Aetherblade Online IC

[Ruko]

Character Conversion Successful

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Welcome to Aetherblade Online!

Ruko looked around in amazement. She within the first thousand or so to log on, so it was easy to see the architecture. She appeared to be standing roughly in the middle of a circular pavilion, which could quite easily have been some kind of temple courtyard. It was surrounded by ornate marble walls on 3 sides, with the 4th side overlooking a sky blue lake. After a few minutes of standing around, she decided to work out what she should do first. She was glad to see the menu opening gesture was the same as that in ALO. Her armour and potions were all still there, and Mystletainn also. It would seem that the creators of ABO had decided to include the data sets for ALO and most likely other game's items too. She selected the sword, which materialized and dropped lightly into her outstretched hand. It was an almost weightless weapon, in comparison to most weapons of it's class, weighing about the same as a rapier.

She attached the sword's scabbard to her belt, placed a health vial and mana vial in her quick access slots, and sat down, to begin working out this new world's magic. She tried various methods for about 5 minutes, and in the end only managed to come to the conclusion that magic did not need rituals like in ALO, but did seem to involve runes. No doubt mage classes would figure it out in no time, so she decided to leave it to them. She loved VRMMOs. Everyone was playing and starting on an equal footing, and it was impossible for the high levels to run off and leave everyone behind simply because they have no idea what challenge or quests might face them.

 

[Reannieva]

Character Creation Successful

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Welcome to Aetherblade Online!


LinaSu opened her eyes.... "Oh my..." She gasped. She had spawned in a breathtaking pavilion. It was absolutely beautiful, the way you could tell the curves were carefully crafted, every small crease. She lightly grazed her finger across the pure marble wall. "This is it." She thought to herself. "This is Aetherblade."

She wasn't able to bring much into Aetherblade from her previous MMO's, she didn't need it, mentally she knew what she had to work on and who to work with in order to get to the top. She understood how she could make herself a better player. Her eyes widened, "Oh wait." She opened up her equipment and saw a decent sized sword, and a dagger. She equipped the sword and waved it around skillfully.

"Hmm... A little light for my taste... Ah it'll do." She thought to herself.

She took a step forward to the entrance of the pavilion and scanned her eyes on the horizon. She noticed a girl, brown hair and her hair pulled back, she looked to be fiddling with magic, or more so trying to. Thousands of people were logging on but this was the first person Lina had seen. The girl looked up and lock eyes, about at the same LinaSu quickly looked away. "Well crap... First thing I need is someone thinking I'm a creep..." She said annoyed to herself. Either way, nothing could suppress the excitement she felt inside. She continued looking at the ground and smiled. This game was exactly what she needed.

 

[RareSecret]

Character Conversion Successful

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Welcome to Aetherblade Online!

Claire opened her eyes to see the new reality that she was transported in. The world had a very grand and old feel to it. It also felt very busy due to all the new players spawning here. Claire opened her menu. First she check the map. Here eyes scrolled over to the marker which indicated where she was. "Pavilion." Claire said aloud as she looked up from the menu. "I could've guessed it." Next she went into her inventory. There was a starter sword, a starter dagger, and the money she had collected in Alfhelm Online. She shook her head. The game didn't transfer over previous equipment. It didn't matter either way because she still had her money from before. She would've sold the equipment anyway if she still had it. Claire still equipped she dagger just in case. After exploring the new menu options for a bit, she then closed it.

Claire then tried out the dagger. She jabbed it into the air a few times to decide that she was content with it for now. Claire then tried her hand with magic by saying different incantations she said back in Alfhelm and did gestures that were done in previous MMOs but it didn't work. Giving up, Claire walked over to the closest merchant where she bought a few health and mana potions. "I need a blacksmith and someone to teach me magic." She thought as she walked around the area searching.

 

[Lu'Lexa Ashe Galaxy]

Character Conversion Successful

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Welcome to Aetherblade Online!

As the last bits of the log in screen crumbled away, NightShade blinked away the blur that had settled on his sight. He found himself at the center of a large pavilion, reminding him of a far more elegant version from SAO with it's elven features to the architecture. His heart felt as if it were going to beat out of his chest as a short wave of flashbacks invaded his mind. Before he could succumb, he shook his head vigorously. This was what he craved for. This game would be his escape and nothing would ruin this time for him.

A deep breath and he was fine. As the feeling of excitement sent waves of adrenaline through him, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips for the first time in years. He surveyed his surroundings, catching sight of other players who were trying to get used to the controls. He flexed his fingers and stretched out, enjoying the mental feel of freedom.

This was going to be fun.

 

[ℜyder]

Character Creation Successful
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Welcome to Aetherblade Online!

A swirl of colors accompanied by a bright light, the world quickly formed around him without a moment's more of notice. This sudden transition left both a time of awe, as well malady on Strider during this particular dive. But, a second later, composure was regained, casting away the mild dizzy spell as he looked upon the pavilion. 'Of course they would choose a bright scheme, but at least they have taste..' If the rest of the game could be modeled with things like this, then he may very well become addicted to this sort of gaming.

Taking only a glance at the others around him, he followed their motion to open the menu, quickly adapting it to his own. In a way, he refused to be the odd man out by being seen as a new player to this type of experience, already holding the will to stand even with the adept. This was practically his first dedicated dive, though a couple of other games were used to get basic motions out of the way, but he did not want others to see this. Strider would quickly scan through the sub-menus, familiarizing himself with this system. However, the one time he truly stopped was when he came to the equipment section, hesitating momentarily before deciding against equipping his weapon right away. No, he wanted people to have as little as possible to recognize him, and that included his weapon of choice.

More and more player were beginning to log in, flashes of light appearing as the avatars formed within. Most of which seemed to already carry gear, imports from other games probably. 'Though I do feel as though this will become suffocating rather quickly.'

 

[Reannieva]

[BCOLOR=#000000] The log in sound behind her startled her. "That's right, not quite alone." She said under her breath. She looked back at the pavilion, with this she saw a plethora of different avatars spawn. She looked forward again, then at her sword. "Alright, I've got to find a Blacksmith, maybe they could do something about the lightness of this thing." She opened the map and glanced at her surroundings putting two and two together as her eyes passed each building, she couldn't get over how beautiful it was here.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=#000000] "Ah! There!" She said as she pointed at the map. "Now we're getting somewhere." She clicked inventory, and to her relief her money was about the only thing transferred over from the other MMO's. She then closed her menu and ventured over to the blacksmith.[/BCOLOR]

 

[Ruko]

Ruko gave up magic completely, as she knew she probably would never use it anyway, and stood up. She drew Mystletainn, and gave it a few swings, testing to make sure none of it's specifications had changed. Other than the colours being slightly more saturated for a more high-fantasy environment, everything so far she had seen before in New Aincrad anyway. She noticed that the money system in this world was stranger though. While in ALO money was a set thing, in this world, the item cost tag of almost all of her gear was simply written as "????". She suspected that given she still had the same funds she had had in ALO, that the currency in this world was probably player-driven, which would explain why players had the money from their old games even if they didn't opt for a full character conversion, as she had done. She stretched as she sheathed Mystletainn, and glanced around once more, this time at considerably more people. She noticed someone pretty close to her who hadn't even got starting equipment. She walked over. The character, or the avatar at least, was male, and looked around 20, with longer than usual hair. "Hey! You new here? Well, I mean to the Virtual World. Everyone else already has at least basic armour and weapons equipped. Maybe your character bugged so you don't have any? I'm Ruko, by the way. Yoroshiku!" As she spoke, she had looked around at the other players, to verify to herself that she was correct when saying most people had low level equipment already. As she did so, she noticed that none of the other top rankers from ALO had logged in yet, if they were even going to at all. They were all the kind of person who would convert over their characters completely, then run off together as an elite hunting team and simply try to reach the endgame first with no regard for anyone weaker than themselves.

 

[ℜyder]

Strider turned to face the individual, eyes dead only due to the idea of an early greeting from the player base. Apparently fate had it that he would stand so far out that another would confront him sooner or later. Perhaps the true annoyance was born from the fact that he could not entirely pin the girl as a bad egg, but rather an individual merely looking to converse. To think his goal was to breeze through this welcoming event without actually talking to another directly, even more so if they noticed his peculiar start."Perhaps," his words did not carry a joint amusement with the thought of such a bug. "Or it is a fresh start, as new beginnings are meant to be." Strider eyed over the hilt of the blade, protruding from the scabbard, "But I suppose holding one such jewel from the past is not so unpleasant." Averting his eyes to the crowd rather than the girl, he wished to peel away from the mild jealousy that refused to show within his expressions."But perhaps it was you, Ruko, that has encountered a bug. Starting anew only ascertains nothing is missed." He spoke so hollowly, that the air itself seemed to whisper that there were little answers to be used. The only real hint that he still showed willingness to continue this meeting was his eyes falling upon the girl once more."Strider", he weakly spoke his own name, leaving it in exchange for her own.

 

[Ruko]

"Yeah, I think you're new to the VRMMO scene. Didn't you hear about the Worldseed that got uploaded to the internet about a year ago? It pretty much links the coding of all VRMMOs so that any player may convert their character from one game onto another game, so they keep all their stats, but are likely to lose other things that the game designers didn't want in the new game. Apparently the programmers of Aetherblade don't mind people conver..." She was interrupted by a crackling sound that echoed through the entire area. It continued for several seconds, enough for her to identify a black lightningbolt streak sideways across the sky, with no apparent source in sight. Shortly after this, the sky's colour inverted, and was dyed a pitch black colour, like the night sky, only lacking stars. Was this the login event they had talked about on the forums? She noticed that the player count on a nearby noticeboard showed that all 12,000 players were logged in, which meant that all of them were within the pavillion or the immediate vicinity - they hadn't had time to get further. The background music had also stopped, and had been replaced by the low hum of excited whispers. A sound caught her attention, and she followed the gaze of many other players to the balcony of the palace overlooking the pavillion. A sole figure stood there, wearing crimson robes that contrasted with his pale skin and hair.

Spoiler

He spoke with a vile, silky voice, that had a strange way of projecting itself, perhaps magic. "Welcome all, to the beginning of a new era of Virtual Reality MMO Gaming, or as we like to call it, Reality MMO Gaming." He laughed slightly at his own joke, though no one but a couple of highbred people who were assumed to be NPCs understood it. "You've all heard of Sword Art Online, Alfheim Online, Gun Gale Online and other more obscure games. They only scratched the surface of what the Amusphere can do. Aetherblade Online is designed to push that limit to 100%." He raised a hand, as did each of the 20 NPCs around the pavillion and scattered throughout the city. Identical black lightning bolts began to fly through the air between the NPC's palms, as if using them as conduits or Tesla coils. Error messages began showing themselves on Ruko's vision as the Amusphere entered Debug Mode. They flew rapidly not pausing long enough to be read. Suddenly, her vision went white. When she recovered, she found herself lying on the floor, with a throbbing headache. She noticed the lightning had turned to a golden colour, the kind usually associated with health magic. As she stared at the flickering bolts, she recognised the sensation of rabid recovery, and her vision stopped being blurry. She noticed she still had all her items, so she was unsure what had exactly happened. "Congratulations. You Eleven thousand three hundred and forty six people have all successfully survived the conversion process. The rest you will notice have been reduced to ash piles. Unfortunately, they have not survived in either world, and they are in what would be known as a Permanent Vegetative State in the real world. Now to explain what exactly happened. The world of Aetherblade is no normal virtual world. Until now, you were merely peering into it from the outside. In actuality, this world is fully real and physical, and exists in a universe parallel to our own in which the 4th dimension is as clearly present as the first three, allowing for us to literally turn it into a video game. You now stand in this world. Your consciousness has been permanently embedded in your avatar, and your real world form is in PVS. Do not worry, unlike the primitive design of SAO, harming the real world body will have no effect on the existence of the you in this world. There is no way of reversing this, and as far as the real world is concerned, 12,000 people simultaneously went into a coma, including the people who designed ABO. For your convenience, we have left the menu and inventory system in place, and it uses a mechanic called a pocket dimension. Literally a bag that is bigger on the inside than the outside. The magic and sword skill system was already in place in this world before we chanced upon it, so you can thank the NPCs for their hand in this. And on that note, there are two kinds of NPC in this world. There are those who are the original inhabitants, and are now the NPCs that have AIs, much like the Giants in ALO, and there are the NPCs that do not have AIs, which were placed in this world by us to act as dungeon monsters. The economy will be fully player driven, which is why you have been allowed to keep your funds from previous games. Should you wish to speak to any of us, the Council as we shall be known, we reside at the peak of Haikuru Volcano in the far north." With that, the man and the 20 Council Members simultaneously cast an incantation and disappeared in actual puffs of blue smoke, probably for comedic effect.

 

[Reannieva]

[BCOLOR=#000000]Alina pressed her back against the blacksmiths door. Tears welled up in her eyes. "What? I'm trapped here?" Her eyes widened. She shoved her face in her hands as if hoping to be rubbing a dream from her tired eyes. No, to her horror, she was still there... After a few moments she got up and walked back toward the pavilion. Once she got there, she opened up her inventory. "Well, I have a new sword at least, money well spent, right?" [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=#000000]Once she equipped it, she happened to lock eyes with an individual scanning the crowd. "Why doesn't he have any equipment?" She pondered to herself. "Maybe he's new...?" Her glance quickly shifted to the girl she had seen before. "Quick to make friends already?" She thought. As she looked away she frowned, she could feel the tears coming again. "I have to clear my mind... I can't look weak... Not now..." She stammered. At that moment she gathered her senses and quickly moved on to a field outside of the town.[/BCOLOR]

 

[ClaireRae]

Character Conversion Successful

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Welcome to Aetherblade Online!


The world quickly formed around ClearVictory, a beautiful eleven-like city, with gentle, magical music softly playing in the air. She smiled, feeling the rush of excitement she always got when starting a new game. She felt incredibly at home in the virtual reality world, much more so then she did in the real one. She swiped her hand, pleased to see that she could bring up the menu the same way as she did in ALO. However, she was even more pleased to that her character conversion really was successful, her funds and stats the same as they were before. She would never tell anyone how much funds she had, as it was a ridiculous amount that she tried to keep secret. One of the two skills she had mastered in ALO was sewing, and she had made beautiful and expensive clothes for many players who spends thousands for her items, showing off their characters in fancy garbs, as well as showing off their own wealth. Her other mastered skill was thankfully still there as well. Acrobatics. She had spent almost all her time investing her skill points into acrobatics, becoming one of the most nimble and agile players in ALO, expertly dodging other players and monsters attacks, and jumping to incredible heights. This gave her less points in other areas of course, and her defense stats suffered. She didn't worry about it too much though, as only the really fast players and monsters were able to catch her. Which happened when she met Ruko.

Ruko was one of the top players on ALO, and only one spot above Naomi's character on the ranking charts. Naomi was thoroughly annoyed with this, as she could never seem to pass her on the charts. One day, Naomi stumbled upon Ruko in-game, and challenged her to a duel. Naomi was confident that she would win, due her acrobatics skill being mastered. She didn't expect Ruko to be as fast as she was though, as she beat Naomi in a mater of seconds. Naomi was stunned, and decided to join Ruko in some quests to learn from her. However, she didn't learn how to be stronger or faster, but kinder. Ruko never cared about her rank, or what others thought of her, and was always helping out new players. Eventually this kindness rubbed off on Naomi, and she soon forgot about her rank and power, and simply started to let go and have fun. Ruko and her became good friends, and Naomi looked up to Ruko, who she later found out was only a year older than her. Naomi was there when she battled the Black Swordsman, cheering for her with the loudest voice she could muster. Not only that, but Naomi trusted her enough to tell her the true amount of funds she had. Naomi was excited to find Ruko in this new world, and find new friends as well as old ones.

ClearVictory pulled out the rapier that she hand spent so much of her money on in ALO, fawning over it as it's familiar hilt appearing in her hand. She quickly looked at the map one last time, then closed it, ready to head off and find Ruko. It took her a while, but she eventually spotted her familiar character among the 11,998 other players.

"RUKO!" She called out, hoping she would hear, "RUKOOO!!!" She ran towards her, noticing she was talking to another player. Suddenly, lighting flashed across the sky, and then it went pitch black, and the background music cut.

ClearVictory looked around her, and noticed everyone's gaze directed towards the palace overlooking the pavilion. A man stood there alone, his pale face and white hair a stark contrast to his scarlet clothes. He spoke in a eerie voice, welcoming them and such. Ah, this must be the log in event, she thought to herself. Before she realized it though, her vision went white, and she felt an immense pressure in her head, making her collapse to the ground. It took a while, but the pressure subsided, and her vision slowly cleared. She recognized the sensation of being healed from ALO, and a golden light surrounded her and the other players, who had also collapsed to the floor.

The pale-faced figure spoke once again, and as he did, Naomi fought the urge to laugh out loud. He wasn't for real was he? This sounded just like the event that happened in SAO. As she looked at the players around her however, she realized the severity of the situation. This wasn't a joke. He continued to speak, and his words started to muffle as she started to go into shock. After a while, she heard a few players start to cry out, but ClearVictory stood there silently, not able to move or speak.

 

[Roxshi]

Upon getting into Aetherblade Online, Kahori could hear the welcome speech beginning as the crowds of people began to quiet down. They all listened intently as he explained the game is better than all the other VMMO's. Aetherblade is a game that surpasses and takes it to a whole new level. As he mentioned that, a flash of gold lightning appeared. The purple haired girl's eyes widened in shock as she dropped to the floor. She woke up 5 seconds later, her vision cloudy, but clearing up. Kahori put her hand on her throbbing head, ears ringing as they started to work again. Seeing a golden light, she was healed...similar to ALO. Hearing the game master's voice saying:

"Congratulations. You Eleven thousand three hundred and forty six people have all successfully survived the conversion process. The rest you will notice have been reduced to ash piles. Unfortunately, they have not survived in either world, and they are in what would be known as a Permanent Vegetative State in the real world. Now to explain what exactly happened. The world of Aetherblade is no normal virtual world. Until now, you were merely peering into it from the outside. In actuality, this world is fully real and physical, and exists in a universe parallel to our own in which the 4th dimension is as clearly present as the first three, allowing for us to literally turn it into a video game..."

Kahori's face held a look of surprise when she heard the rest of the speech. Seeing the game master and the other council members disappearing in a puffs of blue smoke. Leaving the all the players to take in what was said. We...we're apart of this game?" She was shocked, being apart of this new world. She glanced around at the people around her. Some had a look of horror, not wanting to be apart of the similar happenings of the years old, SAO. Others had a look of confidence, which Kahori was surprised at. Slowly, she realized...this is her chance at a new life, a life that is her own. She could get used to this. "Let's see what this world has to offer..."

 

[ℜyder]

It was peculiar, Strider did not honestly know whether to chuckle at the tenacity of the female backing her point, or be annoyed it. Surely, it meant little to no harm in it's place, but it was the attention he desired to avoid, even more so in such a negligent way. The assumption that all individuals would willingly transfer characters, even if it could be avoided by making different log IDs. More so, he was treated as some kind of idiot, presented with knowledge that was easily found, even without being an avid gamer. But, perhaps this girl was merely trying to aid him. His opinion had already been made, though presented incorrectly, this individual may be helpful during later game. Practically ignoring Ruko by the point, he shifted through the menus, only pausing to send her a friend invitation. For a moment, he thought something was broken, a crackling sound echoing through his ears just as he pushed the button. This, was the opening event.

The man clad in red finished speaking, disappearing along with the others who called themselves the Council. The news they carried left an impact on the mass of players, a chilling silence resting near only for an instant. 'So we have been trapped.' He dared not speak, hearing as few others began they cries or complaints. Years before he had narrowly escaped the SAO crisis, so perhaps this was merely fate. He chose to scan over the crowds, gauging their status, to focused on theirs to think of his own.If this was to be a repeat of that deathtrap he heard of, then everyone will eventually find a way to become calm. His eyes froze when it locked on another, her's locked on his own, and then, she left.'Could she be escaping to level her head? Or..', there were stories from SAO, how during the first few weeks the Beta testers left the others to cap EXP for themselves. Strider shook the thought from his mind, the female who escaped was at least correct in one thing, remaining here did nothing.

Without even a glance towards Ruko, Strider proceeded forward. The others would eventually repair themselves, they would find some sort of will to keep going within this world that has trapped them. For now, he had to look into a way to purge his own mind before it all settled in. For now, he could merely leave it at 'there is probably a way out.' Upon leaving the town's borders he quickly shifted through the menu's once more, equipping little more than the basic spear to his load-out before proceeding further into this world. He was not the type to simply sit back and let things come at him, he desired to confront these things on his terms. Repetition, that is what he needed to find, something that was so mundane but lightly changeable. Something that would distract both body and mind from the troubles at hand, and what's better to do that, now that he is trapped within a game, but kill farming. He could at least strengthen himself in skill and stats whilst purging the stress of this situation. Trapped, what was the emotion he felt binding to that word? Anger? Depression? Even the jumbled thoughts on how to perceive Ruko have become overshadowed by this greater clash.

More so, could it have been that he was cursed, was it his luck that the others have been drug into this game? No, that is a choice they made themselves. If fate is what led him to become trapped, then it was fate that also strung them along, regardless of his string. This was no longer a matter of wanting to improve, it was now a must. No longer is AetherBlade a game, but rather a life. His hopes of reaching friends by mutual interests are now nothing, cooperation and understanding, those are what is in fact needed now, as well, strength. If he desired to help others, then it is strength he needed, just as all others must face their weaknesses, so must he.

Strider tightened his grip around the spear's shaft, desiring nothing more in that moment than his hands to become acquainted with the steel. Seeing as he made progress in distancing himself from the town, he even came to slow his pace. Occasionally swing the spear with a single arm, as if attempting to get used to the weight. When one grew tired, the weapon would switch, held firm as he practically wrapped his arm around the weapon whilst holding the point outwards and to the ground. The length was long, desirable, seeing as if he lifted his other hand he could grasp the end of the pole hanging awkwardly past his shoulder. It would take some getting used to, but that is what his first mission will be.
​

 

[Ruko]

Ruko had a hard time comprehending what the man had said, as she assumed many others did. What does he mean fourth dimension? Alternate universe? How can we get taken from a video game into another world? That's impossible. She dismissed it, eventually, though there was no denying that the logout button was no longer present on the menu, or that the reduced nervous systems of the avatars had been replaced with a pain system similar to that of the real world. During her time pondering, she failed to notice the noob slip away, though she noticed a friend request from a player named "Strider" when she glanced at the menu, which she accepted, in case she needed to find him later. She doubted that the new player would be able to get far on his own, just as anyone else might struggle. She started to take a step towards the direction that most people who were moving, were moving, when she noticed a familiar face - and the first of the high ranking players from ALO she had seen in this world so far. "Hey, Clear!" She ran over, no longer concerned about the situation, as she had decided instantaneously to make the best of it.

She repeated herself when she was in normal talking distance, although she was still slightly nauseous from the event, and she ended up misjudging distance and colliding into her acquaintance from ALO. She stood up, and offered a hand to the other girl. "Did you do a full conversion or make a new character? Cause I was thinking just now before the event that we could make a guild and buy some kind of guild building, but I don't know how much that costs here so I might need some of your money to help." She looked around a second, looking for anyone who stood out as rich who could aid the cause, but it was hard to tell. "Plus, if what that man said is true, seems to me like forming a guild early on will give us an advantage in survival."

 

[Reannieva]

[BCOLOR=#000000]LinaSu reached a place of peace and dropped with her head in her hands. Her words escaped her, all she could do is sit there and try to think of the positive side. She hit the ground with her fist and caught a rock."Ouch dammit!" She exclaimed. "Pain sensors?" After the thought left her mind, she then looked up and was greeted with a beautiful canvas of color. The breeze may not have been a real one, but it was nice nonetheless. As she sat there pondering, her mind was brought back to the SAO incident a few years before. She was quick to assume this was similar in severity. "I don't see why I'm so upset. I did want some sort of getaway from my life, and well, looks like I got it...." She got up and stretched. She looked at the horizon, taking in her surroundings.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=#000000]She guided her hand to her side, all the way to the handle of her new, pure sword. She had plethora of money from her previous MMO's saved. Partially because she wanted to be the best of the best in this game, and this, this was definitely money well spent. She equipped it, it was indeed a large sword, but also large in beauty. It was beautifully crafted with three amber colored jewels on the blade right above the handle. It was just the weight she was looking for. She opened her inventory and equipped the new found dagger she had bought. It wasn't much, but it was sturdy, and that would do. She took a deep breath as she sheathed her dagger, "Okay... This really can't get any worse than it already is, all I can do is make the best of this situation." She looked behind her, she could just see the town entrance in the distance, she caught a glimpse at a figure of an individual almost halfway to where she stood. "Is that a spear...? It doesn't matter, if they're looking for a fight, I'll give them one." She turned again, back facing the oncoming individual. She sat once more, back leaning on the rock behind her. "Only speak when spoken to... Right? She stated under her breath. If this said person wanted to speak to her, they could confront her, she wasn't about to introduce herself to someone who could possibly destroy her. What if it's one of those prized elves from ALO? "Ichh..." She mumbled under her breath. Everyone knew that only the best players of ALO wanted first in on this game, and of course they'd have their previous weapons. There's nothing wrong with them, she just doesn't much care for transferring anything more than money and some skills.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=#000000]Then again, she could make some sort of alliance with someone... It would be a little pressure on her, but she couldn't exactly finish the whole game by herself... She shook her head, she had to just figure out a way to clear her head, sitting here wasn't doing the job... She looked behind her once again seeing the individual inch closer, this time she could tell it was a male... "I really hope he's not coming to pick a fight..." She thought to herself. She continued to sit and take in all the beauty in this world. She took a deep breath, and with that tried to calm her nerves.[/BCOLOR]

 

[ClaireRae]

As ClearVictory heard Ruko's voice, she was snapped back to... reality. Not a virtual reality, but a place that really existed. Unless the man was lying. She tried not to think about it. As Ruko finished talking, ClearVictory felt amazed by how calm she seemed. It's almost as if nothing had happened. She felt admiration, but then a wave of anger coursed through her.

"How can you think of starting a guild so suddenly? I mean yes, I agree, and you can, of course, but..." She paused, hundreds of thoughts running through her head. "Over... How many was it? Over 600 people just died. That man... he said something about Haikuru Volcano, right? We need to find out why he's doing this. And if we can ever leave this place."

She tried to calm herself, opening the menu to look at the map. The map itself was enormous, and it took her a few minutes to find the Volcano. It upset her to find it was very, very far away. She'd have to go through hundreds of dungeons to get there. Her heart started to race.

"Ruko? ...What happens if we die here?"

 

[Brea]

Character Conversion Successful

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Welcome to Aetherblade Online!

At first Aya's vision was blurry, but after a few blinks the image became clear. It seemed like she had logged on right as the opening ceremony started, for which she was grateful. She had read online that this was something she did not want to miss, and so it would have really sucked if she had logged on just a few minutes later. Usually, opening Ceremonies aren't long, so just a few minutes and she would have missed the whole thing. But, just as soon as she turned to face the man in the sky there was a flash, and everything went black.

When she woke up a few seconds later, the man in the virtual sky was explaining that this virtual reality was now they're reality. "Impossible," Aya muttered to herself, opening up her menu immediately. She searched and searched, but there was no log out button to be found. Immediately her mind flickered to SAO... how could this be happening again. You would think after that fiasco there would be... restrictions, or something, that would keep game creators from doing such a thing.

Her purple-tinted eyes flickered around the Pavilion, taking in everyone. Some were confused, some were crying, others seemed excited. She then looked down at the ground, trying to get her thoughts in order. "Okay," she said to herself, needing to hear her own voice. It made things seem more real, somehow. "Okay. So this is real life now. That's not so bad, is it? You like video games. You've always wanted to just live in one. Well, not literally, but I guess you should've been more careful about what you wished for Aya." Suddenly she realized something, and her menu was opened once more.

A smile stretched across Aya's lips as she realized her character conversion had been successful. Most of her crafted and powerful items were there. Armor, clothing, weapons, food. Even her balance had been merged, down to the last dollar. Perfect. At least this meant that she wasn't completely helpless. Because Aya had been playing MMO's nearly all her life, she had a ridiculous amount of money. She looked down at her clothing, her smile widening. She wore her favorite outfit, which was green and perhaps a little inappropriate. "You have to find someone," she decided, taking a look around the Pavilion. Hopefully, some of her friends had managed to get in the game too. Or... maybe it was bad of her to hope such a thing. Perhaps it was better if they weren't here... perhaps it was better if they'd get to continue their real lives.

 

[Ruko]

((@Brea It's Japan, so down to the last Yen :P))

"Yeah. 600 people just 'died'. But we have no idea whether they actually did or not. That man could have been making the whole thing up. There's about a 50% likelihood that he's telling the truth and 50% likelihood he just wanted to establish some drama to speed things up. And anyway. What does that mean to us, even if they are dead? They're already gone. We can't do anything about it, so I figure we just try to keep as many people alive as possible. The other high rankers from ALO will have formed parties and run off to rush dungeons by now, so I figure they'll make it to Haikuru before us anyway. And I expect if we die in here, then that's probably the end for us. Though, it's impossible to tell whether the new magic system supports resurrection. Given we're stuck here for the foreseeable future, I just say we make the most of it and have fun." Ruko opened her map and zoomed in to the area around the starting city, calling itself Sakurukyo. She noticed that the map marked on market locations, dungeon entrances, taverns and multiple other useful items, including apparent temporary ones, with small amounts of information. "If we head out of the North Gate, where that spear-guy ran through a while ago, and keep heading up that path, we'll encounter something called a "Gate" which is advertising itself as being present until sunset of today, thats about 5 hours from now, i'd guess. I'm thinking that the game designers have placed them in to spread people out between the 5 major cities. Skyhaven is as close as we'll be able to get to Haikuru if we use the gate, but there's no guarantee that buying a guild hall there won't be more expensive. Additionally, the land around there is flat open plains at the bottom of a valley, so it'd be potentially very good for mob grinding, so many people will go there to gain power, giving us plenty of stock for recruiting guild members."

 

[ClaireRae]

As Ruko talked, Naomi calmed down a bit. She was being reasonable, and level-headed, unlike herself.

"Yeah... I suppose you're right." ClearVictory forced a smile. "You always seem to keep a level head Ruko. I don't know how you do it." She opened the menu, and sent Ruko a friend request. "You can call me Naomi by the way. If I'm going to be stuck here for who knows how long, I'd prefer if others used my real name." Naomi listened to Ruko's idea of starting a guild in Skyhaven. "That sounds like a good idea to me," she nodded, appreciating the details of the plan. "I suppose it's no use standing around then. Add me to your party and let's head out."

 

[Ruko]

"Naomi-san? Good name. I wasn't being creative when I made my character, so it's the same name as my own." She smiled, accepting the friend request and sending a party invite in return. Upon it's acceptance, she drew Mystletainn and raised it heroically into the air, imitating some kind of protagonist from an anime. "Onward!" She took off down the street, jogging lightly, no effort needing to be exerted with her legendary speed and stamina. She nimbly worked her way through the slow procession of depressed prisoners, each on their way to find a place to shelter from others. Occasionally, she would end up disappearing, absorbed by the swarm, only to reappear a few seconds later, waiting at an NPC's market stand for her ally to catch up. Sure, she may have bursts of seriousness and intelligence, but most of the time, she was cheerful and impulsive, or "childish" as some people called it. Soon, she was out of the city and on the wide plains that surrounded the it. As far as she could see, low levels were practicing sword skills on the ghostly flickers that dotted the landscape. The town rested on a slight hill, giving a decent view of it's holdings. Apparently, it had an infestation problem. She continued moving, following the path down the hill, and heading towards the forest that lay on the far edge of the largest plain. A huge lake dominated the right of her vision, and she couldn't help but stare in wonder at it, hoping she'd get the chance to come back to it at some point. Just then, she noticed a player a little off the road, holding a spear. Due to the little glowing marker in hovering above his head, she knew who it must be, given the only other player who that marker appeared on was standing near her. "Hey, Strider!" she called out, intending on inviting him to their guild.