Chapter 2 - Jumping in!

Opening my eyes, I glanced down at my body forming in-game. It was gender locked, so, mine was a male I had created two years ago when I joined the company. As with everyone, your real body parameters were inserted in-game, but then you had the option to sculpt to a degree how you look, how much weight or muscles you want. But with Full Dive dating now a vastly popular thing, it was no wonder the devs wanted to keep the avatars in-game as close to the real thing as possible.

The final parts of my legs swirled into place and stretched my muscles. Even two years on, I still couldn’t believe how intense the five senses were in this game. Closing my eyes left me wondering if I was outside the game.

It was no wonder the world of Full Dive Technology had to find a new power source and cooling system to support the AI’s in giving this much immersion to the multitude of servers.

Well, if it wasn’t for a freakish combination of elements found on an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean, the game would not be possible. Not in an age where the power grid ran to the max in the world with such high demand.

I flexed my fingers to make sure the neural sync was a hundred percent. Though, I couldn’t recall someone having a problem with a neural sync in the new tech before. I shrugged, a force of habit from previous generations of Full Dive technology. Dark days. Floppy arms and legs all over the place, now aptly called the Jello Glitch. I shuddered. The memory still stayed strong with me, even if others only laughed at their avatars getting jelly limbs.

I shook that personal horror from my thoughts and placed two fingers in my peripheral vision on the left and swiped to the right.

Like a trusty exit buddy, my status swept into view.

Health bar full and Energy was halfway full with no movement. Those bars were capable of staying up even in combat. The developers just made it optional.

I tapped the inventory button, though the thought of it would have called it up too. I was old school sometimes.

With a few more button presses I pulled my sword, Xianmou, out of thin air as particles formed to complete the form.

It was a blade of Guardians, not a hack sword that some of the other game admins like to conjure up with brute force commands sent into The Core.

I still didn’t trust the fact that the company plugged their AI command triplets and the servers directly into a volatile elemental power source. Still, they keep telling me it takes away the lag and blah blah blah.

The area around me came into view as the single loading time in the game was finished.

Well, it was chaos.

Rookies were running around screaming, and wailing in what is normally a very serene meadow.

I facepalmed.

Instead of logging out for a minute, they stayed. Of course they would. No reason to log out to spare yourself from dying over and over… and over again. It was worse than I thought.

“Why can’t there be smart rookies!” I called out into the air.

Just then, one came running at me. It was a guy at least two heads taller than me. And without even a semblance of manliness, he dropped to my feet.

“Save us! Those things are madness!”

I was so much smaller than him and yet he clung to me as if his life depended on it. This caused a twitch in my head and I was a hairsbreadth from aiming for the log out button, the rookies staying was madness! Yup, popcorn and laying back in a chair was the right way here.

Then I saw the creatures causing the havoc and my complete reluctance to help turned to the exhilaration of taking on the beasts rampaging.

With little effort, I shrugged off the helpless rookie and ran towards the fighting. Left and right the people were being slaughtered. And sure, I can imagine the huge frustration of being slaughtered over and over in a starting area. But, I still couldn’t fathom them not logging out. It was enough to give me a clench in my teeth. Yet, I practiced my breathing techniques and calmed myself down. I truly needed to ask them why they ended up adding a breathing mechanic into the game.

My eyes opened and I ran, activating my boots of haste. I swept across the fields and skidded to a halt right in front of one of the hulking Hob Goblin.

It had a big ogreish body with Gorilla like arms.

All in all, ugly as they come.

I looked at its Health bar and expected a number next to it showing the monster’s level. But my fears were realized. It had purple wings in its place, a scaled level monster with the color showcasing that it had a high minimum level. Instead of it being far below my current level, it had a high base level, but on top of that, it was scaled to the max of my present strength.

It changed things. And nervously, I checked for the other two. I wasn’t sure I could take on more than one scaled level monsters on my own. That is if the Intel was right.

Then I sensed a dangerous presence behind me and I dodged and tumbled to the left as a muscled arm came slamming down where I was just a moment ago.

My feet barely touched the ground before I scampered out of the hitting range.

Okay, now there were two Hobgoblins. Well just great.

“Oh, hiii.” I said as sweat dripped from my brow. I was tempted to scream at the devs for adding such a useless mechanic as sweating when under pressure. Words will be said.

As I shelved that little titbit for later, the Hob Goblins started to circle me.

My fingers gripped the hilt of the sword tighter. It started to glow the bright green of its enchantment, the primary being attack speed. With a swift kick, I launched my first attack on the first monster. A vertical slice with all my weight put into it.

It landed true on the creature’s arm and it howled in rage. Quickly, I swept around in an arc and managed to land a hit on the charging second monster. But, not without taking a hit myself, flinging me into the air as its muscled arm connected with my torso.

The ground seemed to launch itself at me as I slammed into it with a painful grunt, my face acting as an exceptional stopping mechanic. Even with ROA having a scaled-down pain threshold, it still hurt.

My health bar blinked and the temporary recoup gage disappeared a moment in, leaving a quarter gone.

“Hard hitters, ain’t ya?” I grumbled but only received a growl back for my efforts.

The second one looked angry and the first one simply seething with fury. Well, at least I know how to tick them off.

A quick flick of my wrist and I stuck the sword into the ground as a crutch to get up.

I was about to take another charge at my foes when I glanced at my peripheral vision, my Energy bar was almost full and that would unlock my Second Tier bar. I smirked. If I timed my strikes right, I might be able to get a sick combo in.

I pulled back my sword and dragged my muscles tightly in a well-practiced motion. A power attack. This one for the Vertical Arc. The closest Hob Goblin already bounded towards me with a horizontal charge. The nice thing about the Vertical Arc’s power attack was the fat Acrobatics bonus it gives at the initiation of it.

In seconds, the Hob Goblin reached me and I jumped with all my might. The bonus to the stat sent me sailing right over its bulk and a green arc sped over my head as my sword impacted with its form.

A howl split the air, but I ignored it as I concentrated on my combo multiplier, a small circle ticking down at a fast rate in the corner of my eye. I shifted into a hurried crouch on the stumbling monster’s back, and just before the counter disappeared, I reversed my blade in a cutting backslash. The circle renewed and I smiled. Immediately I stabbed down and into the Hobgoblin.

That’s three.

It was eating at its HP (Health Point) bar like butter; this was the big advantage of knowing how to chain combos, big damage multipliers. Well, it was one of the things I actually read while skimming the manual. Boss probably won’t be happy with me just skimming it…

I glanced at the first Hob Goblin looking at me dumbly. Good, it was unsure what to do. My eyes riveted to my Energy bar. It shook slightly, making me mark it as the time for my next chain of combos with devastating effects. With a pull of my arm, my sword came free of the kneeling monster and I aimed for the free-standing Hob Goblin. An intense green glow started all over my sword as I placed my Energy bar at active, unlocking my Second Tier tab.

The small circle just under them had just enough time left for me to pull it off. I jumped with a rush towards the first adversary.

And then an explosion of purple and burgundy struck me out of the air sending me crashing into the ground ten meters away from the creatures. I groaned at the hit and looked at my HP bar. Just a third left. The dizziness buff effect only momentarily stunned me before it disappeared. I got up and watched as two more shapes joined the couple of Hob Goblins. Another of their kind and to my dismay, one of the last things I wanted to see at that moment. A Miasma Druid.

“Macy, you should have told me that first!” I could almost imagine her nervously shrugging as I stumbled to a more upright position.

To put it lightly, I was in big doo-doo.