The time was 7 PM, just the right time for James to duck out of reality.
The smash-hit VR MMO, Sable Online, had finally been made free to play up to level 40. It had been out for nearly 3 years and had two major expansions in that time, with a third on the way. At that point, the developers decided to give people access to the base game for free, with the only price being the Kabletech Scavenger Headset needed to play it. He’d heard the game was a technical marvel, but had heard very little about the gameplay.
Of course, it was an MMO, and MMOs needed a party. Him and his friend Grey and Amelia often played VRMMOs together, having brought the Scavenger Headsets before the parts became scarce due to the civil war in Velcorp State, which made the prices of electronics skyrocket. They also tagged in another friend of theirs who didn’t play with them often. They’d all agreed that 3 days after the game went free to play, when the servers weren’t completely overflowing, they would all log on together and play as a party. All of them knew they should be studying for finals, but the only one who cared would ace them easily. Their time together mattered more.
James slid the headset on, laid back and felt his body melt away into the bed, mind floating in the endless abyss. This incredibly relaxing state was probably enough reason to buy the headset anyway, but soon he felt a new digital body manifesting itself around him. He felt his feet touch the floor and a world radiated out of it, an endless blue floor with water up to his ankles and a clear sky. He looked up to see the logo in the sky.
Kable Interactive's
Sable Online
NecroAbyss
Version 3.4.7
NecroAbyss was the most recent expansion, and had been released just a month before the game had gone free to play: Kable Interactive was reminding you of what you didn’t own even on the title screen. James and his friends had all decided against buying the DLC until they knew if they liked the game or not.
He looked up to see his own username, Cieth, floating above his head. Words appeared floating in the air next to James, which he assumed would be the form the game’s menus took.
Join Requests Incoming
Skibabylon
GlassAngel
Trident743
Accept?
James clicked the button to accept all of them and his three friends appeared in the World next to him. They weren’t exactly like they were in real life, as modern VR often gave people idealised representations of themselves, but even then he knew it was them. They’d played plenty of games together, and all bar one of them were very familiar with VR.
Skibabylon was actually named Grey in real life, their avatar an androgynous person in a long trenchcoat that sort of morphed into a dress as it reached their legs. GlassAngel’s real name was Amelia, a lithe woman with red hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a leather jacket and jeans. Finally, Trident743 was Patrick, a dark-skinned man with white hair, dressed in an immaculate tailcoat.
“I can’t believe you roped me into this,” Patrick remarked. He usually only cared for retro games, and up until now the most recent console he owned was a Nintendo Switch from 30 years ago. He examined his new look in surprise, not used to the slightly unfamiliar body the game had given him. “You're lucky my sister had a headset going spare.”
“I wouldn’t trust your sister as far as I would throw her,” Amelia responded. She was much more comfortable in the VR form, more so than her own skin. “You sure that thing’s not catching fire?”
“Eh, 50/50. I knew modern gaming would be the death of me.”
James just smiled upon seeing them again. “Glad to have you all here. Now, I would like to play the game, please.”
“I concur,” Grey said, looking up at the giant title screen, their mouth partially hidden by their trenchcoat. “I’m very interested in what this game has to offer. Almost got it at launch, but I heard it was buggy.”
“As all new games are.” Patrick remarked. Amelia realised she was in a game, meaning Patrick’s physical body couldn’t be harmed, and thus slapped him across the face. Patrick staggered back, smiling.
“Huh. Do you hold back in VR?” He asked her.
“You wish.” Amelia gave Patrick a light punch on the arm and smiled back at him.
“Now lets play this damn game already,” Grey told them. “James, do the honours.”
James raised his hand, reaching up towards the text in the sky.
“Start.”
Four columns rose out of the ground, a hero standing upon each of them. The first had a large shield and heavy armour, the second was wielding a sword bigger than they were with one hand, the third had someone in long robes with buff symbols surrounding them, and the fourth showed a man in a wizard hat with fire spiraling around them. Descriptions floated in the air for each of them.
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Select Your Class
----
Guardian: A class focused around defending your allies with your heavy shield.
Trait: Shield.
Main Skills: Draw Rage, Crash Blade, Protect.
----
Saber: A class focused around relentless aggression.
Trait: Perfect Strike.
Main Skills: Rapid Slash, Piercing Blow, Rising Slash
----
Cleric: A class focused around supporting their allies with healing and buffs.
Trait: Heal Beam
Main Skills: Area Heal, Return Pain, Strength
----
Sage: A complex class focused around resource management and casting powerful spells.
Trait: Mana.
Main Skills: Firebolt, Dancing Daggers, Shatter.
“A tank, two attackers, and a healer,” Grey commented. “Solid mix of classes.”
“Nothing super original, though,” Patrick added. “Very classic fantasy.”
“Where’s Gunslinger?” Amelia asked. “I wanted to shoot things!”
The game responded with text in the air, this time accompanied by a woman’s voice.
Gunslinger available to those who purchase Destroka Resurrection expansion, only $50.
“Bullshit,” Amelia muttered under her breath.
“We should stick to our typical roles,” James stated. “I play tank, Amelia plays DPS, Grey plays support, and Patrick…play whatever you want I guess.”
Patrick looked between the four holographic classes. “Give me Sage. I doubt it’ll be a complex class for me.”
Patrick held out his hand and a pointed wizard’s hat appeared in his hand, which he quickly slid onto his head. A leatherbound book appeared at his hips as his tailcoat was covered in dirt and grime, presumably from fake travels he didn’t go on. Amelia reached out her hand and a sword the size of her fell out of the sky. She gripped her hand around it as she lifted it over her shoulder, light armour plates forming around her left arm, leather jacket being replaced by leather armour. Grey spun around as their trenchcoat became ornate robes, with a hood that they pulled over their head and a wooden staff appeared in their hand. For James, armour plates flew down from the sky and attached themselves to him, and he drew a shortsword from his hip and a massive shield from his back.
Classes Chosen
Cieth-Guardian
GlassAngel-Saber
Skibabylon-Cleric
Trident743-Sage
HELP US.
As the computer read out the last words, they all looked up at the sky to see it was in a bright red font in comparison to the fancy fantasy font of the rest of the dialogue. The words vanished just as quickly as they appeared.
“I’m...not imagining that, right?” James asked.
“Probably just flavour text,” Patrick shrugged. “I always appreciated games that mess with the player a bit.”
“Can’t say they’re my thing.”
“Gotta say, we all look badass,” Amelia commented, swinging her massive sword around with effortless grace. “Can’t wait to play with this thing.”
Grey took a step back to avoid getting cleaved in two by the blade. “Try not to play with it close to us.”
James looked out across the water as the others messed around with their new powers. From what was once an endless void, a young elf woman in a long green dress smiled back at him. She raised a single finger to her lips, before her smile turned to pain, and she vanished in a flash of static. A massive stone door rose out of the floor, water cascading down it, before it flew open to reveal a blinding light. The others turned around and walked over to James, standing in front of the door, ready to walk through.
“Well, that looks like the way in.” Amelia smirked. “Shall we do this?”
“Hell yes!” Grey replied. The other three ran through the door while James walked forward slowly, drinking in the anticipation. As he reached the door, he turned back to see another sentence of blood-red words appear in the air.
OUR WORLD BLEEDS
“I really hope this is flavour text,” he muttered. He spread his arms wide and fell backwards through the door, and into the new world of Sable Online.
James Stats (Cieth): Level: 1 HP: 200 STR: 5 DEF: 15 DEX: 5 SPL: 10 INT: 0
Grey stats (Skibabylon): Level: 1 HP: 100 STR: 5 DEF: 5 DEX: 5 SPL: 10 INT: 0 Healing Pool: 200
Amelia Stats (GlassAngel): Level: 1 HP: 150 STR: 15 DEF: 5 DEX: 5 SPL: 5 INT: 0
Patrick stats (Trident743): Level: 1 HP: 100 STR: 10 DEF: 5 DEX: 10 SPL: 10 INT: 0 Mana: 100
