The Ritual Reality (01.05.2020)
Fresh off the oven, this one's born of a gamer who longs for a more haptic sense of excitement. Which I guess is relatable to some extent. While titles like Soulsborne dominatrixed everyone to bittersweet ecstasy, they are still but projections viewed through a window. There's this nagging awareness sitting at the back of your head, reminding you that nothing's real. Because of this, it becomes a handicapped experience to the truly hardcore niche.
Virtual reality may very well be the answer to this longing—once perfected that is. Until then, dreams are still your best bet. Dreams never fail to grift the mind into thinking them authentic. And if you want a particular scenario, you don't have to spend a fortune into rendering matrix illusions, all you have to do is ask. I'm quite benevolent, really… well, most of the time. Case in point, I twiddled my thumbs and out came this instant classic for both parties to enjoy.
Submitted without the need for approval of lesser beings, this is the Tale of the Ritual Reality…
THE CAST:
-Huron Laruso-
Unfortunately not your preferred hot gamer chick. He's yet another male protagonist plagued by issues both real and virtual. Highly passionate about the video gaming industry, his greatest wish is to survive long enough to see titles reach the level of S.A.O. (Sore Arse Online), minus the comatose factor. It's pretty much given that he's an agoraphobic shut-in, only he's not.
-Sonia Deuckantiere'-
Huron's longtime friend and fellow gamer. She lives at the edge of their small village, on a house that always attracts commuting accidents. The school is but a short walk from their resident street, making it the perfect stop for after-school shenanigans.
-Juni Juniper-
Next door neighbor to the Larusos. They provide the main means of transportation from village to downtown, and back. Juniper can often be seen tinkering with their clan machina, which everyone calls the Rainwreckt for its ability to tank through the harshest weather conditions.
-Benzulie Vincente-
Another one of Huron's gamer friends. She's the hero's go-to partner when it comes to Ritual Reality, a game hosted by their school that features both virtual and real exploration as its core mechanic. Benzulie can be viewed as a sort of Huron Lite, who plays hard but functions just right as a member of society.
THE GISTORY:
Most schools teach you the same stuff over and over, until you realize that you've wasted more resources on them than they're actually worth. Some even role-play as a communist economy, or a throwback to a time when it was the strong's duty to manhandle the weak. There's an entire archive of success stories about people who skipped the fluff, focused on their strengths, and did just fine, proving that academia is more luxury than necessity in the grander scheme of things.
That's why it's elevating to know that at least some chose the noble path of training the youth to be adventurers, to shape developing minds for something actually productive. Because most people don't really need more than basic Math to survive, and the cyclic curriculum of one's native tongue is quite telling of a capitalist gold mine.
Valiant School Foundation was but one of the many institutions to host the phenomenal Ritual Reality, a game that lets you tackle interdimensional monsters, demons, deities, and the hoard of treasures they keep. When the worlds started to collide, it was this insightful conglomerate that posited how some nations lacked the military counterforce, and that the real power to fight back actually lie in the pure-hearted, i.e. the children. Now they oversee the youth's education on its finest form yet, combining benefits like full scholarship and solid learning into a bow-tied, pseudo-M.M.O. package.
Huron Laruso wasn't just a student of Valiant, he's also their top-tier hunter. At the time of this chronicle, he's earned so much in-game tokens that he's already eligible for real-time dig reward, something that not a lot of his colleagues could claim for themselves.
See, Ritual Reality worked like this: Portals to other dimensions were quarantined in the school grounds, where qualified students can be deployed to clear them, much like levels to a game. Because the nature of items therein was still subject for appraisal, most of them were only convertible to cash from our side of the fence. If you're top-tier, however, certain cleared items can be sent to you by way of dig sites, which were coordinates set by the GMs (game moderators) for players to claim their prize. These prizes ranged from coin, adventuring equipment, to a bunch of other random loot. The reason they go to such lengths, as opposed to direct transfer was not detailed, though it's been theorized that most magical items can only be spawned at certain locations.
One day after school ended, Huron visited his friend, Sonia, who lived near the school grounds. She had skipped an entire week of classes and was missing out on the many Ritual Reality events. Upon reaching her house, he witnessed a part of their property collapse, sending the entire neighborhood to a din; even more so when a demon shot out of the ruins, extending its carnage abroad.
Huron was quick to draw his blade and a duel ensued. As a hunter experienced in fighting off mobs, he easily overpowered the lone fiend, bringing it down for a killing blow. But then he recognized the clothes it tore through, along with the set of sea-blue eyes that belonged to her M.I.A. friend, Sonia. He made the last minute decision to stun the creature and cast a sleeping spell on it, lest he was right about his suspicions.
The surviving members of Sonia's household confirmed her state, and how she eventually transformed into the demon in question. It explained how one appeared outside the portals, furthermore, how it learned to play dress up straight out of hellscape. Huron then brought his friend to the campus for treatment, only to be informed of the various similar cases happening all over the globe. Some of the wounded hunters began to suffer high fevers, only to reemerge as a creature of the void. He was also told of a potential cure, through a paragon demon that coincidentally spawned in one of the realms. The rub was that its strength exceeded all the entities categorized by far.
Concerned with his friend and by extension, the rest of the world, Huron volunteered to join the raiding party. He was given an entire day of prep time, which he spent gathering up his old crew. His final lineup included a girl named Benzulie Vincente, who always served as his trusty lieutenant during campaigns, and one Juni Juniper, who happened to be the town's mechanic/transport administrator. Together, they picked up Huron's reward loot planted deep in the mountains, containing epic gear sets, pots, and coin to line their pockets with. By the time the vanguard gathered before the portal, the three of them were among the hunters to boast the highest C.P. (combat points).
Behind the veil, they were met by a force unlike anything they've faced before. Huron had eradicated his fair share of big bads, but as promised, this one was on an entirely different class of its own. Its mob kept reviving while it chilled atop its pyramid throne, throwing eye lasers and status-changing breath attacks. As if that wasn't enough, it also casted buffs that made the aggro ten times more punishing.
Juni Juniper drove her Rainwrekt (a machine resembling a steampunk monster truck) into the sea of opposition, killing thousands before it got overpowered down the base of the pyramid. Huron's crew, led by Benzulie then got out for crowd control, while their captain jumped up the steps to solo the trigger-happy world boss. When he reached the top, he wasted no time to unleash his strongest combo chain, stun-locking the motherfather until he could perform his overlimitbreakarte, Scionthwart (not to be confused with the powerful technique from Last Extasy VIII, Crayonart). Meanwhile, the boss monster itself, which we'll call Truetankamen for the sake of gravity, primed its most devastating A.O.E skill.
The two forces met and the resulting collision caused the screen to cut to black, skipping both credit roll and possible post-credit scene. Did Huron's raid party succeed? Or did someone go suddenly mad and kilt his teammates instead? Is there going to be a second episode? You decide.
FIN?
THE MORAL:
The takeaway here is how one should learn to find contentment in what is readily available, in this case, gaming content. There are titles out there that evoke the feels without looking remotely realistic, leaving some room for the imagination to graze in. Don't be too demanding, as there's more virtue to finding happiness in the small things. That way, you can dream instead about talking and hanging out with girls, which beats the alternative of staying virgin inside and out.
Until the next one, keep dreaming, buddy.