Chapter 0003

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Laurie is that you? Or did someone else choose the weird ass name Leviene as a character?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Hey, you never know. The name is famous in the gaming world.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: BTW where are you?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Where are you?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Where are you?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Are you still in the arena with the cut scene?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: kk. I’ll wait. Send me a message when you are done.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: What the hell are you doing? It’s been two hours. The cut scene take an hour at most.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Are you alive?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Are you alive?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Where is your corpse?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Who do I need to hunt down for you?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Wait! You can’t be farming yet.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Inconsiderate cousin, give me a sign here!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Laurie Deveraux, answer me this minute or I will kill you.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: I’ve already found a good place to bury your corpse.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: You will enjoy the beautiful sunset under all the monsters patrolling around your graveyard.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Resurrection will be a dream for you!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Answer me or I will take all your gold!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: You’d be a pauper for the next 30 days!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: All your gold belong to me!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Damn nutbag, I’ll destroy all your gear!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: You’d be running around town naked!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: …. I should have known better. New game. Send me a message when you are done configuring your controls.

Yes, Sylphie is here! The customized Perrian Let wanted to jump from her seat and shout with joy, but her extra accessory no other Perrian Let seem to have decided it was a good moment to act up. The tail nearly got loose from her grip, but Leviene was able to hold it in place. Thankfully the unruly tail was compliant when Leviene was configuring her controls.

Among Leviene’s relatives, the first person she wanted with her in a virtual reality game is her younger brother, John Deveraux. The second person the Perrian Let wanted with her is her cousin Jessica Deveraux, who named her avatar Sylphie when they were playing another MMORPG Dark Drake Kingdom.

A sense of relief filled Leviene. She wasn’t alone in this new world. Leviene is no weakling when playing or in this case, living in a game, but it feels good to know there will be support when needed.

Who was she kidding? The new player is a weak sauce. After she inevitably get kills a few time farming, she’d call her lazy guild mates nearby for help. There were always a few lackadaisical bastards in her area whenever she was farming. Couldn’t they help with the farming if they were in the area. No! They just loaf around her doing whatever it is they were doing. At least they were good for something.

Speaking of Sylphie, Leviene had better reply to her message before her cousin decided to carry out her threat! Leviene doesn’t want to be poor.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Sylphie, I’m alive and done configuring. Where are you?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Third convening area.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Where is that?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: …. I keep forgetting.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Hey what does that mean?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Nothing.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Sylphie!

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Just find an exit. I’ll find you.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: How can you do that?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: The game separate players by geography. The people from China are lump together, the Russians are in another group but closer to the Chinese players rather than the British players since Russia is closer to China than England.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Oooooh, that make sense. Wait a minute, why are out ahead of me?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: The games does everything in waves. You are in the fourth wave. I was in the first wave. I’ve been hanging out in the communal area for a while.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Why are you waiting? Why not explore the city so I don’t have to?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: I can’t. The game won’t let us out. I’d assume we can leave the communal area after all the people are done with the cut scene.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Pretty fair of the System. No undue advantage because you can start the game first.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: The System?

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: hmmm…. The administrators? The Power that be? The collective that summon us? Them.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Ahhh. kk. Just get here.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Leviene heading out.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Ah sec, I need to re-configure my controls again. It’ll only take a minute.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Damn nutbag. Hurry up and get over here.

After the changes were completed, Leviene looked around the arena for an exit. Seeing no one was in the arena except her, she took off the beginning tunic, stretched out her wings, put the tunic back on and glance around again to see if she was still the only toon in the arena. Although a character still has their underwear and bra on when changing, stripping down made the little Perrian Let shy. Once she confirmed she was alone, Leviene dropped her pants, unwind her tail and got dress again.

Leviene displayed her customization in all their proud glory. Leviene hid her uniqueness in the beginning due to her lack of self defense skills. She was not confident she can defend herself against higher level players eager for an easy kill.

Now, however, she can strut about town, proudly showing off.

Leviene has confidences in her safety. In most starting area, players can’t kill other players that easily. A players can still be killed in the beginning area, but with all the high levels guards patrolling, Leviene felt confident any new characters won’t be able to escape easily.

The little Perrian Let also concern about a city raid. As a game matures, the player’s levels become higher than the guards. When there is a chance of taking over a city or killing the city boss, someone is willing to organize a raid.

Leviene was worried she entered into a mature game. The difference in levels can only be surmounted by gear and time.

Sylphie’s confinement meant they are the first players in the game and the System wants everyone to start out equally. There is no reason to restrict the movements of the players otherwise. In fact, the opposite is true in most MMO.

Most MMO wants the players to spread out as fast as possible. The servers can not handle so many people in a given location.

These reasons were all secondary to the main point, Leviene has back up!

Leviene knew she was a dastard. No, not bastard. Dastard! Her parent were married to each before she was born, thank you very much. If anyone was a bastard, then it would be her older brother. A dastard is defined as a mean, sneaking coward.

Now that Leviene has back up in the form of Sylphie, she doesn’t have to worry about people trying to kill her because she is different.

Sylphie has said so herself, “Who do I need to hunt down for you?” From those words, many can infer Sylphie’s personality. They can also infer Leviene’s penchant for getting killed, thereby creating the overprotective personality in her cousin.

Leviene vehemently deny it was her ineptitude which lead to a tyrannical coddling on Sylphie’s behalf. She points out it was her cousin, Carrie Ansling, who jump started Sylphie’s autocratic behavior. If Carrie didn’t date the sleeze bag, got into a messy breakup, which requires an intervention of the thuggish kind, then Sylphie’s overbearing side would never have manifest.

Leviene headed towards the exit, trusting her cousin to find the Perrian Let.

Leviene wondered while walking, what race her cousin picked. Since Evanstrial is the capital of the Aerials, it has to be either a Perrian Let, Tajin Nost or Ruse Marren. Each race has their advantages and disadvantages. If it wasn’t for the racial benefits to constitution and endurance, which has universal applications, Leviene would have picked a Ruse Marren. Colorful butterflies are always welcome in her family. Though don’t tell the animal enthusiast her family.

Was it Carrie, Janice or Lily who had a butterfly collection. Those things creep Leviene out, dead and displayed for everyone to see like that.

After shivering at the memories of dead butterflies pinned to the wall under a glass case, the proud Perrian Let rigorously followed the exit.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: BTW Sylphie, what race did you chose?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Tajin Nost

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Coloring?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Dark green hair, dark red eyes, slim build, medium height, grayish skin tone.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: What about you?

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Perrian Let, purple hair, dark blue eyes, black and white wings, unruly tail. You can’t miss it.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Black and white wings? Tail? I thought the Perrian Let’s wings are all white. And seriously, a tail?

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: There was a glitch when my character was created I guess.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Cuckoo birds in the middle of the swans.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Stupid idiot. It’s a swan among the ugly ducklings.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: You hate black and white. Back home, you bitch and complain your black hair and black eyes all the time.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Glitch comes with benefits. 25% to dark attacks and 10% to holy attack.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Not bad then. I’ll keep an eye out.

After conversing with Sylphie, Leviene headed towards the second convening area.

The second convening area was a large space specifically created for the players in each wave to gather. Signs with the name of each nation was posted. Players gathered close to each other by nationality, some seeking the comfort of home, while others look for a familiar face.

There few members in the second convening area. Presumably, everyone went the third convening area to meet up.

Leviene hurried through the second convening area, anxious to find her cousin. She rushed the tunnels only to arrive at the arena where the cutscene was held.

“Damn it, went the wrong way.” Leviene muttered to herself as she retraced her steps and went to another tunnel only to arrive at the cutscene arena again. Muttering to herself again, Leviene retraced her steps.

30 minutes later.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Where are you?

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Trying to find the third convening area.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: ….

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: The entrance to the third convening area is under the north sign.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: Ah. kk. Heading there now.

Leviene followed Syphie’s instruction, locating the north sign and entered the tunnel. A din of noises greeted Leviene as she entered the third convening area. Players were yelling their real name, trying to find family and friends in this new world.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: Nut bag, to your left.

Leviene scanned her surround to her left, trying to find a character her cousin usually like.

Although the game input a player’s face into their characters, it is still hard to recognize another player, especially when their coloring, physical build and species is changed.

Trying to find someone changed by the game is like trying to locate them after they have a glamorous makeover, because who would want a makeover to become ugly?

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]: The other side idiot.

[Leviene whispered to Sylphie]: You said to my left.

[Sylphie whispered to Leviene]:.….Then why are you looking to your right?

A few moments later, Leviene was slapped in the back by a powerful force, nearly knocking her flat on her face.

“Seriously, did you have to take so long Laurie?” Sylphie’s voice is still gentle as a spring breeze, with hints of silent amusements and a motherly scolding undertone. The small Perrian Let warmed even though she begrudge the welcoming hit.

“Are you sure that’s Laurie? You didn’t hit someone else my mistake did you?” a patronizing voice echoed through Leviene’s ear and ricocheted through her brain. No please, Leviene silently begged, anyone but her!