《Age of Swordsmen》 -1 Classes and Attributes Classes Fighter: The most popular Class in AOS. Somewhat balanced between ATK and DEF, even though most players play Fighter as a DPS-Class. Sub-Classes: Fencer: The Fencer is a fast-paced fighter with high mobility. But his mobility doesn''t affect his out of combat stats. He is equipped with one or two rapiers. His kit is based on dodging, fast pace attacks, party ATK-buffing and long Combos. Gladiator: The Gladiator is a perfectly balanced Class. He doesn''t focus on any attribute at all. He is equipped with a single-handed sword. His kit is based on Normal Attacks, and self-buffing. Not popular in parties, because he''s not as tanky as a ''Fortress'' and deals less DPS as a ''Dual Blade'' or a ''Fencer'', but due to his good balance of ATK and DEF he is the best choice for Solo-players. Dual Blade: The Dual Blade is a high-damage fighter with high ATK. His focus is on hitting the enemy with high damage attacks rather than fast paced attacks (like the ''Fencer''). He is equipped with two swords. His kit is based on high damage attacks, self ATK-buffing and medium-long Combos with high damage. Tank: Tanks focus on getting hit by as much damage as possible by using taunts and DEF-Buffs. Indispensable in most Raids and Parties. Sub-Classes: Juggernaut: Comparable to the ''Fighter Sub-Class Gladiator''. Very balanced between ATK and DEF, but available items and Skills are focused on DEF. He is equipped with a sword and a shield. His kit is based on self DEF-buffing, Normal Attacks, taunts and small Combos. Not popular in teams, because he''s not as tanky as a ''Fortress'' and deals less DPS as a ''Fighter''. Not very popular for Solo-players either, because Solo-players tend to play the ''Gladiator''. Fortress: The definition of a guardian. The Fortress tries to get all the attention from enemies, and tank as most hits as possible, while the rest of the party deals the damage. He is equipped with a sword, a shield and heavy armor. His kit is based on self and party DEF-buffing and taunts. Samurai: The Samurai is a ''Tank Sub-Class'' equipped with a Katana and heavy armor. He has an aggressive fighting style, which gives him a bit more damage than the fortress, but less tankiness. His kit is based on self and party DEF-Buffs, taunts, Normal Attacks and Abilities. Assassin: The Assassin is a high damage burst Class. Very Combo/- and Ability- dependent. Only class in AOS with ranged attacks (even though they are very weak). Even though the Assassin has a very high ATK attribute, his Normal Attacks don''t hurt too much. Sub-Classes: Shadow Blade: Blade Dancer: Unlike the ''Shadow Blade'', the Blade Dancer doesn''t focus on silent burst assassination, but on high pace burst Abilities. He is comparable to the ''Fighter Sub-Class Fencer'' but with less DMG and more burst. He is equipped with two daggers and shurikens. His kit is based on burst Abilities with high pace, dodging, and assassinations. The Blade Dancer can not only initiate fights, with his dashes on low DEF enemies, but can also get out again with dashes. He is the only Sub-Class in AOS, which can use dashes in-combat to escape. Attributes Combat Attributes: The Combat Stats are Stats which influence the combat. You can get 200 Combat Stat Points by Leveling up (One Combat Attribute Point for each Level), but the amount of individual Combat Stat Points you can get by leveling up your character is maxed at 100 (E.g. A Level 200 Fencer has reached his max Agility at 100 points used for leveling up Agility, he has still 100 Points which he can now use for leveling up other Attributes). However, Equipment can get your Combat Stat Points to up to 200 (E.g. The same level 200 Fencer has a rapier with 100 Agility Points. Even though the max Combat stat points which he can use for leveling up Agility are already used, his agility is no on 200). Attack(ATK) The Attack Stat indicates the damage of your Normal Attacks. Most Combos, ATK Buffs and Abilities scale of your ATK as well. Defense(DEF) The Defense Stat indicates the damage you can prevent from Normal Attacks, Combos and Abilities. Most DEF Buffs scale of your DEF as well. Agility(AGI) The Agility Stat indicates the amount of Normal Attacks you can perform per second (0 Agility = 1 Hit per second; 200 Agility = 3 Hits per second). The Agility Stat also indicates the speed of your Combos. Mobility(MOB) The Mobility Stat indicates the speed at which your body can move, the Dodging chance. The lower the enemies AGI the higher is your chance to dodge a Hit. Hit Points(HP) The Hit Points (or Health Points/Life Points) indicate the amount of health you''ve got. Stamina(STA) The Stamina Stat can be compared to ''MP'' in other RPGs. It indicates the amount of endurance you''ve got left to cast abilities or combos. Normal Attacks can be performed even without any Stamina at all. Out of Combat Attributes: Out of Combat Attributes start at 1 to the beginning of your game. For every Level-Up your Out of Combat Attributes are raised by 1. Can be improved by equipment. Movement Speed(MS) Your MS Stat is just slightly affected by leveling up or improving by equipment. HP Regeneration(Regen) Your Regen start of at 1 which is equal to 0.5 HP per second, by Leveling-Up and equipment this Stat can rise up to 400, which is equal to about 200 HP per second. With an in-combat Regen Skill the half of your current Regen can be used in-combat for 30 seconds. Social Attributes: The Social Attributes can be used to help yourself (or others) out. It can be raised by practicing or items. Cooking The Cooking Attribute indicates how well you can cook. By Leveling-Up this Attribute you can cook harder meals without destroying them (E.g. you can''t cook S class ingredients as a level 1 Cook). Cleaning The Cleaning Attribute indicates how fast and good you can clean up your (or others) home(s). By Leveling-Up this Attribute you can clean up faster. Crafting The Crafting Attribute indicates how fast you can work as a Blacksmith or Craftsman, and which materials you can use. (E.g. you can''t use S class Ores as a level 1 Blacksmith). This addition was created to make it easier for me to keep all the classes and Attributes in AOS in view, and I thought that you might have an easier time as well, understanding all the things which are going on. Explanation to all abbreviations (or words you might not understand) used: AOS: Age of Swordsmen; DPS: Damage per Second; Solo-Player: A player who doesn''t want to Party with other players, the reason for that can be differently; Buffing: synonym for strengthen or reinforce; Taunt: A taunt forces an enemy to attack the one who taunt''s. 1 Prologue After the constant progress of technology, on the 22nd of February 2022, hardware- and game-developer ''New Life Technologies'' released the first-ever Virtual Reality device with ''Full-Dive-Technology'' ¨C Called: ''The VR-Force''. But only two and a half years later many people started to complain about health-issues, which seemed to be caused by the high-density microwaves that the VR-Force created in order to simulate senses. One of the major ''Anti-VR-Force-activists'' was Matoba Etsuya, which reportedly lost his daughter through the VR-Force. After he joined the ''Anti-VR-Force'' movement, everything went more than quick, because the people were afraid of dying, like Matoba Etsuya''s daughter did. Now it''s the 5th of March 2025, the last day of the first, and last remaining, VR-Force-Game; Age of Swordsmen. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. The other two available VR-Force-Games games, ''Rapid Fire'', an online shooter and ''New Life Online'', a world-building simulator, were both shut down earlier this year. Kyazuto Mochizuki, or how everyone calls him: Kyaga, was a passionate VR-Force player since Day 1. He was highly talented in AOS and grew to one of the best Players really quick, despite his young age. His high Skill brought him to a lot of Fame in the AOS Community, and he quickly started to neglect society, and escape in the VR-World. 2 1.1 Games or Friends? [Friday afternoon, A school in a small town, somewhere in Japan] ''Quest Completed!'' Showed up on the display in Kyaga''s Hands. "Phew!" He sighed "That was really hard!" "Wow, well done!" Kyaga was startled because he didn''t know someone was watching him. He turned around and saw his friend Satoko. "You''re amazingly fast with your fingers, you know?" She made some random movements with her hands in order to imitate the movements of Kyaga''s hands. "Thanks¡­ I guess?" "You know what?" Said Satoko somewhat excited. "Huh?" "Why don''t you come over to me and sleep at my house tonight, like you used to in the old days?" Kyaga was friends with Satoko since he and his family moved in a few houses next to hers when they were around 4 years old. But since he was playing AOS all day long he didn''t really had the time to do anything with her anymore, and just played his game, because he liked the virtual world more than the real world. When he first started playing with the VR-Force he tried to get Satoko to buy one as well, so they could play together. But she just wasn''t really into all that VR and gaming stuff, so they kinda went separate ways. Despite all that she seemed to try to do more stuff with Kyaga since the announcement that the VR-Force is getting shut downed. And it worked for her, because Kyaga knew that he wouldn''t have anything once AOS gets shut down. So he didn''t keep rejecting all of Satokos attempts to get in contact with him again now. Even though he tried to play as much AOS as possible as long as it was still running on the Japanese server. "Nah, thank you. I have some plans for tonight. But how about tomorrow?" Satoko looked at him sad. "Oh Okay¡­ I understand. Today is the last day of the VR-Force, am I right?" "Yeah, I''m sorry but I kinda wanna be there when the servers shut down at 0 A.M." "Don''t worry, I understand that." The school bell ringed and Kyaga got up from his chair. "Wanna go home together Satoko?" Kyaga smiled at her. "Sure!" Answered Satoko cheerfully. He took his backpack over his shoulders and they started to walk towards the school''s exit "Do you already know what you want to do with all your new free time after the shutdown of AOS?" "Since you''re pretty much my only friend, spending more time with you." "I heard there will be a PC-Version of AOS, which-" "I don''t know if I will play it" Interrupted her Kyaga. "I don''t really like the looks and stuff." "Oh, I see." There was a short moment of silence, until Satoko began to talk again. "And all your online friends?" "I heard that most of them will meet up again in the PC-Version, and wanna restart out guild there." "I''m still thinking." Interrupted Kyaga her again. This time a bit annoyed. "But like I said, I don''t think so." "Okay¡­" Satoko lowered her head. "I''m sorry for being so pushy about it." "No, don''t be sorry." He smiled at her. "It''s okay. I''m just pretty frustrated about it." 3 1.2 A bad day After they arrived at Satoko''s home Kyaga and Satoko said goodbye to each other and he continued to walk, because his house was just a couple meters behind Satoko''s. He entered the house and started to walk up the stairs to his room, when he heard his mother yelling from the kitchen. "Kyazuto Mochizuki!" He knew that something bad must''ve happened when her mom calls him by his full name. "Yes Mom?" He answered in an annoyed, but not rude way. His mom walked in the corridor, so she could talk to him face to face. "The school called me today, do you have any idea why?" "Because of my exceptional good grades?" Asked Kyaga ironically. "Don''t be so cocky, you know I don''t like that!" "Sorry mom." "They called me, because one of your teachers reported that you were sleeping in his class." "Really?" "Yes, really!" "I really don''t know when this should''ve happened." His mom looked at him skeptical, because she knew that exactly this is something that he would do. "Oh, I can remember now!" Said Kyaga suddenly. "In the class of Mr. Yoshio, I rested my head on the table a bit and he thought I was sleeping. Very funny story." She just continued to look at him skeptical for a few seconds and gave a big sigh. "Just go upstairs already." Kyaga smiled and started to walk upstairs again. While he was going towards his room his mom yelled behind him: "But watch out what you''re doing, or I''ll have to remove all of the electronics out of this house." "Okay mom!" He arrived at his room, threw his backpack in the corner, and sat down in front of his Computer. He sighed and opened his browser for some video game news. The first link that popped up was one to a live stream of an interview with one of the Leaders in the ''Anti-VR-Force'' movement, Matoba Etsuya. [ Interviewer: "And now to our last question: What do you think about the final triumph that your movement accomplished, the ultimate shut down of all the VR-Force games plus the VR-Force itself." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. Etsuya: "I really can''t emphasize too much how dangerous this device is, and I''m more than happy with what we''ve achieved." I: "Okay. Thank you Matoba Etsuya for your time and this Interview, have a good day. E: I''ll have to thank you. Have a good day. ''And now to our next report: Age of Swordsmen, one of the most popular MMORPG''s and VR-Games of all time will become a new PC-Versio-'' ] 4 1.3 AOSs best Guild The ceiling above shrinked, and everything around him turned black. For him it looked like falling, but just felt like he''s still laying on his bed. After maybe two seconds of ''falling'', he saw everything around him get built up, pixel by pixel and very fast. And just a few moments later he found himself laying in a big, wooden, silk bed with glamorous looking red and gold ornamentations on the bedframe. There was one wooden pillar on each edge of the bed which protruded towards the ceiling and held a silk curtain, which should aggravate the sight inside of it. And this worked pretty splendid, as Kyaga couldn''t see that good himself ''inside his bed''. He pushed the curtains to the side, so he could see better. The light flooded his face, and he had to squint his eyes, to even see anything. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked around him. Everything in his room looked like it was very noble, old, or important. His Ingame appareance looked very much like him. A thin body, not very big nor small, just his usually neck long, black hair was white. He stood up, straightened himself and walked towards the door. The door was made out of wood and steel, and looked like it was already in use for several years. It opened easily, with just one small push and Kyaga now found himself in a big hallway, with a lot of doors, and armor and swords as decoration between each of them. He walked down the hallway to get to the big door at the end of it. Everything was quite and all that you could hear were the footsteps from Kyaga. Once he arrived the door he pushed it open, and now was inside of a big, round room, which was tapered towards the ceiling. In the middle of it was a round stone table with 11 seats. This was the conference room. The room where every Guild matter was discussed with the 11 most important members of the Guild. There were times when all seats were occupied, but since the first health complaints started, many players left. and the meeting almost never consisted of all 11 players. All around the globe AOS used to have over 200 Million Players per day, on over 100 different servers ¨C The most popular VRMMORPG and MMORPG in the history of the entire world. Now there''s only one server left, the japan server with approximately 10 thousand players still playing the game. He looked over to the table and saw Itaka, the Strategist of ''The Royal Playground''. He had dark brown, short hair, glasses and was just as thin as Kyaga but at least 20 centimeters taller. Kyaga walked over to him and sat down on his chair. It was the Guild master''s chair, the biggest of them all, almost looking like a throne rather than a chair. "Hey Kyaga." "Hey Itaka." "You really look exactly how I feel right now." Itaka said jokingly. Kyaga gave a slight laughter. "So, you feel just like me, huh?" "Who doesn''t in here?" Asked Itaka rhetorical. Kyaga sighed. "You are right¡­ Who doesn''t?" "You wanna go through the castle a bit?" Asked Itaka. 5 1.4 The Pas Both of them stood up again and walked towards one of the big doors, which led to one of the hallways. And again, they found themselves in a seemingly endless corridor with magnificent looking armor and swords to their left and right. "We''ve done so much and worked so hard for all of this A- and S-Tier equipment, it''s so sad that this has to come to an end like this." Said Itaka a bit dejected. "You''re right." Agreed Kyaga in the same tone. "In the PC-Version they will be just virtual items that you can''t even touch." Itaka wheezed. "Well, you''re right." The two stopped in front of a purple and black armor. You could make out that it was worn by a woman, due to an enlargement of the steel in the chest area. "And that''s what it all started with." Unlike all the other Armors that were standing all along the hallways, this one looked like it was exhibited, because there seemed to be a sign under it. ''The armor of Miyoshi. ¨C Founder of The Royal Playground'' "I really hoped to see her again" Said Kyaga glum. "Me too." Answered Itaka. "It''s a shame that she was one of people who believed these lies of the media." "And it''s even more of a shame that so many people left with her." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. "But you were an equally good leader for the last six months Kyaga." Kyaga laughed slightly. "Thanks, Itaka, but if I would''ve been good, then there wouldn''t be so many people who left our guild." They started to walk down the hallway again. "Don''t let yourself get dragged down by these numbers. You are AOSs Number One Player. There were just a few people who didn''t agree all that well with you." He laughed again. "Thanks, Itaka. But I think a Member downfall to 47 people, when we used to be over 300 says enough." "You really should start to think higher of yourself. You are amazing at this game." Kyaga stopped and looked down on the ground. "Even if I would accept that I''m good, what would it use me now?" He Sighed. "Imma lose everything when this game is over." "We could maybe meet up IRL with Kanagaki and some of the others, you know? Maybe it would be fun." Kyaga smiled and started to walk again. "I appreciate the offer, but aren''t you like 3 years older than me and have a Job?" "You are almost 18, I think age shouldn''t be anything that matters, even if your mom is strict in things like that. And as game programmers me and Kanagaki have plenty of free time." Itaka laughed. "That''s our dream Kyaga. But with two people that''s a bit hard." "I have quite a talent in Hardware, I could help." Said Kyaga still ironically. "I think the Engine of a Full-Dive device is more of a problem than the hardware." They now stood in front of a door that looked just like every other in the hallway. The sign on the left of it read: ''Chikao ¨C The wise'' 6 1.5 Chikao the wise The room itself was very big, but due to all the book shelfs, which were filled up by books to the last centimeter of available space, it shrank to about half the space of the actual room. In the middle of the room there was a wooden table with even more books on it, behind which a man sat on a wooden chair. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. The man had a long, white beard, long, white hair, glasses, and wore a long, blue and white garment. "I haven''t talked to him in a long time." Said Kyaga to Itaka Kyaga walked a few steps forward and sat down on another wooden chair in front of the table. "Hey, Chikao." "Hello, Master!" Answered Chikao in a monotonous voice. Chikao was a NPC, which was created by Kyaga about 2 years ago. He is a fortune-teller NPC. He knows pretty much everything about AOS and can give forecasts on certain events and actions that may happen. "You''ve got something to tell me?" Kyaga couldn''t come up with something else that he could ask him. "Today is the last day of AOS, Master!" "Yeah, I''ve figured that out myself¡­" Said Kyaga a bit sad. "Okay, Master." "Is there something else?" Asked Kyaga curiously. "My mind tells me that you are in danger, Master." Kyaga frightened a bit. "Wh-Why that?" "I don''t know myself, Master." Kyaga turned to Itaka, who just shrugged. "He probably just means the shut down." "Yeah, probably." Answered Kyaga, still a bit frightened. Kyaga stood up and pushed his chair over to table again. "Goodbye forever, Chikao." "Master?" Chikao looked at him quizzically. "The shut down of AOS? We can''t see ourselves after it." "There''s always a reunion, Master." "He''s an NPC, he probably just doesn''t understand." Said Itaka to the slightly confused Kyaga. The two left the room again, to go further down the hallway. Suddenly a display appeared in front of Kyaga. "I think I got a notification, lemme'' check really quick." He made two swift touches on the display, and was inside his notification box. ''Food will be done in 10 minutes'' ¨C Mom Kyaga sighed. "I''ll have to log out soon." "Okay." Answered Itaka. "Are you coming back when you''re done?" "Probably not, my mom wants to drag me to a family fest or something like this." Answered Kyaga a bit annoyed. "Oh, Okay¡­ But you''re here at 0 A.M.?" "Imma defiantly be!" "Okay, that''s nice!" Itaka smiled at him. "Okay, bye then I guess?" 7 2.1 Miyoshi...? Kyaga removed the VR-Force from his head and placed it next to him, on his mattress and slid over to the edge of his bed. He stood up, yawned and stretched himself one time, before he started to walk out of his room, and down the stairs. "I''m here mom!" Called Kyaga over to his mom, who was still cooking. The food smelt very delicious. "What are you doing?" "Your favorite Ramen!" Answered his mom with a smile on her face. Kyaga was already sitting at the dining table and waited hungrily for his food. "You remember that we wanted to go to your step-brothers sword fighting tournament, don''t you?" Asked him his mother. "Yes, I do." Said Kyaga a bit annoyed. "As long as we are home at 23:30, I''m fine with that." "We should make it in time." There were a few seconds of silence between them. "Why do you have to say your friends goodbye that late, though? Why can''t you just say bye now?" Kyaga looked over to her with disappointment written all over his face. "Seriously mom?" "I''m sorry, but I don''t understand that." She turned over to the stove again. "I think that I said more than enough to this topic already. It just means a lot to me." His mom sighed. "Teenagers¡­" Whispered she to herself. A few moments later his mom was done cooking and walked over to Kyaga with two bowls of ramen in her hands. "Thank you for the meal mom." The two practically devoured their meal and were finished pretty fast. "Ahhhh." Kyaga sighed. "So good¡­" "Thanks." Smiled his mom over to him. "When do we have to go?" Asked Kyaga. "In about half an hour I would say." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. "Okay! Imma be ready then:" Kyaga walked upstairs again, and inside of his room. He threw himself on his bed and sighed. "When I won''t be at home tonight Imma be so furious." He stood up again and walked over to his PC. He turned the monitor on again and saw another news stream about AOS. [ Show host 1: "Yeah, we also tried to get contact with some of the last VR-Force Players, but unfortunately all of them declined our offer to come to our show." Show host 2: "That''s really too bad, I would''ve loved to speak to Kyaga, Yakumu or some of the other elite players again, they are all pretty cool people." One: "But we''ve got someone else for you here!" He hit his table, fast and excited like a little kid. Two: "Who could it be?" One: "Miyoshi Yayoi!" ] "Miyoshi!?" Kyaga was kind of shook. M: "Hey guys!" Two: "Hey!" One: "Hey Miyoshi, nice to see you again!" M: "Nice to see you, too!"] ''It was really Miyoshi!'' Thought Kyaga to himself. ''I didn''t think that I would see her again.'' [ One: "That''s right guys, we got Miyoshi for you! Former Rank 1 player in AOS and founder of the arguably most influential guild in the whole game: ''The Royal Playground''!" Miyoshi looked at him a bit embarrassed. M: "You are flattering me" She giggled. Two: "We will ask you some things about some AOS stuff, that we are pretty interested in, and you will answer them, okay?" M: "Okay!" Two: "First Question: Will you-" ] Kyaga was interrupted by the voice of his mother, and lay down his headset. "Kyaga, are you coming!?" 8 2.2 Brother love Kyaga and his mom sat down in his mom''s car and started to drive to the sword fighting tournament in which his step-brother participated. Kyaga never met his biological father, but his mom got a new man on her side when Kyaga was about 4 years old. Just two years ago he and her mom divorced, but the two stayed friends, so they still met sometimes. Not at all for the pleasure of Kyaga. He hated his step-brother, because in his eyes he was just a spoiled, cocky brat. He made fun of Kyaga''s gaming prominence, because he thought that it isn''t worth anything being good at a game. Once he calmed down a bit over the thoughts about his brother, he thought about Miyoshi again. He really didn''t think at all that he would ever see her again, and almost teared up about the thought that this now was probably the last time he would probably ever see her. Not to mention that after 0 A.M. he would never see all his online friends again. His mother looked over to him. "Are you okay Kyaga?" "Y-Yeah I''m fine, thanks." She looked at him concerned. "I don''t think so. What''s on your mind?" "It''s just that I will miss all of my friends, and the game in general." Said Kyaga, almost tearing up again. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. His mom had to bite back a comment about the fact that she still thinks it''s stupid to be this sad about a game, because she was afraid of Kyaga crying. "Why don''t you just meet up with your online friends, huh?" "I don''t know." Answered Kyaga. "It''s just not the same, I wouldn''t even know what to say." His mom sighed. "I''m sorry, but I really don''t know how to help you Kyaga." "No problem, I don''t even know myself, so it isn''t that bad I guess." They arrived at the hall, where the tournament was hosted. It was a normal gym with a few banners outside of it that wrote ''Sword fighting tournament 2022''. They went inside and Kyaga almost immediately spotted his step-father, and his step-brother, who already walked towards them. "Hey! Good to see you!" Greeted Kyaga''s mom the two of them, who greeted her back friendly. Kyaga was just standing besides them, not saying a word. "Hey Kyaga!" The boy in Kyaga''s age walked over to him and patted him on the back. He got short, blond hair and wore a fighting suit. "Hey Okawa¡­" Answered Kyaga a bit forced. "How is my favorite pro-gamer doing?" Asked he ironically. Kyaga''s mom and his step-father looked at him mad, but Okawa just started to laugh. "I think you know that what you''ve archieved never was worth anything, and in paricullar now when your game shuts down." He started to laugh again. Now their parents looked mad at Okawa. "Why can''t you two just tolerate each other?" Asked Kyaga''s mom. "Hey Kyaga!" Said Okawa all of the sudden. "I have a great idea!" "What is it?" "Why don''t we have a little practicing fight? I mean you are a Swordsman, aren''t you?" He smiled at him provocative. "You aren''t funny Okawa." Said Kyaga dismissing. "Nah, I''m serious." "Dude, this is something completely different." "So you admit that you''ve archived nothing?" Kyaga looked at him angry. "Fine!" 9 2.3 Fighting "Hey Kyaga, you don''t have to do this!" Said his mom a bit worried. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. "It''s okay mom, imma just show him that he shouldn''t always be so cocky." Said Kyaga with confidence in his eyes." "You just said yourself that real life fighting is something completely different for yourself." "I''m not one of the best swordsmen for no reason." Kyaga and Okawa walked off to the changing room. "Are you sure about this?" Asked Okawa. He still had a smile on his face. "Without all your Combos, and OP Levels, it''s going to be hard." He laughed "Stop being so cocky Okawa." Kyaga knew that his brother was right. Without all his Combos and items, and ''Fight Help'' it would be much harder for him. They entered the changing room and Okawa handed him Kendo armor, and a wooden Kendo sword, so they got dressed. When they left the changing room, Kyaga saw how some other teenagers were already practice fighting. He and Okawa walked towards a free space where they could fight and took in their positions. "Hey Guys! Look!" A kid next to them started to shout. "Okawa and his brother are fighting!" Okawa was popular in his Kendo club, due to his fighting skill. Most of the others in the club probably didn''t even knew what AOS was, so Kyaga didn''t hope for support from anyone. Kyaga was surprised by the low weight of the sword. He already fought as a kid and remembered the sword to be heavier. "No rules and first body hit wins. Okay?" Asked Okawa. "Sure!" Answered Kyaga. He didn''t know the rules anyways, so he didn''t really care. "Well then," Said Okawa. "Let''s go!" They both bowed, and walked towards a mark on the ground. Once they reached the mark, they lifted up their swords, and crouched down. They stood up again and Okawa immediately struck up on Kyaga. Kyaga was surprised, but could block the hit. He tried to push as hard as possible against the blade of Okawa, so he wouldn''t get hit, and he succeeded. Okawa took a step backwards and took in his position again. He smiled at Kyaga. "Not bad¡­ For a Nerd like you." Kyaga had anger in his face again. With a short battle cry he sprinted towards Okawa, lifted his sword and struck from above. Okawa expected that and just took a quick step to the side. Okawa laughed. "Being an E-Sports pro means nothing here, you know?" Kyaga built up more anger with every word out of Okawa''s mouth. 10 2.4 Family firs Okawa sprinted towards Kyaga and struck upon him. Kyaga, who managed to defend the attack just in time now pressed his blade against the one of Okawa, who defiantly had the upper hand. Just when Kyaga could only barely hold up against Okawa, he slid to the right and tried to hit Okawa from the right in his torso. But then¡­ ''tuck'' The crowd around them started to cheer, but Kyaga just froze. He felt a strike on his left side and looked down on his body. Okawa managed to strike him before he could¡­ He now looked up to Okawa, who had an arrogant smile on his face. "That was fast." He said, trying to disrespect Kyaga. And it worked perfectly on the now angered and still disbelieving Kyaga. ''How?'' Is the only thing he thought. "What''s up Kyaga? You didn''t think I would beat you that easy, huh?" "Shut up Okawa!" Said Kyaga. "You want a rematch? I just got warmed up." "Nah thanks, I''m fine!" Said Okawa laughing. "I need to warm up for the real opponents, and you aren''t a good fighter to practice with." He just turned around and walked towards the other practice fields. ''What a jerk!'' Thought Kyaga. The still cheering crowed followed Okawa. The only one who was still standing on her place was Kyaga''s mother. Kyaga started to walk towards her. "I said you shouldn''t do this." She said in a caring voice. "Yeah, I know." Said Kyaga defeated. "I''m just a loser in the real world." "Don''t say that!" Said his mom indignantly. "You''re not a loser by any means!" "Mhh¡­" He didn''t say anything, because he didn''t want to argue with his mother, even though he was sure that even his mother knew that he was just a loser outside of AOS. Kyaga sighed. "Let''s just look at his games." His mother smiled at him. "Yeah, let''s just do this." The tournament consisted of 5 rounds: sixteenth final to final. Okawa easily managed to get to the semi final, when Kyaga noticed that it was already past 23 o''clock. "Mom?" His mother looked over to him. "You know that it''s almost 0 A.M., don''t you?" "Yeah Kyaga." She answered him a bit absent, because she looked at Okawa, who was fighting his semi-final opponent. "You said we will be home by then so I hope you keep that." She looked over to him. "When this will take longer than expected, then we will stay for that time." "But mom! You sai-" "It doesn''t matter what I said Kyaga. Family goes first!" She turned over to the game again. ''Family first?'' Thought Kyaga to himself and almost laughed. ''Everyone in AOS is more family to me than my step-dad and step-brother.'' "Then Imma go by myself." "Sure thing." She said, again absent. She immediately stood up and walked towards the door through that Kyaga just left. "Hey Kyaga, wait!" Meanwhile Kyaga already was on the street, thinking of a plan how he could reach his house without needing longer than an hour. He turned around a corner when his mom sprinted out of the door. "Kyaga!" She couldn''t see him, nor could he hear her voice anymore. She sighed "I''m such a bad mother." Kyaga remembered that one of his school friends lived nearby. He thought that he could maybe lend a bike from him, so he did just that. His friend was a bit confused, but agreed under the condition that he would return his bike tomorrow. ''No problem'' Thought Kyaga. Tomorrow was no school anyways, so he had time for that. He rode the bicycle home and was just in time. 23:47 He grabbed himself a bottle of water and drank a bit on his way upstairs. The bicycle ride made him a bit exhausted. He got out his phone to text his mom that he was home. His mom already sent him about 30 messages, asking if he''s fine. He threw his phone on his bed and lay down. He grabbed over himself to take his VR-Force. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. ''The last time, huh?'' He sighed and even had to hold back a tear. "Why¡­" He put the ''glasses'' on his head and plugged in the Power- and LAN-cable. 11 3.1 Im Home Again, Kyaga found himself laying in his virtual bed. He looked at the in game clock. 23:51 He sighed in relief. ''There was still time.'' He pushed the curtains by side and walked towards the door. He pushed the old wooden door open and was inside the Guild Castle''s hallway. He started to walk towards the conference room, because most of the Guild members that wanted to wait till the end wanted to meet up there. Once he arrived at the big door on the end of the hallway he pushed it open. There were 3 people around the round table in the middle of the room, speaking friendly. Itaka, the Guild''s Strategist, Kangaki, the Guild''s Combat leader, a big and buffed up man with short and shaggy brown hair, and Sakubara, the Guild''s Trading Master, a man with glasses, black hair and a haircut which almost looked identical to Kyaga''s. "Hey Guys!" All three stopped speaking. "Hey Kyaga!" Everybody greeted him friendly. "Sorry I''m so late, had to do something." "It''s okay, you''re here after all." Said Itaka understanding. "Is there no one else here?" Asked Kyaga curiously, because he couldn''t believe that only 4 people would come. "Shizu was here just a few seconds ago, most of the rest isn''t even logged in." Said Kangaki a bit saddened. Kyaga nodded towards him and walked towards his Guild Master Chair. Kyaga at down and sighed. "I will miss this world, and especially you guys." Said Kyaga, saddened and defeated. All three looked over to Kyaga. "I''ll miss my life here, the better reality I could escape to." He continued. "Of course, you will. It was hard to build all this up and I understand why you don''t want to give up on all this, but sometimes it''s just the best to let go." Said Itaka surprisingly calm. "Yeah, he''s right Kyaga", said Sakubara, "We thought about playing the new AOS computer version when it''s coming out. We will all just use the names we''re using here and start there again." Kyaga sighed. "Maybe you guys just aren''t like me¡­" All three looked at him questioningly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. "I''m just a loser in the real world, but here I''m popular and everyone likes me¡­ I don''t want this to end, I don''t want to be the boring kid with no friends anymore." Sakubara smiled at him. "When we work hard, we can achieve everything again." For a few seconds everybody on the table just looked down and said nothing. Until Sakubara stood up. "I will log out now guys, I don''t want to stay until the end¡­ It was an honor to fight together with you!" Said Sakubara while he made a medieval ''goodbye gesture''. Kyazuto, Itaka and Kanagaki said goodbye, and with two movements of his right hand Sakubara logged out. 12 3.2 Where are we? The moment she spotted Kyaga standing next to Itaka and Kanagaki her light blue eyes sparked, and she started to run towards him with open arms, her light blue hair flying behind her. "Kyaga!" She hugged him deep. "Whoa!" He had to take a step backwards because of the speed that she had. She was a bit smaller than Kyaga and now looked up to his red blushing face. "Hey Shizuka." He gave her a smile. "You know, I was pretty worried you wouldn''t come here anymore." She said a bit saddened. "Yeah, I was worried too, but no I''m here." He scratched his head. "Well you two are certainly cute together, but it''s almost 0 A.M. now." Interrupted them Itaka. Shizuka pushed herself a bit embarrassed away from Kyaga. They both checked their ingame clocks and indeed, it was 23:58. They all sat down again and waited the last few seconds in silence. Five, four, three, two, one¡­ "Bye guys¡­" Said Kyaga defeated. ¡­ But that was strange, normally when you log out the world around you starts dissolving and you wake up in your bed¡­ But he was falling¡­ Just like,¡­ like he was entering the game. And from one moment to another he was standing again. [Day 1, Somewhere on Stage 1] "W-Where am I?" Kyaga opened his eyes and tried to coordinate himself. He was standing on a street and there were several old buildings around him, "This defiantly isn''t our castle guys." There were a few seconds of silence. "Guys?" He realized that there were several people sourrunding him that looked just as confused as he felt, but not his friends. ''I gotta find them!'' "Itaka! Kanagaki! Shizuka! Where are you!?" A few seconds later everything around him started to get louder and louder, and it felt like panic was rising. "Itaka! Kanaga-" "Over here Kyaga!" He heard a familiar voice crying out for him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. He started to look around him as he couldn''t make out from where the voice was coming. He searched a few seconds until he saw a rather big man waving his hands. It was Itaka. They walked towards each other. "Do you have any clue what''s going on Itaka?" Kyaga said, still confused. "I have no clue at all." Even though Itaka always was the calm guy, who never lost his mind, he seemed to be a bit confused by everything that was happening. "I think we should find the others, before anything happens to them." Said Kyaga determined. 13 3.3 Shelter and Search They both started to look around them, but only saw people confused, just as them, or running around with seemingly no aim at all. "Hey Itaka." "Huh?" He looked at him questioningly. "Did you notice that everyone, including us, has almost the exact same clothes." Kyaga was right, almost everyone around them wore the exact same outfit: black leather boots, brown pants, a white t-shirt and a brown, medieval looking vest. "Yeah." Said Itaka, almost as if it was the most normal thing ever. ''What could all of this mean!?'' Asked Kyaga himself. ''Is this a dream, or what?'' Kyaga pinched himself to make sure he wasn''t just to be sure. "Ouch!" Itaka looked over to him. "What are you doing?" "Oh, Uhh¡­ Nothing." Kyaga said, while scratching his head. "You''ve got any plans Itaka?" Itaka looked away sceptical and thought for a few seconds. "Maybe we can find out a bit more where exactly we are and how big this place is, because standing here will most certainly not achieve anything." "Good idea, we should maybe seek out a high building to get a good view." "Yeah, we should have quite a good view from up there." Itaka pointed to the only high building that stood out from all the others, a church nearby. "Let''s go fast." They both ran towards it, trying to avoid any people. You could hear some cry and some screaming out names, seemingly searching for people. Some were standing together in groups, while others just stood there alone, or ran in any direction. After the quick, but tough run they both took a breath, and entered the medieval, and magnificent church. The doors were heavy but still pushed open easily. With a loud bang from the doors a big, wide room, with at least 50 benches, a majestic altar, and countless, impressive and beautiful painting on the walls and on the ceiling opened for them. Itaka and Kanagaki marveled but quickly regained they consciousness. "No time to waste Kyaga, we got to go." "Yeah you''re right." They quickly spotted the staircase which let up to the clock tower. They were just about to take the first step when they heard a loud noise behind them and twitched. It was the door which opened and revealed a silhouette. They couldn''t really make out the outlines of whoever just entered the church, because the light flooded in from behind the person. But once it closed, they could make it out very fast. "Shizuka!" Screamed Kyaga as he and Itaka ran towards her. "Kyaga, Itaka. Is it you guys!?" She said more than happy. Kyaga and her hugged deep and they didn''t let go for at least ten seconds. "Yeah, I''m so happy." Shizuka was almost crying now. "Are you okay?" Asked Itaka. "Did anything happen?" "No, not really. I was just really scared." To see Shizuka, who never was a very emotional person, but rather a brave and happy person, or at least not in the game, almost crying was a shock for both Itaka and Kyaga. "Do you have any idea what''s going on?" "No, not really, we wanted to check on the tower to get a better view and maybe find out something." Said Itaka. "That''s why I got here too, at least we are smart, huh?" She said a bit ironic and they all had a small laugh. "Is it okay if we leave you here for a few moments, in case Kanagaki has the same idea as us? Me and Itaka will go up real quick." 14 3.4 An unhoped-for encounter "Okay!" Kyaga and Itaka sprinted up the staircase, which was going up in a big spiral. And after what felt like a small eternity, they almost reached the top. Suddenly Itaka, who was maybe 4 stairs ahead of Kyaga, stopped. "Psshh!" He put his index finger over his lips while he turned over to Kyaga. Kyaga stopped immediately and hold is breath in order to be as quite as possible. "Can you hear that too?" Whispered Itaka over to him. Kyaga tried to concentrate if he could hear anything. "I-I don''t think so." "I can hear voices." Itaka pointed upwards. Kyaga concentrated again, but this time to hear any voices from above him. And there they were, a male and a female voice. He couldn''t make out what they were saying, but it was for sure that they were standing on top of the tower. "Now I can hear them too." "Seems like some other people want to figure out what''s happening as well¡­ But none of these peoples sound like Kanagaki, so we should be careful." Said Itaka. "Yeah, you''re right!" They took step after step, trying to make as less sounds as possible, until they were just at the end of the staircase. Kyaga and Itaka peeked just over the edge to see the man and woman chatting while lending over the railing. But they couldn''t really make out their faces. "A-Are you sure that we are here?" Said the woman shocked. They could hear their voices now very clear. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting. "Yeah." Said the man with a surprisingly deep voice. "There''s no doubt of it, I recognize a lot of things." "What does all of this mean?" The woman sounded frustrated. "I have no idea ¡­ We will have to gather some more information." Kyaga looked over to Itaka. "You hear that!" He whispered surprised but happy. "They know where we are." "Yeah, but we don''t." Said Itaka rather concerned. Kyaga straightened himself a bit, in order to maybe see a bit more of the outside world. But as he did the woman glanced over to him and saw him. "Hey!" Kyaga and Itaka went down instantly, but that didn''t help them anymore. "Who is there!?" The woman started to walk over to the stairs. "What''s up Toya?" The man didn''t saw them, so he was quite confused. "I think I just saw someone there." Itaka looked over to Kyaga. "Man, you''re so stupid sometimes." Kyaga scratched his head. "Hehe, sorry." "H-Hey." Said Kyaga. "What are you doing here, spying at us!?" She said a bit furious, stepping backwards and reaching for her weapon at her belt.