! It’s all so real! It’s so real!” over and over like a maniac.
Indeed, this world was completely immersive!
To Alfred, at least, this was like a dream come true!
“Who the heck are you? An NPC?” said the player who was kissing the floor after coming to his senses.
“NPC my ass! It’s me, PleaseBugMeNot!”
“And I’m ZeroXScyth.”
“What the fuck?! I’m MikeIsHandsome1000x! Just call me Mike… Uhm, why do you both look like teenagers? Hahahaha! This is hilarious!”
“Yeah, right, laugh if you want. You’re the one who’s standing around butt naked like the day he was born.”
“I guess in the virtual world we look different from our real selves.”
“—Shoot! You’re right! Where did you guys find clothes?” Mike rapidly questioned.
Unwilling to see his online friend naked any longer, Alfred replied, “It’s from the same chamber where the pods are. Where’s yours?”
“There.” Mike pointed at the chamber that had its door open. “There’s someone else beside me there… Dunno who, though.”
They walked into the chamber, and inside, they found another naked player. But this guy wasn’t moving a muscle; he was just sitting there, deep in thought, with a mysterious look on his face. It was like he was trying to unlock the secrets of the universe, or maybe just pondering the mysteries of his nether regions. Whatever it was, it was quite a sight to behold.
“Uh, hey there,” one of them finally said, breaking the awkward silence. “You okay?”
The guy looked up. “Just contemplating life, man,” he replied with an unfathomable expression.
“Huh?”
“It’s just… are our genders set to male by default? Is there no way of creating your own character? I mean… like changing our gender…?”
“Damn! I thought he was trying to be philosophical, but he was just horny!”
“Are you sure you’re not PleaseBugMeNot since he’s the most degenerate and all among our group…”
“Hey now, don’t compare me to him! I’m a sophisticated player, not a degenerate! Besides, I’m Storm Bringer.”
“Aye, Storm! We’re best buddies, right? You know what I mean?”
“Go away. I was just asking. You must be PleaseBugMeNot, then… Guess that makes us four players, eh?” Storm counted.
“Don’t call me PleaseBugMeNot here; it’s too long. Since this is an RPG, call me by my BDO username — that was the name I registered on the official website.”
“Prominence, right? Anywho, where did you two get your fancy robes?” Storm asked, observing the neat gray robes worn by both Alfred and PleaseBugMeNot, now Prominence.
Alfred then told him about the wardrobe filled with clothes inside the chamber, and the two naked players dressed themselves up accordingly. Next, they came outside the chamber to inspect the place and to find other clues… Although, there was no other way out except for massive double doors that wouldn’t budge no matter how hard they tried.
“I wonder, where’s the last player — SuperNovaX?”
As soon as the question left Alfred’s lips, a sudden yelp echoed from one of the remaining chambers. Startled, the group turned their attention to the source of the commotion. Without warning, the iron door burst open, revealing a guy with black hair and a thin build, dressed in the same robes that they were.
“Eep! A ghost!” The guy was still yelling nonstop and only stopped when he saw the other players.
“What’s going on?” Alfred was the first to ask the question. “Are you SuperNova?”
“Th-There’s a ghost inside that room! Yeah, that’s right! Just woke up from there alone!” the newcomer replied.
“What’s that shining black mark on your wrist?” Mike pointed at SuperNova’s left wrist.
“This? That ghost appeared as soon as this thing shone! Don’t you guys have these on your left wrists as well?”
Surprised that he had missed a hint, Alfred checked his left wrist and found the same mark. What’s this for? In any case, they must have been so amazed by the immersive world that they hadn’t noticed the black bracelet-like marks on their left wrists.
“Anyway, we should get the fuck outta here before that ghost catches us!”
Just then, a small, ethereal being floated from the chamber. It appeared translucent, almost as if made of pure light and shadow, and seemed to hover above the ground as it moved with an eerie fluidity. On second glance, it had the shape of a fairy but lacked the vivid colors of a normal living being, though not to the point of being a ghostly apparition.
“How rude. I’m not a ghost!” Its sassy voice wasn’t in English but in a strange language that Alfred was somehow able to understand, strangely enough. It appeared that this was the case for the rest of the players.
“Th-That’s the ghost!” SuperNova trembled, pointing at the pale fairy.
“What ghost? You watched too many horror movies…” Alfred tried to adjust his nonexistent glasses and added, “I think it’s a hologram of a fairy?”
“Our first NPC?!”
“Wow, it looks so real!”
“You called a fairy this pretty a ghost?!” Prominence reprimanded.
“Finally,” the fairy folded her arms and fluttered her wings, “someone that can be talked to. My name is Lizbeth, and I am a gorgeous fairy!” She introduced herself with a mischievous smile. “What you see now isn’t my true form but a simplified projection of my figure.”
“Miss Fairy, what is this black mark on our wrists?” Alfred asked, showing his left wrist where the mark was.
“That’s called a ‘Shadowlink Mark,’ and it’s used to show your status. To use it, all you have to do is will a thought at it and it will activate,” the hologram fairy explained, her voice gentle yet mysterious.
The other players, except SuperNova, who had already figured this out, were curious about the marks and couldn’t wait to summon their status screens. Alfred himself followed suit, trying to replicate the process. As he concentrated, a mesmerizing blue holographic screen materialized right before his eyes.
ZeroXScyth
Power Rank: None
Elemental Affinity: ???
Status: Healthy
Strength: (5)
Agility: (5)
Vitality: (5)
Magical Power: (0)
Infused Mana (total): (0)
Before he was able to ask anything else, the fairy clapped her hands and brought the players out of their astonishment. “Alright! The headmaster has been waiting for your arrival, new acolytes, so I will save the details for later. Now, please follow me and meet him!”