20 Artificial World

"Engine Start!" As soon as those words left his mouth, binocular-like-thing descended upon his eyes, and soon, his vision blackened.

The darkness only lasted for a moment before Kael heard an emotionless female voice, "Welcome to the Artificial World."

Then, he found himself floating in an empty white space with nothing around him. Suddenly, a scroll appeared ahead of him and unfurled itself, revealing a form with many questions he needed to answer.

The form consists of a bunch of personal information such as what's his real name, age, address, etc. He fills in the form correctly until he stumbled upon the last questions, "Nickname"

Choosing a nickname was one of the most crucial moments for any gamer because it would be your altered identity. It can turn out to be a hideous, cliche, or cool name. This section caught Kael off guard and he immediately fell into deep thought. He didn't know whether there would be an item to change his nickname or not, later on, so he didn't dare recklessly select a name.

Pondering for about a full minute, Kael exhaled a deep sigh and proceeded to write his nickname over the section bar.

[Processing Information]

[New user detected]

[User location discovered]

[Aldebaran Continent, Turin County, Aveline city, Bintang Academy.]

[User "Battletoad" will load into the game in 5]

4

3

2

1

Instantly, lines of rainbow appeared and blinded his eyes. It lasted for a couple of seconds before Kael realized that he was standing in front of a colossal oval-shaped ancient-looking building. Despite it being only constructed of stone and concrete materials, making it look ancient and old, Kael sensed each wall was covered by an invisible layer of indestructible substance.

While he was in awe observing the Colosseum, he heard a swooshing sound and glanced over it, only to find a completely pale figure with a blurry face, hindering him from knowing its identity. Kael gives the figure a confused look before glancing at his own hand. He was startled for a moment before chuckling a little, "So, this is an artificial world, huh?"

His hands were slender and pale like a ghost. He also noticed his feet were completely white as if a bucket of white paint dropped on them. Reaching this point, Kael finally understands that perhaps, everyone is having an anonymous identity here with their body covered in fog, but not to the extent obstructing their real-life body features.

A few minutes later, many pillars of white lights begin to fall down from the sky, bringing blurry-figure one after another. The only differences Kael could pinpoint from the people were their hairs, height, and other body features. But, unless he knows that person deeply and for a long time, there was no chance for him to be aware of their identity.

On top of their heads, Kael could also see their nicknames.

[RileighOne] [TBD]

[LaylaMobile] [TBD]

[AinsOal] [TBD]

[xXxHeavenDestroyerxXx] [TBD]

[Kiritod] [TBD]

He subconsciously wanted to laugh out loud seeing their names, but upon second thought, he also discovered his name was quite weird.

Not knowing each other's identity, Kael feels the surroundings turned awkward and tense.

At this moment, one of the blurry figures suddenly raised his hand and spoke rather loudly, "Where's Reyhan? I'm Dimas!"

"Dimas? Here! Here! I'm Reyhan." Immediately, another blurry figure responded in ecstasy. However, Kael's mouth couldn't help but twitch at this scene. Not only because of the method they used. But also because he believed that his own eardrum wasn't in the wrong shape, and he clearly heard both parties spoke in the same voice, which means that players couldn't locate the person they knew based on their voice alone. This makes the whole thing about identifying someone more difficult.

After that, many people begin to apply the same method as those two and start calling their friends one by one, filling the whole area with noises.

Because Kael has grasped a little of Tanaka's personality, he didn't bother to call him and quietly sit down on the ground while waiting for the next instruction.

He waited for another couple of minutes sitting there quietly until he looked up and saw that the sky turned purple all of a sudden. Purple lightning sparks revolved around the cloudy sky, producing sizzling sounds akin to a whip being launched. Without any prior notice, two rays of purple light suddenly came piercing the ground like a photon cannon. The purple rays look ethereal and more profound than the white ray students had when they first arrive.

Both rays only lasted for a few seconds before slowly dimming and gradually revealing two slender figures. Beneath their feet, purple marks were imprinted on the ground with a faint trace of purple electrics gushing out from them.

The way they manifest themselves was so flashy that it caused an uproar among the students. It's no doubt that it looks cool in everyone's eyes. Even Kael couldn't help but gawk for a moment earlier.

Without a doubt, Kael linked their figures to the two instructors, Jerome and Alisa.

Atop of their heads, a string of numbers was being shown.

Alisa, which had a girlish attire and long hair had her character nicknamed, "WhiteFox"

Besides nickname, instead of having "TBD" like any other students, she got herself a number [7609] written in purple color, and beside her, stood a person whom Kael assumed as Instructor Jerome with a surprisingly kinda cute nickname, "GrumpyCat"

The number that is shown along with his nickname is below Alisa, [7250]

Kael didn't know what these numbers meant. But he got a hunch that the number referred to their ranking or something.

Seeing the students have gathered together, Alisa gazed at the students and started counting inwardly. After concluding the number was exactly as the people who entered the capsule. Alisa patted her dress and flipped her hair before turning to the colosseum entrance, "Chamber 1 students, follow me."

Jerome said the same thing and both of them proceeded to stride toward the Colosseum entrance, followed by the students' crowd.

They passed the entrance and were welcomed by the sight of plain desert land with four humongous statues holding a sword standing respectively on the west, east, north, and south side of the Colosseum. Kael then ascended the stairs and began to sit after seeing the two instructors occupy the vacant seats.

He waited for a couple of minutes for other students to settle themselves with the seats. Then suddenly, a similar option bar like his own system appeared directly in front of him,

[Do you wish to participate in battles?]

[Yes or No]

[60]

[59]

"If you want to engage in battles, choose yes. If you simply want to observe the battle unfold, then choose no. You guys have 60 seconds to decide on what you want to do. If you couldn't decide in time, the system will automatically assume that you didn't want to participate and choose the "No" option for you." Jerome's loud voice echoed within the seating area.

Because Kael's main goal presently is to level up as much as possible, he of course, without further ado pressed the "Yes" option.

[Please wait until all of the players are ready]

[11/60]

[19/60]

[30/60]

[41/60]

[50/60]

[58/60]

[60/60]

[Counting the votes]

[Yes: 32]

[No: 28]

[Processing the roulette]

[First Battle]

[BattleToad VS LazyGargoyle]

Hearing the announcement, Kael widened his eyes in surprise before being replaced by a solemn look. This is what he's been waiting for!