1 1***Life of a Nerd

7 years later

2:00 a.m.

*beep*

*be... click!*

"Hmm, 5 more minutes." I asked half dead asleep to my alarm clock as his annoying buss went off and threatened to beat me out from out of my sheet!

Silence reining supreme again, I immediately fell back into deep sleep, the depth of the void of dreamlessness welcoming me in with open arms.

*game theme music*

"Eeeerrraaaaaa..."

I bolted straight out of my bed at hearing my favorite theme song go off and swiped my phone off off the desk beside it, knocking off some action figures off and into the darkness, out of reach of both my phone light and my ability to care.

Sleep can wait! I have more important things to do now!

I look to the glaring brightness of my phone and immediately regret it as my retinas sought revenge!

"Ack! I thought I turned the brightness down before I went to bed! Why is it still so bright!!!" I choked out as the flash bomb I set off left me stunned and half blinded!!!

I sat there for full 10 seconds, waiting for my eyes to stop screaming out murder, and then turned to my phone to check the notification I got. There's only one thing I set that song for, and that's...

"BMO Lore Hunters!!!" I shouted in excitement as I saw a post on their ShroWd line (<a n ShroWd, a popular site used for communication of all kinds in this time, from texting, to calling, streaming, plus more>)!

I opened it as fast as my fingers would allow me to and read the the post like an ancient text!

"Good Morning fellow thinkers, theorists, and truth seekers. I'm Dane, and where here to start off our annual week long Lore Drop Analysis! So remember to sync with our BMO Share to keep up with us, and meet us on the Vlog to see the final analysis of the day!" (<a n BMO Share - a media site like ShroWd for in-game time sharing, texting, calling, streaming, plus more>)

'Yes, it's finally back!!!' I screamed in my head this time to make sure I didn't wake up the neighborhood.

'After a whole year, its finally time again! Oh the lore drops that are going to come this year!!!' My inner Lore Hunter is getting out of hand again, but I don't care! I've waited a year for this and I'll have fun with it.

'Ah wait. I woke myself up early to catch the first post, but now I have to wait until six and I can't go back to sleep...' a thought to myself suddenly. Yeah, I might not have thought that one through...

'Alright then! Games it is! I never got to try out Travel Dungeon 3 yet, so I'll do that for now.' I decided with vigor, making myself comfortable in my sheets once again.

And thus, 4 hours of my life whisked by without me realizing...

6:00 a.m.

"Come on! This is the last level!!! I'm just a few more hits away from beating this game again!" I said out loud despite myself as my mind was hyper focused and ready to finish the game for the third time over!

A stylus and my holo-pad (holographic notepad or HNP) lay to the side, scribbled with attacking formations I was currently testing out.

'Aha! An opening!!! I knew formation 17 wouldn't fail me!' I thought to myself, now too busy to talk subconsciously!

'Opening breached! Take thi...!!!!'

*notification music*

"*Gasp* it's 6 already?!!" I reacted immediately, throwing the game console to the side, practically jumped into my desk chair, turned on my Board (personal holographic control board or PHB), whipped out my holo-pad and stylus, and went on to The Lore Hunter ShroWd page and started the video as soon as I got on!

-Day one of the Lore Drop Analysis.-

"Welcome, thinkers, theorists, and truth seekers! On the first day of the annual Anniversary Mass Update, we checked out the first new town of Area112, and we have fond some... peculiar traces of events..." The lead speaker of the group, a 26 year old named Rob Fean started. His in-game name is Unas and he has achieved a name in the game as Phoenix Canon. He's a gunner with a shield bearer sub-class that shots fire nature attacks with a modified Arm Canon he uses as a shield! His character is a Kijin and he has blue hair with red streaks!

Though he's only 132nd in the BMO Rankings (rankings system that ranks players by level, Mastery levels, dungeon's completed, and quests done.), he's the most charismatic of them all. So they let him do the talking for most of their videos.

*tat* *tat* *tat*

The instant he started talking, I started taking notes like my life depended on them!

This is going to take a while, so instead of boring you to death with the details... I'll bore you with a different set of details and bring you up to speed.

I'm Nynn Denson, age 16. And I'm what you'd call - to put it lightly - a lore fanatic...

I love lore! It makes games more interesting, and gives you a feeling to games that you just don't get while playing without it. But my favorite types of lore are the ones that aren't obvious and told from the beginning! Cause then you can have fun making up your own story for it!

And what better game for that than the biggest game in the world and the millennium, Battle Master Online!

6:30 a.m.

"And remember. These are all theories, but that doesn't stop them from being possible! See you at 11 for the next Lore Analysis! And remember to like and subscribe so you don't miss it!" Rob signed of and the video ended, leaving me tingly with excitement!

"Ah, so the coffee shop on Meril Road in the Sequin City was connected to the Dusty Banshee like that, eh?" I sighed in wonder. (<a n Dusty Banshee - hinted in only a few places so far, the Lore has no official name for him yet.>)

'I wonder if that place was also used by the Goblin King?' I thought, ideas ready to flow like water! (<a n The Goblin King - don't worry about him for now. He'll be important later so no spoils ;P>)

My finger automatically glided to the save button to save my notes, only for a notification to pop up!

No Free Space Available. Free Space.

"Aw man, already?! This was a whole 128 yotas! I only used it for a few months!!!" I moaned in despair as I took out my memory slate and took one of the three boxes out of my closet and placed it in with the rest of the chips inside.

"This box is almost full too..." I noted with a huff. Cardboard and plastic containers have been hard to come by since they banded them 20+ years ago, but more available methods can't be trusted to keep a memory slide safe, and safer packing methods are too expensive!

I looked at my desk and saw all the slates I pulled up to refer to for the lore session and started to pack them into their respective boxes.

It was while I was doing this that I saw my alarm clock... and actually saw what time it was!!!

'*Pfft?!* Its after 6:30?! I've gotta get to work!!' Was the only thought in my mind as I dropped what I was doing and flew to the bathroom!

I dowsed myself with a good helping of Spray Shower, grabbed the first pieces of cloth my fingers could find, booked it to the kitchen for a slice of bread and an apple, and bolted to the door!

"Record, 'Mom, I'm heading out to play games with some friends!', end." I said in a hurry to my intercom, then flew out of my house!

*Recording complete*

"Hey Nynn! How're you doing on this fine morning?!" an elderly voice called to me before the cool, crisp, morning air of the outdoors has time to hit my lungs!

"Hello Mr. Rover! Sorry, can't talk right now! Running late!" I shouted near breathless at my next door neighbor.

"Still working to buy that game I see?" he asked me as I cleared my gate and ran pass his, making me stop dead in my tracks.

"*shhh!* Not so loud!" I whispered at him, "Remember that I..."

"Want keep it a secret from your mum. I know boi. My lips are sealed." he finished for me, zipping his lips with his fingers to accentuate the promise... then following it up by putting the three inner fingers on his right hand to his left shoulder while dragging his left hand along his right arm and to his chest!

"Dwarven Honor!" He shouted with pride.

'Jeeze, say it a bit louder. I don't think the town heard you yet.' I thought to myself as I my complexion turned to red!

"Okay sir, I'll trust you to that." I squeaked out and started shuffling it on.

"Alright Nynn! Fuswenger...!" He shouted, holding out his fist and looking at me expectantly. (Fuswenger - to battle!)

Stifling a sigh, I Iifted up my fist as well and drew on my best Dwarvin,

"...gon Ruunshender!" (and to glory!!!)

'Why un earth did I teach him Dwarvin?!!' I cursed myself as I ran with a category 5 blush on my face!

But even with the early embarrassment, I just couldn't help being happy... in fact, unnaturally so...

"Something good must be happening today." I thought to myself with a mental shrug, and I started running to the town square.

Time for another day in life.

ARC 1 - HUMMBLE BEGINNINGS

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