Chapitre 1: Prologue
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen! On this day of June year 2263, we are finally launching the most awaited and anticipated game of the Century." A gentle looking middle aged man smiled under the gaze of trillions of people galaxically. "Allow me to introduce the key players during the Beta testing who made history as a team. MILF Hunter, DILF Hunter, Bounty Hunter, Beauty Hunter, Wife Hunter, S-Shotacon Hunter, and L-lolicon Hunter." The host couldn't help but look perplexed as soon as he finished reading the names of the players.
Mark who was peacefully drinking a cup of tea spat out everything inside his mouth as his chest ached. Violent coughs escaped him as he tried to catch his breath. He once again looked at the player ID under those names and closed his eyes in disbelief.
'I must be dreaming. This is a dream. This is not real. Breath in. Breath out.' Abraham tried to calm himself after regulating his breath and pulse through meditation.
"Holy shit! Don't those player IDs look familiar?" Chawwang exclaimed as soon as he opened the door to the room in which Mark was resting.
"Shut the fuck up!" Mark shouted in shame and anger.
Merlin was smirking while playing with the boys. They all decided at the last minute to change their names for the game launching. The game company chose them to lead as endorsers for the launch after their magnificent exhibition of skills during the beta testing of the game. And everyone had high hopes for them as they were known to be aloof but excellent players with very catchy in-game names too. But some investors were unsatisfied with Nori's lackluster in-game name.
They wanted Nori to change his name. They also 'encouraged' the rest to do the same. The group had no other choice but to comply since they already signed the contract for the event. And so they all promised to create even more 'catchy names' for the game launching event. They really did create eye-catchy and historical names for themselves.
"Let's go boys." Min smiled and logged in with his side account with the in-game name 'Beauty Hunter.'
Several players acquainted with the game launching representative players watched with mirth in their eyes.
[Zaratul: They really did it. Those crazy MFs.]
[Black Knight: I'm not even the least surprised.]
[Whisperer:...]
Klein ignored the live galaxy-wide streaming of the game launch and focused on her schoolwork. But she didn't turn off the screen. Instead, she let the live show play as she worked through her schoolwork in silence.
[Holy Saint: I wonder how the old man is faring right now. Hahaha.]
Matthew smiled as soon as his chat was successfully posted in the guild chatroom. He stretched his arms and placed his school tablet inside a drawer. He then turned his game capsule on and refreshed its system. He knows it will take some time for the system refresh to finish so he left the capsule alone and sat on a comfy chair in front of the screen hologram.
[Holy Saint: Old man, be mindful of your health. ^^]
[Outer God: He is fuming right now. He is rebooting his game capsule to log in and quit the guild.]
[Zaratul: Old man...]
[Whisperer:...]
[Monocle: ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ]
Chawwang snickered and unplugged the internet server from the capsule when Abraham's reboot process reached 73 percent and then quickly plugged it back in.
"What is wrong with this thing? Why is it being funny now?" Abraham angrily restarted the reboot process once more. He forgot to reboot the capsule after successfully updating its system yesterday. And he dearly regrets forgetting to do so.
Chawwang snickered and repeated the whole process. Abraham could be so gullible at times. Especially when he is being erratic or emotional. He is easy to trick whenever his state of mind is not very stable.
[Zaratul: @Outer God, keep it up. I'll log in and lock his player account with the guild so he won't be able to quit. ʘ‿ʘ]
[Whisperer:...]
Klein looked at the chat group for a few moments before deciding to join the fun. She neatly set her school tablet aside and walked over to her always prepared and well-maintained game capsule. She quitely laid inside it and closed her eyes as the capsule closed itself to start the game.
Numerous small wired pads moved to stick to her skin as the capsule loaded smoothly. Klein opened her eyes and picked up the head gear and wore it as soon as the capsule system informed her of successful establishment of connection to various game servers.
As soon as Klein wore the head gear, darkness invaded her senses. Then slowly, soft mechanical sounds were heard followed by the eventual clearing up of the darkness.
[Checking Body Synchronization. Please confirm if successful.]
Klein raised her arm and clicked on the 'Yes' button in front of her.
[Thank you for your answer. Please follow system instruction for the following synchronization assessments. Please raise your arms.]
Klein raised her arms obediently.
[Please move your legs and feet. Please walk from point A to point B. Please move your fingers. Please turn around clockwise. Please turn around counterclockwise. Movement synchronization assessment complete.]
[Next synchronization assessment test will begin in ten seconds. Please prepare.]
[An object has appeared in front of Player.]
[Please touch the hovering object. Please pick up the object. Please swing the object. Please throw away the object. Body and mind coordination assessment complete.]
Several other tedious tests were provided by the system before it finally allowed Klein to take a few steps into the game world. Several multicolored tiles appeared before her forming a randomly generated path.
[Please step on all colored tiles.]
Klein followed all other instructions dutifully not forgetting to check on her vitals presented in a separate floating information panel on her right. It's something that normal players don't usually check or monitor. But for Klein, it's a very important step to check your vitals during the synchronization test with the game capsule equipment.
[Thank you for your cooperation. Please chose desired program.]
Klein clicked the avatar for the newest game she had been enjoying ever since its beta testing when she finally had enough time to play around with some interesting and funny strangers online.
[The 'Lord of the Mysteries' program is now starting. Please wait while game resources are loading.]
The Lord of Mysteries. It was a request of majority of the beta testers to call the program the 'Lord of Mysteries' as keepsake and for fun. The game developers actually entertained their small request after dealing with so many paperwork on patent copyright stuff.
Since the day she was invited to certain chat group that led her to play the game called <ETERNAL>, her life became somewhat lighter. She found a place to show quirky sides of her that no one knows. And now she's off to begin a new kind of life with the same people who led her astray.
[Game loaded successfully. Please enjoy your time, user 1009*****727, 'Whisperer.']
The monotonous scene in front of her changed into a more dynamic and realistic scene. A few moments later, her 'body' started to 'feel' sensations as her avatar slowly appeared midair and landed on a small grassland.
[Zaratul: The old man will never be able to quit now. I encourage all other members to vote the old man as guild leader so he will never be able to quit.]
Klein shifted through the chaotic chats of the members of their guild and headed to a small teleportation platform to teleport to the city where their guild headquarters was built. A chaotic scene of tens of players voting user 'Abraham' as the official guild leader of the 'Tarot Club' guild. She approached the guild monument and opened guild member options.
She clicked the pinned activity on the guild announcement board and voted for user 'Abraham' to become the guild leader of the Tarot Club. The old guild leader 'Mr. Fool' quietly did the same with a very complacent smile. As one of the oldest members, he now would rather go with the flow and watch over everything than directly participate in the little games the Tarot Club members are doing or working on.
[Holy Saint: I guess it's fine to let Abraham log in now. (ꈍᴗꈍ)]
[Outer God: On it. The reboot is already finished and the old man is currently logging in.]
[Zaratul: Gotta go now. (ㆁωㆁ)]
[Holy Saint: Me too.]
[Anderson: Goodbye everyone.]
[Midnight Poet: Gooooo. I'll record his reaction for us to watch later. (◡ ω ◡)]
[Black Knight: You record it up front direction. I'll record it from behind.]
[Zaratul: I changed my mind. I'll record the event from the sidelines.]
[Holy Saint: Me too. I'll record it from behind the audience.]
[Whisperer:...]
[Monocle: ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ]
[Midnight Poet: When will the voice function officially operate for this game? Typing in a VR game is so out of place and bothersome.]
[Black Knight: After the launch according to the announcements.]
[Outer God: He is coming!]
Klein looked around and saw everyone disguise themselves and hide behind other regular members. She quickly used a common game skill to disguise herself and hid in a very isolated and easily overlooked space.
[System Announcement: Congratulations user Abraham, player 1009*****653, on becoming the new guild leader of Tarot Club guild. 06/03/2263]
Abraham froze not knowing what to do or how to react as soon as the system announcement was displayed in front of all of the online guild members. It was the first thing that greeted him as soon as he entered the guild headquarters.
[***: Congratulations Abraham.]
[***: Congratulations Abraham.]
[***: Congratulations Abraham.]
All of the present guild members didn't say anything unnecessary and just sent over some default congratulatory words before either logging off, teleporting to somewhere, or leaving the guild headquarters.
[Holy Saint: Congratulations Abraham. ^^]
As soon as the words of a very familiar user appeared on the guild chatroom, Abraham finally lost his composure.
[Abraham: Die you bastards! Don't let me find in real life or I'm going to slaughter all of you!]
[System issues warning to user Abraham for using inappropriate words in the public chat.]
[System issues warning to user Abraham for using inappropriate words in the public chat.]
[System issues warning to user Abraham for using inappropriate words in the public chat.]
[Abraham: Die you motherfucking bastards!]
[System band user Abraham from using the in-game chat function for using inappropriate words in the public chat.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~
#Small Theater for Some Characters#
[Jaime: Am I not already a member before the end of the game beta testing?]
[Monocle: You were. You were the stray dog we found by the streets.]
[Jaime: Monocle-sama... That was cruel of you...]
[Min:...]
[Jaime: Thank you Monocle-sama for your love! Jaime is now your personal dog!]
[Monocle:...]