Chapter 1 – I don’t want to be a Manager!

After the blinding light receded. I open my eyes to see if anything went wrong since it is such a bizarre phenomenon. The experience was kind of scary. Maybe it was a glitch or a maintenance update patch. I do not remember seeing any news of a maintenance patch being scheduled today, so it could not be that unless it was an emergency maintenance.

Looking around the room of my goldsmithing workshop while feeling dazed and confused. I realize there is an anomaly about the room but I can not put my finger on it right now. Suddenly a message window popped up telling me:

Congratulations Dasas you have been promoted as the second administrator for the world of Anahita. The first administrator quit, so you are the only active administrator able to manage the world. Will you like an introductory tutorial pertaining to your management duties?YesRemind me later

I notice there is no option for [No] so I pressed [Remind me later] since I’m still trying to get a grasp on my situation. Management duties? What the hell does it mean? I remember back to when I declined the promotion to shift manager at my part time job WuDonalds, because I did not want the extra responsibility.

Maybe TriangleSoft wants me to be a GM(Game Master) since I dedicated so many years to their game, but it does not make much sense. However, no way I want to help people fix glitches, and listen to people complain. I loathe customer service. It is why I prefer to be the cook and work in the back at my job instead of dealing with customers in front.

Wait a second. The world supposed to be called Arlenia not Anahi or whatever and I almost missed that detail because they both start with an “A.” So what is going on? For starters, I’ll check my in-game browser to check online the company’s website to see what is up and get a fix on my situation.

I notice the icon on my game screen for my in-game browser is greyed out. I start to become nervous as I scroll down my options list looking for the Help Desk icon to contact a GM. I notice the icon for Help Desk is greyed out as well.

Now I’m getting extremely worried. I go for my log out button and notice that it is greyed out like the others. I start to get scared at my situation and imagining the worst. The thought of one of the anime series I have watched years ago where people were stuck in the VR game came to me. When they died in-game it also means they died in reality.

The main character of that anime was also a solo player and is oddly similar to my situation. I try to calm down in order to better deal with the situation happening right now.

I should try teleporting to the lizard demi-human village where my game avatar was born and started out in. I want to try and contact other players since my Friendlist icon for contacting in-game friends is also greyed out.

I realize for whatever reason I am unable to use the teleport option to my starter point. This means I have to manually travel there. It should not be too far since my personal zone is situated near the village, since that is where I did the quest to unlock the zone. Only the areas surrounding the village are usable for it.

I notice I am still holding onto my god class staff Khatvanga that I completed moments ago before crap hit the fan. I decide to put the staff into my avatar’s storage box. The staff is my main weapon now and I do not want to leave it around my workshop. I start moving towards the stairs leading to the third floor then I notice how the walls and furniture have a more realistic look to them.

Makes me think they probably upgraded the game engine to improve the graphics. Allow the players to live more comfortably in this world if it has become a death game prison. I try to shrug off my fears and proceed down the stairs. I reach the third floor where all the bedrooms are located.

As I made way towards the steps leading to the second floor I notice one of my NPC companions. I created them to have a full self-served party for soloing game content. The first NPC I meet since the incident is the tank of my personal party Saber the paladin. I did a self-depreciating chuckle.

I have created five NPC companions the max number allowed, since a party can only have six people in it. I named all my five NPCs after servant classes from an anime I have watched years ago. The anime was about seven magicians each summoning a servant who were once heroes, and they all try killing each other in a war.

Looking back I feel pretty embarrassed giving names to my NPC companions taken from an anime series. Not like it matters anyway, since I just suck at making up names and memorizing them. Best to have names that are easy to recall in my case. Back to my NPC companion Saber and taking a good look, for she portrays an ethereal beauty. She stands at 182cm tall with blonde hair and her racial settings designated as a high elf.

Saber wears shining silver colored armor while holding her sword Excalibur and shield Aegis. They are mythic class weapons. They are hard to obtain weapons but not as much as god class, since it is the very top. Mythic class weapons are just a tier below god class, so it is still very powerful in its own right.

They are weapons of myths after all, so it makes sense for them to be very powerful. Saber being the first NPC I created. I went and gotten her the best weapons and equipment. It does help a lot since she is the tank of the party.

With the enhanced graphics from the incident Saber looks so much more lifelike that it resembles reality. Making her visage even more enchanting. She looks like a beautiful model aside from the long pointy ears the symbol of being an elf.

I ignore her for now and continue towards the stairs leading to the second floor. Then that is when the most stunning event occurred since the weird changes began. The NPC Saber actually looked at me and spoke the words “Will you need assistance master?”

I start to have feelings of shock and then disbelief, because she did not talk through the message window like usual. She instead spoke with an actual voice and even her mouth moved. Even in my state of shock, for I still notice how beautiful her voice sounded. A sad fate for being a healthy male. It did help dampen my erratic emotions somewhat.

I said “Saber?” then Saber once again spoke with her actual voice and repeated the question if I needed her help. Now I’m thinking did the new game engine get upgraded so NPC’s AI can speak via voices? Usually only players are able to use voice to communicate, since NPC AI were only capable of simple commands. They suppose to talk with message boxes only.

Did the NPCs become sentient? This is totally like an anime but that can not be, for this is reality for god sake. At least that is what I keep telling myself. So many strange things keep happening at once. I will just go with the flow for now and try to figure it all out.

I tell Saber that she can accompany me. I am going to travel to the lizard demi-human village in hopes of obtaining some information. She says “affirmative master” and start to follow directly behind me. We proceed to leave my mansion. I am curious about my other four NPC companions, but they should be in their bedrooms on the third floor. I will check on them later after I get things sorted out.

Saber and I came to the first floor and then proceeded towards the front double doors of the mansion entrance, so we can start walking down the mountain to reach the village. What wait outside of my mansion is not the usual view of the barren lands with sparse shrubs as I am used to seeing.

Instead a different view is before us and it consisted of a large forest surrounding my mountain. In the distance I can see what appears to be a small town or village of some kind. It does not resemble the village that supposed to be there.

A cold chill start running up my spine when I looked up at the sky. There are three moons up in the sky instead of a single large moon, which suppose to exist in the world of Arlenia. I decide to cancel my trip to the lizard village. I doubt it exists anymore and I tell Saber we are to head back inside the mansion.

Saber and I then head up to the second floor that I call the throne room, since it is how I decorated with custom furniture to appear as. A beautiful red carpet leading to an elevated large golden chair with bright red seat padding. The chair has a dragon motif on the backrest and dragon sculptures on the handle rests.

Truly a throne worthy of a dragon king. I like to fantasize being one sometimes out of boredom. Taking a seat on my golden throne as I cross my legs. Looking down upon Saber as she stands on the middle of the red carpet in front of me and she looks up at me.

I stare at Saber’s pretty green eyes and notice how her golden blond hair gives off a shine when light hits it. At that moment all I can say is “What the hell is going on?”