Chapter 04- Is This A Tutorial?! (Part 1)

Chapter 04- Is This A Tutorial?! (Part 1)

"Get your Ogma device and let's start. I am eager to see what this new world has in hold for us." Rena exclaimed excitedly as she stood up and walked to the table to get her device

The Ogma device was basically a pair of glasses that wrap around the head of the user and control his brain to make it fall into a sleeping state. That's when all the magic happens and the user becomes fully operating with his brain online. What makes Paradise Online special in the sea of other full-dive games is the realism.

This game was so realistic that it could be considered reality. The company behind this game which was called Ogma Corp was able to somehow pull off something that was years ahead of any other competition.

Now, everyone was about to see that world with their own eyes.

Reo picked up his Ogma device too and put it on his head before laying on the bed next to Rena.

She looked at him and then at the timer.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Then, the two tapped on a button on the side of the Ogma. Immediately, a string of numbers assaulted their vision before everything went black.

[Ogma Device Activated…]

[Scanning User Information…]

[Scanned Successfully!]

[Assimilating Data…]

[1… 2… 3]

[Assimaltion Succeeded!]

[Logging up…]

A string of blue-colored notifications appeared in Reo's vision. It all seemed to be a process that was needed before entering the game. The most amazing thing is that all of this didn't require any prior downloading of any form. A game of such a caliber must require an astronomically strong device to run smoothly so it was amazing how this pair of glasses was capable of doing all of that.

The last notification finally disappeared and the scenery changed. From darkness to a bright world in less than a second. Acht found himself in the middle of a sky-world where only clouds existed.

There was no sign of any land and he was basically floating in the air. He looked down with a wide smile. The feeling was simply amazing.

'Damn, technology is amazing.' He thought to himself.

As he was immersed in this world and its impossible realism, a small light attracted his gaze from afar. The light was very far but it seemed to be getting bigger and bigger by the second. It didn't take long before it was a few meters away from Reo. Then, the light exploded into particles, revealing someone from inside it.

The person who appeared was a small human-like creature with two small wings just like a fairy from fantasy. Except, this creature was expressionless and lacked any human emotions. It was basically just like a machine.

"Welcome to Paradise Online, player. I am your assigned assistant for the character customization."

Reo nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"We will start with your name first. Please choose the user name you want other players to see."

Then, a rectangular-shaped box appeared in front of him with a keyboard under it."

Reo thought for a moment before choosing. He wanted to find a cool yet also original name that no other person will choose. Suddenly, his mind came up with a good name and he immediately tried it.

"Raven." He muttered.

Luckily, no one else chose the same name and it was accepted as the rectangular box disappeared.

"Next, please choose your race. Please be aware that races could be changed at a later date if certain requirements were met." The fairy said.

Then, a big list appeared in front of him filled with all kinds of races that anyone could find in a fantasy world. Orcs, goblins, elves, half-elves, humans, giants, and even straight-up normal animals and fantasy beasts could be found there.

'This game truly gives full freedom for the player to choose what they want to be or what they want to do.'

However, as much as Reo wanted to experiment and try all kinds of other races, he didn't want to risk ending up with a considerable disadvantage that could've been easily avoided. So, he went with the most default option which was a human.

"Good, your character customization is completed."

"Wait… That's it. Can't I change my appearance?"

"Paradise Online wants to keep this world in touch with the real world as much as possible. Changing the appearance and/or gender of the player could destroy that link between these two different worlds."

"I see…"

The fairy then flew closer to Reo and said.

"You will be now sent to the beginning area where the tutorial will start. Everything will be explained when the tutorial is about to start. Good luck, player."

Then, the fairy touched his forehead with its finger.

Immediately, light engulfed Reo and his body started moving without his control. After that…

*SWISH*

"Woah!!"

His body blasted down like a meteor, cutting through the vast, seemingly endless sky at the speed of sound.

He left the cloudy sky and started approaching the ground beneath him.

"Wow!!! This is amazing!!" He exclaimed.

The journey down was quick as his body reached the ground and landed swiftly. He didn't feel any pain from the landing even though he was traveling at an incredible speed.

"Fuh, I kinda like that. That's an original way of sending someone to the starting point." He muttered as he stood up and inspected his surroundings.

He found himself in what seemed to be a big field covered with greenery from all kinds of plants except for trees. It was quite vast and also very beautiful as it gave it out this feeling of comfort and peace with the mere act of standing there.

However, there was nothing else that seemed worthy of attention around here except for a group of people that were scattered around him in different places. They all had the same excited face as they looked around and touched the grass as if it was made out of diamonds.

'It seems I'm not the first one to come here.' He thought as he walked up to a random player and asked.

"Do you know what we should do now?"

The player turned around and shook his head.

"No idea. I just came here a few minutes ago." He replied.

"I see…" Reo pondered for a moment before he walked away and sat down waiting for anything to happen.

For the next 2 minutes, people kept landing in the middle of the field. At first, they weren't many but quickly they reached 100 people.

'Where is Rena?' Reo thought to himself.

When the last person came down, something happened. A weird, almost incomprehensible feeling welled up inside each and every player there at the same exact moment. Reo was no different from the masses.

A few moments after that, a notification popped-up in everyone's retina. It was similar to the ones they saw before so they didn't feel surprised.

[Welcome, Players to Paradise Online. It's our honor to see you all try our game and we hope that you like it. Now, I assume you are all wondering 'What's the tutorial? When are we going to get out of here and explore the vast world of Paradise Online?]

The message was clearly not AI-generated and the one who sent it was most likely one of the creators of the game or at least someone who worked on it.

Reo read every word carefully as he thought that the tutorial could've already started and this was nothing but a test.

After a few seconds of silence, another notification appeared.

[Well, the answer is simple. You need to first complete all the quests designed for the tutorial and then get assessed before you can finally leave.]

'Assessed? What does he mean by that?'

It seemed everyone had the same train of thought and one of them asked loudly.

"What assessing are you talking about?"

A few silent seconds passed before a reply came.

[I mean that each one of you will have all his accomplishments and actions in this tutorial calculated and then rewards are given accordingly. We don't want anyone to try and leech off of other players so we made this system to erase all unnecessary troublemakers.]

The last sentence made Reo frown slightly as it sounded way too fishy. Especially the verb he chose.

'Erase? Does he mean this will change the attitude of all players toward the game and make them more active?''

He couldn't hold his curiosity and could only ask.

"What do you mean erase?"

Everyone looked at Reo for a moment confusedly but some of them nodded their heads.

[It's really simple. What I meant by that is that by the end of the tutorial, not everyone will be going to try Paradise Online.]

"What?!"

Most of the players couldn't hold themselves from shouting in shock. What kind of nonsense is this?!

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Author here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to support the book in any form. I will be very happy and also keep pumping chapters out. Have a good day :).