As soon as Allen arrived in his apartment, he locked his door and stood in the doorway for a few seconds. He was panting hard after running all the way here from the game shop. In his hand was plastic bag, and inside it was a game box.

He was both excited and depressed. The excitement came from the thrill of being able to play a VRMMO once again, and the depression from the knowledge that he could only last a month in this place unless he finds a way to earn money.

Hurrying to his room, he took out the contents of the plastic bag and stared at the game box’s front cover. On it was the image of a party of four people facing against a huge beast covered with shards of crystals protruding all over its skin. The four people were armed with huge swords and guns and outfits varying from simple clothings to heavy armor. At the bottom was the game title, .

Turning the box, on the back cover was a few in-game screen-shots and a short description of the game:

Welcome to the world of Hazard Frontier Online!

Join many other players as you live in a world ravaged by the after-effects of the event called , where an unknown material from outer space, , entered the world’s atmosphere through a meteor crash.

* Choose a , the last bastions of humanity, and defend it from monsters and hunt them to improve your gear

* Increase your rank and class up by collecting

* Create your own equipments and items, as well as combat skills and abilities, then trade them with other players

* Participate in player versus player, group versus group, and versus matches

* Roam through the dangerous world to discover new frontiers, set up a new , form alliances, or infiltrate another to steal their supplies and sabotage their equipments

More info can be found in the web address provided.

It was indeed quite different from the previous VRMMO that he had played. This game should belong in the post-apocalyptic genre, with the focus on hunting, crafting, and survival. Based on the description, the player must also be wary toward other players because of the infiltration feature. This type of game has a high-risk high-reward mechanic for hardcore players.

‘Suits me well.’

Allen booted up the Virtual Gear System Drive, connected it to the Internet and his laptop computer, and inserted the game disk. The installation sequence started and he followed the usual installation instructions. While waiting for the install procedures to complete, he accessed the game’s website and subscribed an account. He then went to the forums and looked up some information that might be useful. He chanced upon one thread that got his attention.

BlackPrincess: now recruiting members. Send PM for request.

JediKnight: Wer u the 1 on dat vid dat came out dis morning?

BlackPrincess: Yes :)

JediKnight: So stronk!

LuckierThanThou: i kno u! u wer also dat 1 frm d game dat juz ended, ryt? The assasin on dat 2v1k!

BlackPrincess: Secret :P

JediKnight: STROOOOOOONK!!! Leme join!

StrayCat: nya~ ur my idol nya~ i want in nya~

LuckierThanThou: ALL HAIL OP LEGEND! let me in 2!

LookingForGF: r u single?

LuckierThanThou: ^lol

Closing the Internet browser, Allen sighed. She was doing quite well even without him.

The installation was still going on, so he went out to the kitchen and boiled water. He then made coffee and ate bread to go along with it; this was his dinner. After that, he removed his clothes and took a bath.

The apartment he was staying in was small and cheap, but it had everything he needed: kitchen and dining room, bathroom, and bedroom.

He dried his body afterwards and wore a pair of shorts. The installation had completed while he was in the bath. Connecting the Virtual Gear Head Interface to the Virtual Gear System Drive, he turned the head equipment on and wore it over his head.

The Head Interface had a built-in battery while the System Drive had an Uninterrupted Power Supply and Voltage Regulator. This was so in case of a power outage or voltage fluctuations, the system won’t be turned off. In game, the player would receive a warning of the situation and be automatically logged out safely afterwards.

Even though there was an installation procedure, playing the game still requires the game disk to be played. The game disk and installed software must be a match, or else the game would fail to start. This was an anti-piracy procedure followed by all marketed virtual reality games. Pirated software were very unsafe as they may be modified and inserted with a virus that could steal the player’s information, destroy the system, or worse, harm the player’s life.

Virtual Reality have many dangers, and so hardware and software manufacturers follow a very strict set of laws and unsaid rules. Violation of any of the law had very heavy punishment, as it was the customer’s life that was at risk with that.

Lying down on the bed, Allen wriggled around on his back until he found a comfortable position. This had been his routine ever since that time where he woke up with a very sore back because he did not lie down properly and played the game for hours on end in that position.

“I wanna be… the very best!”

This was his startup voice command. It was a feature available with this hardware. It allows the user to change the startup voice command into something he or she prefers. The Virtual Gear set of products could not be lent to other people. Only the registered user could use it.

His vision darkened until he couldn’t see a thing, followed by the loss of all other senses. On his first time experiencing this, he felt extremely scared, but after getting used to it, for the him now, it was a very comfortable experience.

After the fade out, a ping! sound entered his ears followed by a small translucent window appearing in front of him. Below it was a virtual keyboard.

User Authentication

Username:____________________

Password:____________________

He extended his hands forward and a gray silhouette in the form of his hands appeared over the virtual keyboard. With practice motions, he typed in the necessary information and pressed enter.

The translucent window dissolved and was replaced by a burst of bright white light. As the white light filled his vision, beams of light of varying colors appeared and hit him. Each beam was accompanied by a unique melodious sound, and when they passed through him, the sound would change and he could feel the sensation of being touched. There was also a sweet fragrance and a strange feeling in his mouth.

This was actually a calibration procedure to ensure that the virtual sense organs worked.

Ten seconds passed, and the calibration scene disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The black scenery slowly faded into light, and Allen found himself floating above a beautiful scenery. A slow and beautiful BGM started to play.

He saw cities similar to the real world, filled with the people’s liveliness. There were also vast forests and huge mountains, beautiful lakes and oceans. There were also varying cultures among the people. They lived all over the land, spread out far and wide.

It was an era of peace and advancement.

A soft calming female voice began a narration.

Humans had used their research to improve their lives further, and also to protect nature and its natural resources. The world had truly become a beautiful one.

Suddenly the view changed into a dark night sky. The music also increased its pace, changing into a dreadful one.

But then, it came. It fell from the skies.

A meteor pierced through the starry night sky and landed in the middle of the forest. The scene fast forwarded to morning. A group of people arrived and surveyed the crash site.

It carried with it something we thought could change our lives for the better.

Buildings were built around the crash site. They took samples of the meteor inside and started researching it. They found a discovery that filled their faces with joy. It was then followed by experiments, demonstrations, and forums about a new source of energy.

It was a mistake. The discovery we considered to be the key to our dreams became the harbinger of a nightmare.

A crystal grew on a laboratory test rat’s skin. The rat rapidly changed into a hideous creature and escaped from the lab. Soon, other animals had crystals sprout from their skin, mutating them into huge monsters.

Cities were ravaged. Humans were killed. Almost nothing remained of the previous glorious civilization. The music then slowed down again, this time it was filled with a soothing tone.

But still, we held on to hope.

A group of four people were walking in a forest. They all had a variety of outfits. Their only similarities were the huge weapons they held. They were the exact same four figures on the game box’s front cover. They encountered the same beast, and fought until they defeated it. Salvaging its remains, they brought those back with them into a walled off area. The remains were then used to strengthen their equipments. Some of them implanted crystals into their body, then showed that they had become much stronger and faster.

These are the hopes of humanity. The same thing that brought this nightmare upon us is still the key to our dreams.

Join us, and return the world to its former glory.

The scene faded out and Allen found himself standing in front of an image of his self. He knew this was the character creation screen.

He didn’t change his appearance yet. He was still absorbed at the movie sequence he saw. Despite having read about the background story of the game on the Internet, seeing it with his own eyes left him with a deep emotion.

’What if that actually happened in reality, what would I do?’

Thinking about it too much would only be a waste of time since it’s only in theory, so he shook his head and focused on the task in front of him.

It was the common Character Creation for most VRMMO that does not allow gender swapping. It starts of with taking the person’s actual appearance which was stored in the System Drive. Once a year, a registered user of the Virtual Gear line of products must come to a branch store of their company and update their appearance. This way, the interfacing of the virtual body over the actual body wouldn’t cause an uncomfortable feeling.

Since he planned to surprise BlackPrincess, he made sure that his appearance was different from that of his LessHealMoreKill character. In fact, he chose to just change a little from his actual appearance.

In front of him now stood a man in his early twenties. His face was average, but his platinum deep-set eyes were truly captivating. Slightly long unkempt black hair and his slender physique made the impression that he didn’t take much good care of himself.

All in all, Allen was quite satisfied with his appearance. Of course his eyes were not platinum in real life. They were light brown. BlackPrincess doesn’t know him in person, so she wouldn’t easily figure out that it was him.

For the name, he gave it some thought and decided on something easy to remember.

AllIsDead

His full name was Allen Isaac Jodead. Taking the ‘All’, ‘Is’, and ‘dead’ and combining them resulted in this name. He had also used this name in some of his accounts before.

Typing in the name, he breathed a sigh of relief that no one had taken it yet.

Welcome to Hazard Frontier Online

Please choose a background story for your character:

Only Survivor

The Base you lived in was attacked and destroyed by the Crystal Beasts when you were young. Your parents escaped with you toward a nearby Base. By stoke of luck, a party of Crystal Soldiers from that Base found you during their routine patrol, and rescued you, but not before your parents were killed.

Child of Heroes

Your parents were both very talented Crystal Soldiers. During one of the most intense attacks of the Crystal Beasts in the Base you lived in, they stood at the front lines and defended the Base with their lives. In the end, they suffered from grave injuries and died.

Product of Science

You were the results of genetic research conducted by a group of mad scientists. Using the cells of the most talented deceased Crystal Soldiers, the scientists created a human being whose purpose was to be a Crystal Soldier. You were like a Phoenix born from the ashes.

Mysterious Person

No one knows where you came from. You just appeared in the Base one day while a Crystal Beast was attacking, and helped the defense. You’ve been living in the Base since then.

The choices were interesting and well-thought out. Allen couldn’t help but admire the developers of this game. This was the first time that he had to spend a lot of time to think over what choice he should make. For other games, he would always pick the most interesting ones or the ones that would benefit him the most in terms of bonus stats and skills.

’Maybe I should chose Only Survivor. It fits my name very well.’

He was tempted to go through with that idea, but it felt a bit boring for him. After a few more minutes of deliberation, he gave up. Closing his eyes, he performed a strange dance and sang a song no one knows about. If someone saw him, they would not believe that he was the legendary priest LessHealMoreKill.

Suddenly, he stopped singing and dancing, and extended his hand forward. Opening his eyes, his hand had landed on an option.

You have chosen to be a Mysterious Person

’That felt a little anticlimactic.’

Please chose a Base start in.

A map of a huge continent appeared. In the center of the continent were about ten dots scattered close to each other. Away from the center, the dots were more farther apart. There were nineteen dots in total. The continent was shrouded by a black cover, except for the areas around the dots. He had looked up this information on the Internet and he knew that these dots were the so called , and the visible areas around them were the explored regions. The game had only started about a month ago, and this amount of exploration seemed a bit too little in Allen’s perspective.

He planned to avoid meeting up with BlackPrincess until he knows more about the game and built up his character, so he should chose a place with few other players. Looking at the map, he saw one with almost no explored areas. It was on the Northernmost Area and very far away from the other .

’This looks perfect.’

Lesser explored areas could mean that the players who were in that were either few, weak, or both. Without hesitation, he chose that .

You have chosen .

Good luck and Godspeed.

Allen felt a dreadful premonition while reading that message.