1 Inmortuae
The year is 2126 AD, where neon lights flickered like dying stars and the polluted air clung to your lungs like a curse, 24 year old Moriya Kome fought to survive in the toxic belly of District 7 of New Tokyo.
She was just another cog in the unforgiving machinery of this world.
Moriya worked in the heart of the beast, within the cold, sterile white walls of Yagamatsu Banking Corp.
Her title, 'low-level accountant,' seemed like a cruel joke, for there was nothing low-level about the pills she popped with everyday.
Mental Performance Boosters, they called them Pebees for short. Little blue pills that jolted her tired mind into a frenetic dance, making numbers come alive on her holoscreen. And then there were the hormone blockers too, a daily ritual to suppress the whispers of her body's rebellion.
In this world, even biology was an inconvenience, a distraction.
But Moriya wasn't here by choice. None of them were.
The relentless demands of Yagamatsu Banking Corp were unyielding. Eighty-hour workweeks were the bare minimum, not an option. There was no labor union, creating a union will make you a terrorist in every corner of the world.
If you couldn't meet their demands, they'd seize your bank account without a second thought, seize not freeze. Leaving you destitute in an unforgiving world. The bank will also plummet your credit score to depths so abysmal that even the gutters wouldn't welcome you.
Moriya Kome, like so many others, was just trying to survive in this nightmarish world.
A sudden flash on Moriya's holoscreen drew her attention away from the relentless spreadsheet. A message notification from an online friend on Miscord blinked insistently.
She adjusted her glasses, her weary eyes focused on the message, and for a brief moment.
It was her friend Kusanag1, the one she'd met in the far corners of the virtual realm, someone she'd never met in person but who had become a lifeline in the darkness.
"12 hour countdown," the message read. "Yggdrasil will be released tonight. The hype is everywhere."
Moriya's heart quickened as she read those words. Yggdrasil, the name whispered in the virtual realms and across the crumbling streets of her dystopian reality. A DMMO-RPG, a game that promised to transport players to a world of fantasy and wonder, a world where the shackles of their daily existence could be cast aside.
"Did you pre-order? If you don't, you have to wait until next week to access it" Kusanag1 warned.
"Of course I did" Moriya replied.
She was a fan of fantasy games, of worlds where dragons roared and magic thrived. But her grueling work schedule had left her with no time for the beta test, no chance to explore this new frontier.
She had her maximum of seven vacation days per year, a meager respite in the relentless grind.
She knew the risks. Taking even a single day off work was frowned upon, a sign of weakness, a step closer to the abyss.
But Moriya was tired.
In that moment, she made a choice. She would use those precious vacation days, all seven of them, to dive into Yggdrasil and lose herself in a world of magic and adventure.
With her heart still racing, Moriya rushed home as soon as her workday ended. Her modest, dimly lit apartment, a stark contrast to the sterile coldness of her office, was her sanctuary. She locked the door behind her, shutting out the world.
In the privacy of her home, she booted the Ybox XXIV clutched in her bedside table, a sleek, futuristic device that can be plugged directly into her nape port. It was the key to experiencing the wonders of Virtual Reality.
With a sense of anticipation that bordered on desperation, she connected with the device. The sensation was odd but familiar, a tingling at the base of her skull as the Ybox established a direct link with her neural interface. Her vision blurred briefly before reassembling itself again.
And there it was, the DMMO-RPG Yggdrasil, stretching out before her in all its breathtaking splendor. She found herself in the midst of a cinematic intro, where epic landscapes rolled by like vivid dreams.
Towering castles reached for the heavens, and sprawling forests whispered secrets untold. Dragons soared through cerulean skies, their roars shaking the very ground.
As the intro concluded, she was transported to the game's main menu. A hauntingly beautiful fantasy melody filled her ears as she navigated the options. She could almost feel the promise of adventure in the air.
Without hesitation, Moriya began to create her character.
You see, she did her research before the game.
She had done her homework, listening to countless dev diaries and updates about the game's mechanics. She knew exactly what she wanted. She chose to play as a heteromorph, a bold decision that carried both risk and reward.
In Yggdrasil, playing as a heteromorph meant that humanoid players might hunt her down for the experience and loot she could provide. It was a challenging path, but one with the potential for great power. With each level gained, she would earn valuable stat points that could be used to enhance her avatar.
She chose to be an undead. A heteromorphic race.
A Wamphyri to be specific.
A humanoid bat, featuring an upright bipedal body with elongated, webbed wing-arms, a bat-like head with large slanted expressive eyes and pronounced ears, and a brown fur- or feather-covered body.
These beings possess the ability to glide through the air, navigate with echolocation, and excel in low-light conditions thanks to their racial skill [Dark Vision].
In addition, playing in this character will give her two skills:
[Intimidation Roar]. It gives her a 30% chance to scare off high level enemies and a 60% chance on lower level enemies.
[Berserk]. For 2.5 seconds, she gets a 7% temporary boost in damage.
Moriya's fingers danced over the holographic character customization interface, shaping her monster avatar to her liking.
"Uwa.. It looks creepy"
She chose the name "Valaine," a name that had always resonated with her in her fantasy games she played in the past.
When she was satisfied with her creation, she hit "Start." The transition was seamless, as if she had been born into this new existence. The weight of her real-world troubles lifted, if only for a moment.
Moriya, now Valaine spawned in a dimly lit cave, her eyes adjusting to the darkness thanks to [Dark Vision] one of her racial skills. She scans her surroundings and spot a low-level skeleton, devoid of flesh, emitting a red light from it's sockets, and its rusty sword dragging along the floor in the eerie silence.
[Skeleton Lvl. 1]
"An enemy already? I just entered the game!"
But it wouldn't hurt her to attack it. It will be a good test to see how strong her character is now. Without hesitation, she leap into action, attacking the skeleton with her claws and teeth. She threw her whole body and sunk her fangs into the creature's bony marrow, breaking it's left shoulder. The skeleton recoils in pain, swinging its rusty sword at her.
She duck underneath the lunge, landing on the floor and avoiding the swing by a close margin. She bit down on the skeleton's leg, tearing off the creature's leg, and sending it tumbling to the ground.
Unsheathing her claws again, she leap one more time and plunged her claws deep into the skeleton's chest, rending through its fragile ribcage, dealing fatal damage. The skeleton crumbles to the floor not even given enough time to counter attack as soon it was knocked down, it is now dead.
[Gold x 3]
Vanishing into a sprinkles of 1s and 0s. The skeleton dropped a few gold but it took the rusty sword with it.
Damn.
"That was fairly easy, I bet I could take more of them"
She saw a flash in her UI. [XP gained!]. She was rewarded with a fair amount of xp that filled the xp bar into half. With such a rewarding event, she looked for more skeletons to fight.
She examined her surroundings, scanning the nearby corners for any other skeletons lurking in the dark. Suddenly, she heard a faint rattling sound somewhere in the distance, followed by glowing red dot towards her in her UI map. She raised her guard, bracing herself for the coming attack.
[Skeleton Lvl. 2]
Out from the shadows steps a slightly higher-level skeleton, its red eyes burning with hatred and its rusty sword dragging along the floor, and fully equipped with chain-mail armour. It growls, snarling at her face down. This is a challenge.
Valaine launched herself at the skeleton screaming like a gremlin for roleplay purposes, throwing all her weight into the attack.
The skeleton tries to resist the brunt of her attack by shifting its weight back, but by shifting back with heavy armour along with the weight of a gremlin, it caused a domino effect to unbalance itself, forcing it to stagger backwards. As it stumbles, its rusty sword clatters to the floor, just a few feet away from her.
She quickly reach down and grab the rusty sword, using the momentum from the previous strike to propel herself backwards by doing an unnecessary backflip.
Before the skeleton can regain its balance, She plunges the rusty blade deep into its torso, piercing through its decaying chain-mail armour and tearing into its ribs.
With a final, painful cry, the skeleton vanishes to the floor, its body exploding into sparkles of data in agony as she extracts the rusty sword.
[Rusty Sword (Low Tier)]
[Gold x 3]
This time the sword did not disappear. And it seems to deal more damage than her claws, she will definitely use this.
[XP gained!] [Level up! 1 -> 2]
She let out a victorious, bloodthirst-fueled growl, the sound echoing throughout the dark cave. It's a reminder to all other skeletons: This gremlin is not to be trifled with.
Valaine took a moment to check her health bar, seeing that she came out of the battle with minor scratches and bruises. Its mostly for visual purposes and her HP did not drop one bit. She noticed an exclamation mark icon hovering over her profile. As she opened it, it showed her current stats.
By leveling up she can upgrade her Wamphyri racial level and gain 9 more stat points. Currently she has no job level and has no plans to do so until she maxed out her base race. She has a gut feeling that maxing out her base race is a priority.
Valaine upgraded her base race and she has now 9 more points to allocate on her stats. She decided to invest every single of it on Agility, now making her more agile. There will be no way to get these points back, unless her character dies.
"Speed is the essence of action" she said as she closed the status window.
Valaine made that up to gaslight herself that she made the right choice.
She then check to see what loot she had obtained from the fight. Summoning her inventory, she sees a handful of gold coins and a rusty sword she won earlier. She also inherited a tattered leather scroll with a maroon seal. Valaine decided to open it and see what secrets it contains.
She carefully opened the tattered leather scroll, being careful not to damage it. A single, rhyming sentence scrawled across it in messy handwriting. It reads:
"If you seek power beyond this life, seek the ancient crypt tonight."
Her UI flashed a small golden marker in her map, it's waypoint pointing north. It shows the coordinates of the supposed crypt. Her in-game quest journal also updated with a 4 hour timer. She guessed it's probably a time sensitive quest.
"My first quest! But I have to leave this cave first…"
Valaine knows that in order to obtain this power, she must seek the ancient crypt to the north, by looking at the map. With the directions in hand, she realize that she must leave this cave first. With renewed focus, she heads toward the exit, determined to find the secret buried among the ancient crypt.
As she heads toward the exit, she saw five flashing red dots rapidly approaching at her marker on the map, the air grows cold and heavy. she turn, and to her horror, she saw a group of five skeletons stalking towards she through the darkness. She quickly prepared herself for another fight, baring her claws and snarling at the approaching horde.
Valaine counts five skeletons swiftly approaching. They seem to be identical than the previous one. With their clattering bones and swords, they look determined to do battle with her.
One of them closer to her than the rest raises its sword, ready to strike.
She quickly bring up her rusty sword, blocking the downward strike from one of the skeletons. While it is momentarily startled by her parry, the others keep up their relentless approach. she swipe back with her freehand claw, scoring a deep slash along one of their ribs. It shudders slightly before raising its sword again, ready to strike back.
With the other four skeletons barreling relentlessly towards her, she decided to continue attacking, rather than defending herself. she slashed again with her claws, cutting into it, this time leaving a remarkable slash across its chest. It shudders and stumbles, taken aback by the sudden strike, exploding into sparkles of data.
The other four skeletons are nearly upon she now, raising their swords in unison.
As she parry the blows from the advancing skeletons, she notice a glimmer in the corner of her eye. she quickly turn to see two abandoned torches resting against the wall, their flames burning bright.
The undead are weak to fire. It's a mechanic in every fantasy game she played.
She realized her opportunity, knowing that even a dim light would give her an edge against the undead creatures, who despise the very touch of fire. Without wasting any time, she rush to grab the torches by putting one in her inventory and holding one in her freehand. Instantly, the skeletons' eyes glow white with fear, pulling back from the powerful light.
"Let there be light" Valaine said calmly.
She throw the torches on the ground near the skeletons, and the flames quickly spread across the floor. The skeletons' eyes glow white with fear as they retreat, screeching in pain as they are burned by the flames. With their retreat, she have a momentary opportunity to make a counterattack.
She throws her rusty sword like a makeshift spear, the blade arcing through the air as it speeds towards one of the skeletons. The skeleton's eyes glow white with fear as it sees the sword hurtling towards it. It is too slow to react, and the sword strikes true, piercing through its chest and leaving a gaping wound in its armor. The skeleton shudders, its body crumpling to the ground as it dies.
"Three left"
She quickly recovers her rusty sword and turn towards the remaining skeletons, who now seem more cautious about approaching Valaine.
She quickly pulled her last torch from her inventory and swung it, launching the flame towards the skeletons. The torch lands on the ground near the creatures, sending a burst of flame towards them. They shirk away from the fire, their teeth clenched and their eyes glowing white with fear. With their fear and hesitation, she have a moment to take advantage.
With the remaining skeletons weakened by their burns, she decide to take them on head-on. she raise her rusty sword and advance towards them, her eyes glowing with a steely resolve. They advance towards she as well, determined not to back down from a fight.
As she meet each other halfway, the skeleton's swords clash against her rusted blade, the sparks of combat illuminating the darkness. She growls, meeting the enemy with her own ferocity, trading attack and counterattack in a flash of metal.
[Intimidation Roar]!
She summons her inner ferocity (or in this case mentally pressing the first row column one hotbox), letting out a bloodthirst-fueled growl and charging forward.
A bold text highlighted in purple saying "[Scared]" hovered above the skeletons.
The skeletons stunned, their eyes widening in fear as she come at them. She used this moment of surprise to slash at one of their arms, leaving a deep gash in its armor.
It screams in pain and recoils, trying to gather its wits and defend itself. The other skeletons are momentarily stunned by her rampage, giving her a chance to strike again.
[Berserk]!
Valaine continues her onslaught, her fury burning strong. she quickly strike out at another skeleton, slashing a deep mark across its chest. Before it can recover, she strike again, leaving a gash along its marrows. It screams in pain, desperately defending itself as she tear its armor to shreds like she was hungry for food.
The other skeletons watch in fear, their blades trembling in an attempt to block her relentless attacks. With her overwhelming force, she continue her assault, felling the remaining skeletons one by one.
As the last skeleton collapses to the ground, its armor ripped and its body covered in gashes, she stand victorious. She look around the cave, taking in the silence that comes after the fight. her blood pumps with adrenaline, her heart racing from the conflict.
As the battle ended, the loot and cumulative xp from the foes Valaine vanquished finally registered after combat.
[Rusty Sword (Low Tier) x 2]
[XP gained!] [Level up! 2 -> 5]
[Gold x 15]
"Yipeee" Valaine exclaimed in joy.
The ambush was worth the trouble. She doubts that she will survive another ambush looking at her stamina bar.
Gaining three more levels, she decided to invest it all in her base race, upgrading Wamphyri to level 5. As such, it gave her a whopping 27 stat points to spend. Playing in a heteromorph has its perks.
This time however, Valaine decided to invest it somewhere else besides Agility.
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HP: 2 -> 10
MP: 0
PHYATK: 3 -> 13
PHYDEF: 1 -> 5
MAGATK: 0
MAGDEF: 0 -> 5
AGT: 12
RES: 0
SPC: 0
TOTAL: 45
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Allocating more to damage will give herself an easier time killing enemies. Her last battle took quite a while and had to resort to throwing torches at them to create distance and melt a good chunk of their HP to finish the them faster before they circle her and attack her in all angles.
Having magic would definitely help a lot in fights, but with the downside of waiting six hours to replenish the mana bar. She tried allocating points to magic attack, but the game gave a notification pop-up that she doesn't have the necessary requirements to use magic…. yet.
"What a bummer" She remarked her disappointment.
It could change in the future as she levels up further.
Furthermore, Valaine doesn't bother much on her defensive stats as she is confident on her dodging skills. But it wouldn't hurt her to dump some points on them just in case.
She has yet to encounter a player and the cave appears empty, she know that her next challenge awaits she outside: the ancient crypt to the north.
It is safe to go outside now since it is currently night time in the game. If it was daytime, her character would burst in flames.
With renewed focus, she head towards the exit.
As Valaine reached the exit, she saw that there is a deep ravine blocking the path, its floor strewn with rocks and debris. With a thoughtful look, she wondered if she can utilize her bat wings as a Wamphyri to glide.
With a swift motion, she rose her wings in position and soar over the ravine, soaring gracefully into the air, the cold wind swaying her brown fur.
Her feet touched the ground once again.
No new enemies appear as she made her way towards the exit of the cave. There is an eerie silence, the air still and stagnant after the fight. The moonlight streams through the exit, its bright shine creating sharp shadows in the darkness.
With determined steps, she head towards the exit, feeling the urge to leave this desolate place and head towards the ancient crypt in the hills.
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Name: Valaine
| Level 5 |
Race: Undead
Racial level:
Wamphyri (5)
Job level:
N/A
HP: 10
MP: 0
PHYATK: 13
PHYDEF: 5
MAGATK: 0
MAGDEF: 5
AGT: 12
RES: 0
SPC: 0
TOTAL: 45
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