“Welcome back to Valor, Audacious-Lee Awesome.” A female voice spoke into my ear. “Would you like to resume?”

I do want to say something about that username but given how I am using the victim’s profile, I hold my thoughts back. I didn’t expect I’d be able to log into Juan Lee’s account but clearly this game isn’t as advanced as Royal Road, which uses iris scans to validate its users.

Since I just need to see chat conversations, I don’t need to play the game. I reply, “No.”

“Alright. Is there anything else I can assist you with?” The female voice asked.

“Open messages.”

“Unable to understand command. Would you like to look at available commands?”

“Yes.” I replied with slight frustration. Usually a basic command like ‘open messages’ works in most games.

Player Profile

Graphics

Sound

I quickly scroll through the list of options: Player Profile, Graphics, and Sound. Maybe, its under Player Profile?

A window pops up displaying a character image and various stats noted to next to it. The character looks nothing like Juan Lee. It’s resembles a Westerner: 6”2, muscular etc. etc. Don’t care – I only wonder if Lee chose this for himself or was it assigned to him.

The window that popped open was interactive - if I clicked on anything more details would follow. Strangely, Mr. Lee only a backpack filled with cards. There is nothing else. No chat logs, no video recordings, nothing.

After fiddling around through all possible options with increasing amounts of frustration, I temporarily step out and check online forums – nothing. There is no mention of video recordings or chat logs or anything. In fact, now that I think about it, I don’t see any in game video recordings. Huh, unlike majority of the games which offer in-game recordings, Valor seems really outdated in this regard.

I need a coffee break – investigating this is going to take a lot more patience than I previously imagined.

***

“Welcome back to Valor, Audacious-Lee Awesome.” A female voice spoke into my ear. “Would you like to resume?”

“Yes.” I sighed.

The moment I logged in a bunch of notifications started popping up in my face.

You have not eaten for the past 42 days! Health reduced by 200HP.

You have entered a weakened state. All stats reduced by 25%.

You were found by the local residents in a state of coma. They have transferred you to the Sacred Church.

Well that’s one way to begin the game. I remember reading about this on one of the forums – Valor does not have an offline mode. If you log-off, your character continues to exist in the game. The only thing players can do about it is pre-set actions for the character to take in your absence. I am not sure what ‘pre-setting actions’ means but if I were to guess something like sleep, eat 3 meals, etc. Another article from the developers described it as keeping the game more realistic.

42 days in the game have passed since Lee last logged in. Given the game’s time acceleration ratio of 1:6 i.e. every 1 hour outside the game is 6 hours in the game, implies that Lee was definitely playing the game on the day he went missing (about a week ago). Although this is just a suspicion, given how his character just awoke from a coma, it might be quite possible the murderer or kidnapper made his move while Lee was still playing the game. I mean he didn’t even have time to pre-set actions for his character.

I slowly open my eyes – the blinding white light is painful. Everything is blurry but my eyes are slowly focusing on my surroundings. The ceiling is quite high and bright sunlight is pouring through the arched windows. I slowly try to sit up – the weakness feels “very” real.

I take my words back, although the game’s display settings are outdated, the game itself is very realistic. Definitely on par with Royal Road.

I seem to be in a hospital wing of the church? Not too sure, however, I look around me and I can see six other people sleeping on beds: some of them are awake, some are sleeping, and two of the six are bandaged up. As my eyes scan the room, a nun (nurse?) pushes open the door, holding a tray of food, and freezes as she stares at me.

I think a whole minute passed before the nun stared at me, then dropped the meal tray she was holding and ran out the door.

***

An old short priest (I kid you not he looked a lot like a human-Yoda) sat next to my bed holding my wrist. To be specific, I think he was measuring my pulse. There were three nuns/nurses standing behind the old priest, including the one that ran away screaming hysterically, with varied expressions – fright, concern, and hope. They all wore white robes with a golden border and an overly complicated insignia in the center.

“Only weak but nothing else.” The priest declared after several minutes of examination.

“The Holy one has graced us.” The nuns whispered to each other.

“Ummm, where am I?” I guess this is the right question to ask NPCs?

“At the Elbonia branch of the Sacred Church, great champion.” The old priest replied and then turned to one of the women. “We must inform the main branch that the champion, Audacious-Lee Awesome, has awoken at once. Maybe there is still hope for the others.”

Although I was still observing my surroundings and getting used to the game, that last sentence caught my ear. “Others?”

The priest turned to me, “Yes, we found two others with you.” The priest pointed out to the two beds beside mine.

There were two men sleeping. I couldn’t tell if they were NPCs or players. “Two other…ummm…champions were found beside me?” I think champions is NPC language for players.

The priest nodded his head. “Yes, Great East Winds and Dancing Daggers. Three champions collapsing in the mines of Elbonia has certainly frightened Lord Troy. He would have never been able to explain himself to the Sacred Church. Thankfully, there seems to be hope”

I ignored the NPC’s words after Dancing Daggers (more weird names). Does this mean that there was one more player who disappeared? And did the disappearances happen simultaneously?

I need answers but for now I don’t think I can find them in the game.

“Log-off” I spoke in my mind.

“Please select a pre-set action.” The female voice rang in my head.

Recovery: Your character will continue all actions required for a complete recovery.

Return to Aldonisia: Your character will make reasonable preparations before heading to Aldonisia.

Custom Option: Please detail instructions for your character.

I wordlessly select the first option.

“Logging-off.” The voice answered.

My character took control of itself. “Thank you, I am tired and will sleep now.”