Why did it happen? It was impossible to say. It just happened. Two days ago a small group of people found their world mysteriously changed. It wasn't the world around them that changed though. No, instead it was something else. They themselves had changed. Upon waking up on that fateful day these people would discover the names of people floating over the heads of those around them and, if they looked in the mirror, themselves. Next to these names also were the letters LV and a number next to that. Most people would have 1, but a small amount may have had 2 or 3 for some mysterious reason, these people seeming a bit tougher than the average person, but not by that much.
Still though nothing else in Neo Tokyo or even in all of Japerica didn't change. Everyone still went and lived their ordinary lives despite how much this small group of people changed. Did their lives change though or did they just change? You would have to ask them their take on that. On the surface though the answer is no. Nothing would have changed for them other than being affected by this mysterious phenomenon. In fact, despite having it affect them their lives would continue to function as normal unless they strove to make it otherwise. Still, if everything else around them was normal then there really would be no reason to.
---
Those two days came and went rather quickly. Whether they investigated and found out more about what they may or may not discover to be a strange power would be besides the point. As this group lived out their lives around noon suddenly in front of each of them appeared another alert window with a small ding. Anyone else around these people would be unable to see the window or hear the sound that the window made as it appeared. Bright blue in hue, flat like paper with an exclamation mark on it. On the window in black text said the following, "The Quest 'Others like Me?' has been created".
Two buttons were below the text. One read 'Accept (Y)' and the other read 'Ignore (N)'. If they really decided to hit the 'Ignore' button they would be able to go about their days as normal. For the more adventurous or curious sort that hit 'Accept' button would see another window appear. It seemed to tell the details of the 'Quest' that had been created. It was also a bigger square than the smaller rectangular window that showed this 'Quest' being created. This larger window read the following.
Others Like Me
Issued By: A Passing Thought
Sometimes in the world there exist multiples of the same thing. There could possibly be more of those with <The Gamer> above their heads, or in this case more of those who are <Gamers>. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but perhaps going to investigate could be very beneficial. Its not like there is much else to do at this point anyway.
Reward: 5 EXP, Possibly more information on <The Gamer>
Failure: Not finding out more about <The Gamer>
Where would one start though? It was hard to say. The city was large and even though would be above the heads of others like them it would still be incredibly hard to find people like each other. There were a few good places to start like the large mega mall Septemberes or maybe other larger places of people gathering like Neo Tokyo U where alot of students attended. Of course, there was a chance of finding people in the streets around the Entertainment District of Neo Tokyo where alot of shops and clubs as well, Septemberes being the centerpiece of the district.
There was also the Port Island District, which could only be accessed from the main part of Neo Tokyo by train or a bridge since it was an island near Neo Tokyo and considered to be a part of Neo Tokyo. This was the more residential and school district of Neo Tokyo as it was were Neo Tokyo U was located as well as a large number of residences. Of course, there were other areas not on the Port Island District that were residential as well, but the Port Island held some of the more larger residential areas. Neo Tokyo was one of the largest cities in not only Japerica, but the entire world. It would be hard to find other people with <The Gamer> above their head even if it was literally floating above their head.
Still though, no sense in not accepting the Quest and not looking. After all, whatever was going on certainly was something completely out of the 'Normal', if such a thing even truly existed in the world.
Samantha Bannings, more commonly known as Sam by those who knew her, stared into the mirror in her bathroom in disbelief. Her morning had started off normally enough, but it had taken a turn for the strange when she had started to brush her teeth and looked into the mirror to see how bad her bed head was. The tooth brush had nearly fallen out of her hand when she saw what was now on top of her head. Above her head was now: <The Gamer> LV1 Samantha (Sam) Bannings.
'The hell?' She thought as she blinked rapidly then rubbed her eyes in an effort to see if it would go away... it didn't. "I must still be sleeping." She muttered under her breath. "Either that or I've gone insane."
In an effort to determine which of the two was true she proceeded to pinch herself. "Ouch!" She yelped. " Well that answers that question. So it would seem I've started hallucinating things. I knew I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night playing games." Not wanting to question what was going on any further, she instead decided to finish getting ready and go about her day as she normally would. What ever was going on was most likely a figment of her over active imagination and would be gone by tomorrow.
And go about her day she did. She went to school, then afterward went to work as she always did, and after that she went back home. During that time nothing else strange seemed to happen, which she was eternally thankful for. The oddest thing that had happened the entire day, not including the hallucinations which she decided to ignore, was that she found a 1,000 Yen note on her way home.
After dinner she went up to her room where she proceeded to finish whatever homework she had left. Once that was done she switched into her pajamas and got into bed. Just as she started to fall asleep she though, 'Hopefully the words above peoples heads will be gone tomorrow and this will all be a thing of the past.'
Day 2
Sam stared into her mirror, or rather she glared at what she saw in it, and her left eye began to twitch. Apparently it was to much to hope that the tag above her head yesterday had been nothing but a bad dream. She sighed loudly in exasperation. This meant that she could no longer ignore what was going as something out of the ordinary was definitely happening here. "Well I get the feeling today is going to be one hell of a long day." The young woman deduced as she exited the bathroom, not bothering to change into her school uniform. If she was going to figure out what was going on she would need dedicate all of her energy and time to doing so and school would only get in the way of that.
Walking over to her desk, she sat down in front of it then grabbed a note book that sat on top of a pile off in the corner of said desk and pencil from a cup that rested next to the pile. She then began to write down everything she had noticed that was different. As of that moment all she had down was the tag above head. Leaning back in her chair she started to think what this meant. 'Well lets see, I, as well as everyone I encountered yesterday, have a tag with a level number as well as a name. The only place I've ever seen something like this is in a video game.' She paused as that thought ran through her mind and after a few seconds her eyes began to widen. 'Could it be? But that's impossible! There is no possible way that that was what was going on! On the other hand it's the only thing that makes sense.' Taking a deep breath to calm herself at this particular revelation she continued on in her investigation. 'Okay, lets humor myself for a moment. If my life suddenly did turn into a game wouldn't that mean that beside the tag above my head wouldn't there also be some sort of HUD? Except I haven't seen anything thing like that. Unless of course it is voice activated, but it can't be that simple.... Can it?' Curious about it she quietly stated, "Open Status Window". Less then a second later a holographic screen popped up in front of her.
Name: Samantha (Sam) Bannings
Class: The Gamer
Level: LV1
"Oh my God." She blurted out in utter disbelief. "This is real."
After this discovery she began to run through all of the windows one would find in a game and each time she said them aloud, with the exception of a few, they would pop up in front of her like the Status Window had. Once she figured how many windows she had access to, and had written them down into her notebook, she went back and investigated each individual window, making notes on them as well. She spent a rather large amount of time on the Inventory Window. Wondering if it worked like it did in an actual games, meaning storing objects in some sort of imaginary space, she took her pencil and touched it to the window. There was a brief flash of light and the next thing she new the pencil was gone and a small picture of it was in one of the inventory slots. After that she tapped the picture and the pencil was once again in her hand. A rather large grin appeared on her face. 'This is going to be fun.'
Hours later Sam sat back in her chair once more and let out a loud sigh. She had finally finished investigating everything she could at the moment when she heard a small "ping" sound followed by a window popping up in front of her.
A Skill has been created through a Special Action. The ability to learn more info on anything, Observe, has been created.
Observe (Active) (Lv 1: 0/100 EXP): You can see the max HP of a target and very basic descriptive information. To Level Up: Use the Skill, Obtain unique info on unique targets, make 'Natural' Observations without using the skill.
"Interesting. So Skills are gained through doing Special Actions." Sam noted before jotting it down in the note book. "Well that's good to know." Glancing over at her alarm clock she saw that it was nearly eleven o'clock at night. "Today went by fast, but that's not surprising seeing as how I had so much information to go through." With that said she put the note book into her inventory, along with her pencil, into her inventory so that no one could stumble across accidentally, and went to bed.
Day 3
Sam walked towards work, a small bookshop located in Neo Tokyo's Entertainment District, quietly after school the next afternoon, occasionally looking at the transparent minimap in the bottom left hand of her vision. It was interesting, being able to see the locations of anyone near to her on it. At the same time though, it felt somewhat weird, but then again the whole situation she found herself in was weird so she couldn't really complain to much.
She had nearly reached her destination when she heard an increasingly familiar "ping" followed by a new window.
Others Like Me
Issued By: A Passing Thought
Sometimes in the world there exist multiples of the same thing. There could possibly be more of those with <The Gamer> above their heads, or in this case more of those who are <Gamers>. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but perhaps going to investigate could be very beneficial. Its not like there is much else to do at this point anyway.
Reward: 5 EXP, Possibly more information on <The Gamer>
Failure: Not finding out more about <The Gamer>
Accept (Y) Decline (N)
Sam's eye's widened a bit in surprise at the window before her. This was the first time a Window had appeared out of nowhere for no rhyme or reason. She took a moment to think about it. Finding others would mean she would be able to find out more information as to where these powers had come from and why they were given to her of all people. Pondering it for a few more seconds she finally made her decision. "Yes." She confirmed quietly so that no one around her would hear. It would be just her luck if someone did and think she was crazy for talking to herself.
Unfortunately she would not be able to start her search any time soon as she had to work for the rest day and well into the evening. Tomorrow, though, she would be free to do so.
Oz woke up, just like any other day, it was past noon as he didn't see a reason to wake up, he had the next few days off after all. Walking into the bathroom, he continued his business, got cleaned up, and checked himself out in the mirror. "Dang I am looking good today!" He posed various times, trying different facial expressions with each one. "Man, I don't think there is any better looking level one gamers in the whole city." He turned away from the mirror and walked out of the bathroom before it hit him, wait...Gamer? Level One? He rushed back to the mirror quicker than usual and stared at the tags above his head, "This is either the most messed up dream ever, or I just fell into a video game. Either way...this is awesome!" He ran over to his window and threw it open to look out, it seemed like everyone else was just carrying on with their day. was no one else able to see this?
He mentioned it with the small group that he was playing poker with in the evening, dropping hints and clues to see if any of them could see what he was talking about, they in turn, thought that Oz was a bit off and were willing to risk a bit more in their game, which ended well for Oz as he left 15,300 ¥ richer.
"Seems like lady luck is on my side tonight," he chuckled as he left, wallet feeling heavier than before, only to have a window appear in front of him, "Oh?" Oz clicked it open, then laughed even harder, "Brilliant! I have a passive skill that makes my gambling even better than before! I can get rich in no time if this keeps up!" He continued on his way home, beaming for joy, not minding the strange looks he got for talking aloud about, many would assume it was just about some game. He continued the rest of the night as usual, just happier than his usual happy self. It was a good night.
Day 2
"That was the best dream I have had in a long long time, I mean, life as a game, and it enhances my gambling? Best dream ever," H laughed as he got up and started making himself breakfast, with just a knife in hand, getting ready to cut an apple, he saw in its reflection the same words above his head, though a bit blurred coming off of the knife.
Maybe I should look into this a bit more, see what else I can get out of it? He grinned as picked up his pieces of apple and took them to his game room. He sat down on his chair, and opened up his favorite MMO, Neverwinter. He quickly went through it, checking the hot keys, and what windows he could open. If this was like a game, he should be able to do the same thing. First thing he tried was to plug his keyboard into himself, realizing he didn't magically have a port though, made him drop this idea after poking himself with the usb plug twice. Thinking about it, he decided that it must be that things are voice activated, "Status" He spoke aloud, and a corresponding window opened up to him "Ohhh, neat." Using a list of menus he had gathered from his game, he learned about a friend's list, a Quest journal, Talents, skills, and his favorite, the inventory.
Experimenting, Oz looked at his inventory, then at his half of an apple, he decided to push the apple into the window, and would you know it, it developed its own box in his inventory space, and was gone! Excited, Oz went around his scarcely decorated house looking for other things to push in, a bottle of water, a fork, a spoon, his throwing darts, a pack of cards, and his lucky die. Testing even more, he clicked and dragged the cards from his inventory to his hand slot, like magic, the pack had reappeared in his hands. "I could totally be a sick street magician like this." His thoughts, simple at best, where due to the amount of awe he was experiencing. He then tried pushing his money into its respective spot, watching as the numbers rose. No one is going to pickpocket me anymore, he thought to himself as he smiled. This has been a productive day. Time to check how my items are going in the auction. The rest of Oz's night, was spent playing games, losing track of time, he grew tired before he knew it. He did manage to go up a level in his game though.
Day 3
Waking up as usual, and continuing as if the Gamer power, was nothing anymore, Oz did his usual morning routine, however this time, as he just finished placing his hat on his head, a new menu popped up. "A quest? Well...I guess I don't really have anything better to do, no games scheduled, only working once a week, meh, why not?" He shrugged as he clicked on the accept to his quest. Now then, I guess the best place to find other gamers would be online wouldn't it? Jumping onto his computer chair, Oz typed away viciously, opening many different windows and searching for information, also leaving posts asking about 'The Gamers' Afterwards he worked out a way to have his phone notify him if anyone responded.
Unfortunately for Sam's plan of a normal work day, or perhaps fortunately for Sam herself, she would not need to search. A familiar bell would jingle as the door to the bookstore opened and someone would walk in. A boy in a strange white hoodie walked in, the strange thing about the hoodie being the long two cloth pieces that extended from the sides of it that were wrapped around his neck loosely like a pair of scarves, two blue lines going down the two pieces. His bright, light blue eyes looked around the store from within that hood before he walked over to a shelf and began browsing.
If Sam noticed this boy his strange hoodie or the way he seemed to move and carry himself, which was quietly yet gracefully, was not what would make him stand out though. No what mainly stood out, or at least would stand out to her most likely, was the text above his head. Saito Tatsumi Lv 11 and above that was <The Gamer>. Not only did this boy appear to be a Gamer, but he appeared to be pretty high leveled as well. Upon picking a book from the shelf he walked over to the register, paying for it at one of the other ones that Sam was not located at. After that he walked over to a table in the store, as the bookshop did have a small area where people could read, study, or work quietly and sat down, taking out a PFP and beginning to play on it.
Saito noticed the other Gamer working in the store as he entered, but he knew that starting such a conversation with a bunch of other people around may in fact go against the Interference Law. Besides, Saito really didn't know how to speak to other people anyway. Upon sitting down he connected his PFP to the internet, taking a few minutes to do a search for anyone mentioning either <The Gamer> or perhaps the Quest that they just received. Luckily there was one such post on a more popular forum known as 3ch, which Saito decided to respond to.
Did you receive the 'Others Like Me' Quest as well? If so, access your 'Friends List' through the voice command and then send me a Friend Request. We can then use it to continue to message each other. My name is Saito Tatsumi.
After responding to that he set down his PFP and opened his own Friends List with a mumble beneath his breath, no one else being able to see his windows thankfully. After a few moments suddenly a window would appear in front of Sam reading the following with two buttons on the bottom, one reading Accept (Y) and the other reading Ignore (N).
Saito Tatsumi has sent you a Friend Request. Do you accept?
Sam was having a perfectly normal day at work - helping customers find certain books, manning the register, and stocking the selves with books that had just come in. It was going so normally that she nearly forgotten that her life had become somewhat like a game two days prior. 'Nearly' being the operative word seeing as how she was reminded of it as every time she would look at someone she'd see the tags floating above their heads.
Her near normal day took a complete turn when new costumer entered the shop, signaled by the bell above the door. Not that she noticed him right away that is. At the moment of his arrival she had been too preoccupied taking care of another customer. It wasn't until he had taken his chosen book to the register next to hers that she noticed him as well as the tag above his head. Her eyes widened somewhat as she read it: <The Gamer> LV11 Saito Tatsumi.'That Quest was right. There are others.' Sam thought as she watched him walk away and go sit at a table in the sitting area near the front of the shop. She was brought out of her importune staring fest when customer, who she had not noticed approach her register, coughed in order to get her attention. She blushed in embarrassment and gave them her full attention.
The customer left a few minutes later and Sam let out a small sigh of relief, thankful that they had not questioned her on why she had been staring at someone. Her moment of relief was interrupted when a window appeared in front of her with a soft "ping".
Saito Tatsumi has sent you a Friend Request. Do you accept?
Accept (Y) Ignore (N)
Sam stared at it for a moment before looking toward the white hooded boy and then back at the window. 'Well okay then. That was somewhat unexpected.' Seeing no reason not to she mumbled a "yes" beneath her breath. After doing which she looked over to the clock on the wall then turned to her coworker. Sam was curious about white hooded gamer and figured she might as well talk to him before he left, as he may be able to help her figure out more information as to what was going on.
"Hey. I'm going to take my break now if that's alright." She told him.
"Alright, but don't take too long."
Sam just nodded in response as she walked out from behind the counter and towards the other Gamer. Upon reaching him she sat down at the table across from him.
"Hello." She greeted politely and somewhat quietly.
Saito continued to play his PFP for a while, the book he bought just resting on the table next to him. When Sam suddenly came to sit down he just gave a small smile and a small, polite "Hello" back in return. "There may be more..." He paused, showing her his PFP screen. On it was a forum post, a post that was made not too long ago, asking about other Gamers. "Unless you were the one who made this".
After she got a look at the forum post on the screen he set the game console back on the table. "Of course... we may not have found them yet since the Quest hasn't been finished..." His own voice was quiet as he spoke as well, but was calm and gentle, yet there may have also been a hint of him not really knowing how to talk to others.
"So what... do you know so far?" He reached under a table, mumbling a quick 'Inventory' beneath his breath. It was moments like these when he regretted not bringing a bag with him to pretend to pull stuff out of. When his hand came back up he was holding a notebook, somewhat worn as if it had been opened alot. He placed it on the table and slid it over to her, giving a small smile. Of course thanks to the two cloth pieces hanging from his hood and wrapping around the base of his head it was impossible to actually see his mouth.
"This is all I know". Still his voice was gentle and quiet, so he seemed like a good person despite his face being a little obscured. He left the book there in front of her, inviting her to read it if she so wanted to.
If she did read the book she would see alot of information. A good number of pages in the book were full of notes and observations made about the power. It was pretty well written to as he seemed to have some pretty nice handwriting. It would probably take a bit to read, but Saito was willing to wait for her to read as much as she wanted.
Anything in Italics is not actually written in there
This power is amazing. It has given me not only my legs back, but also my life as well. I haven't seen Onee-chan (older sister. Remember this is technically Japan) this happy in a long time. Thus I have decided to dedicate as much of my time as I can spare to finding out more about this 'Gamer' Power and will record all of my findings in here. Apparently sleeping in a bed with this power can heal all wounds, illnesses, and just general pain and fatigue in a single night. Its thanks to this function that my legs recovered when I had already thought that they never would. This is why I want to find out more about this strange power.
There are writings, eraser marks, and just general show that these pages here have been edited alot.
Everything with this power is activated by Voice Commands. Including the HUD. These are the various windows that I have discovered.
Stats: It seems to give a numerical measurement of our natural abilities, just like the Stat Scores of a game character. It appears that as I level up I get 4 Stat Points per level and as I put points into various stats my natural abilities actually improve according to the increases I made. Its thanks to this that I can actually fulfill my dream now. Not only leveling, but I have discovered that by practicing or working hard in various ways in different activities can actually improve our Scores. I my Int increased while studying really hard for the Gekkoukan High entrance exams.
I have now reached Level 10 and at Levels 11 and 10 I got 5 Stat Points. I wonder if the amount increases at every 10th Level.
Talents: This seems to contain measurements of basic 'skills' or Talents in this case. It seems that they can only be increased once per level, but Skills and just hard practice and work can increase them as well. They seem to go up more easily than Stats do. You get 3 Points per level.
Skills: These appear to be special abilities and powers that either grant passive characteristics or let you do cool moves or powers like Game Characters can. There are two kinds, Active and Passive. Passive are always active, but to use an Active Skill you have to say the name of the skill. They seem to be obtained through performing special actions that could translate into game character skills. There are also basic instructions on how to level them up. Some seem to level up faster than others. This System has Skill Books as well apparently.
Inventory: An actual game inventory. That is awesome. Items can be placed in the slots just by pushing them into the window and things can be equipped as well, changing whatever you are holding or wearing instantly. Also an equipped Item or Weapon that goes in your hands can actually be summoned at will if you ever need to use it. I thought that was cool. The annoying thing is though that if you want to change what is equipped you have to open up your inventory and do it manually. Food also seems to stay fresh and drinks cold in there as well. Healing Items, which right now is food since I don't know how to make or get Health Potions, discovered to have immediate affects.
Friends: We have a friends list. Apparently it can also be used to message anyone as well. Also apparently Friends appear as green dots on the minimap rather than white. It automatically has my sister on it, but I wonder if I could register other people as well.
Quests: We can get quests as well. Judging from the few quests I have gotten I have learned that Quests are only given when a task requires both time and effort to accomplish. Simple fetch tasks or other simple, easy tasks are not translated into game character quests.
Options: This one surprised me. It has Gameplay, Audio, and Video Options. I don't really want to mess with Audio and Video, but I did discover that Gameplay actually has an option for Auto Dungeon Entry. I currently have it turned off so I don't accidentally enter every Mirror Zone I come across. Thanks to that it now alerts me when I come across one.
Minimap: An actual minimap. Can be moved by my touch and it has a zoom in and out button. Enemies appear as Red dots, regular people appear as white, and friends appear as green dots.
Party: Apparently its possible to create parties as well by saying 'Create Party'. I wonder how that would work with normal people, would they be able to get EXP as well?
I wonder if there are any other functions out there.
These next pages, as this seems to take up several, seem to contain detailed information on each of Saito's current Skills including how he obtained them. (Your character can now know what Skills Saito has on his CS if she reads this section and their current levels, but not how much EXP they have).
ID Create: Learned when that Messenger of Gaia taught me how to make a Mirror Zone.
ID Escape: Learned when that Messenger of Gaia taught me how to escape from a Mirror Zone.
Mana Bolt: Obtained while learning how to create a Mirror Zone.
Observe: Learned when trying to figure out how to fight the first Imp I encountered when I accidentally first entered a Mirror Zone.
Free Running: Learned after alot of practice doing Free Running after I raised my Dex and Acrobatics more.
Staff Mastery: Learned the first time I wielded my sister's old Fiberglass Bo-Staff from the time she used to practice martial arts for a little while to learned self defense. I guess that is why she is Level 2.
Physical Endurance: Learned after I got hit by an Imp's claws but managed to stay standing.
Swift Strike: Not really aware how I got this one. It just happened.
Mana Ball: Learned when I tried to see what happened if instead of firing a Mana Bolt I held it cupped between both palms and then add another Mana Bolt to it.
Hand Bomb: Learned when I slammed an enemy with Mana Ball rather than throwing it at the enemy and managed to dodge the small explosion after affect.
Moving Attack Expertise: Learned after performing a few running and jumping attacks.
Tumbling Attack Expertise: Learned when I tumbled behind an Imp one time and then struck it as I was coming out of my cartwheel using my staff.
First Aid: Learned from a book on First Aid I found in my house. Discovered that this system has Skill Books apparently.
Critical Strike: learned after getting my first Critical Strike.
Crafting: I started off with this one. Guess its cause I made alot of things during my large amounts of spare time.
This section here only takes up a single page, but it contains some strange info.
Mirror Zone: A strange zone where all the people vanish, electric lights go out, and signs appear as if they are reflected in a Mirror. According to the Messenger of Gaia, Gaia makes these zones for people with powers for using of powers since anything that happens in here doesn't affect the real world.
Messenger of Gaia: A mysterious man with the class Messenger of Gaia. I have no idea who he is, but his level was ??? so he might be really powerful.
Gaia: The Will of the World, of the very planet we live on. The Living Earth Theory is correct apparently according to that Messenger of Gaia. He didn't tell me much else.
Interference Law: Apparently if you use your powers to affect normal people and the real world Gaia will eliminate you, which is unavoidable since that is the planet itself trying to kill you. It could be through lightning strikes, random trucks, or other such 'natural' happenings.
Power Users?: The Messenger of Gaia mentioned that my power was unique, something that he had never seen before. This could mean that there are other people with special powers out there like magic for instance.
Sitting on his bed, fiddling with a dart between his finger, Oz sat anxiously. He had nothing to do, and the only thing on his mind was if or when someone would reply to his messages. He already had one response, but brushed it off quickly as they asked if he wanted to meet up and 'discuss' it further, but ended it asking his Age, sex, and location. Oz had been on the internet long enough to know that wasn't going to go where he wanted. He threw a dart across the room towards the board, Bulls eye, he closed his left eye and readied a second shot, when his phone vibrated, startling him, he threw the dart a bit off, and it ended up lodged in the family picture hanging on the wall, he couldn't help but laugh, his dart hit his own picture dead between the eyes, but there was some semi-important business for him to look into, the phone made a noise, and as such, he must of had someone reply to him.
"This one seems a bit more on the ball!" Bouncing on his bed with energy at a response that seemed to make sense to him, Oz used his voice commands as instructed. "Friend's list. Add friend." He had his place to himself, so he never thought of being quiet, though it did cross his mind that he probably shouldn't be so loud with the voice commands in public. He sent the friend request over to Saito Tatsumi. Oz smiled and twiddled his thumbs awaiting some sort of response to pop up.
As Saito and Sam were sitting there Saito seemed to look in front of him for just a moment, most likely seeing a window from the fact that he was looking at the space in front of him rather than what was actually in front of him. He pressed 'Accept' on the Friend Request window, it disappearing after that which made him look to Sam now. "I was right... we aren't the only ones..." After that he opened his Friend's window as quietly and subtly as he could, pressing the message button as he began to slowly tap his fingers on the table as if typing very, very slowly, but making it look like he was just fiddling around.
Not too long after Oz sent his Friend Request a window appeared before him stating that 'You are now Friends with Saito Tatsumi', the window disappearing shortly after. Not too long after the message that his friend request had been accepted another window appeared. This one looked a little different than the others. It was more like a message from someone else as it read as thus:
From: Saito Tatsumi
Come to There is an address listed here
The address in this message, as it appeared more like a PM like those in games, would be of a bookstore in the Entertainment District if Oz decided to look up the address.
Sam shook her head when Saito asked her if she had been the one to make the forum post. Truth be told the thought to check the internet hadn't even crossed her mind. 'But this post does confirm there being at least a third Gamer.' She thought as she watched Saito put down his PFP then asked what she knew so far. As she thought about what to say in answer to his question he removed a notebook from his inventory and place it on the table in front of her. 'It looks like I'm not the only one who likes to take notes.' She thought as she picked it up.
Sam had been reading for a good while, and had managed to nearly finish it, when the sound of Saito's voice brought her back to reality. She glanced over at him, wondering what he was talking about. Although she couldn't see it, she could tell he had gotten some kind of message Window from someone else based on what he had just told her. Then again she could be wrong about that assumption. Wanting to be sure she asked, "Did someone contact you just now? If you don't mind me asking that is. Also would you mind if I copied some of your notes into my own notebook? I know most of the information involving the voice commands as well as a very small bit on skills, but know nothing on the World or Gaia."
He nodded in affirmation when Sam asked if someone contacted him. So they also couldn't see each other's windows? This means that only the individual could see someone else's windows no matter what, that was good to know. It was more info on the power. To Saito all info on this ability was good info, even if the info was bad. When then Sam asked if she could copy down the stuff from his notebook he just nodded, pulling a pencil from his pocket and handing it to her. The gesture was unspoken, but it was kind in nature. After all for Saito they were all in this thing together as people who have the same power they needed to all know everything about it, especially if Sam and this other 3rd Gamer, whose name was Oz according to the Friends List, were going to be training their power.
As she copied Saito looked at a clock, then back at Sam. "When do you get off work? I-If you don't mind my asking" There was more that they needed to see. After all somehow Saito was Lv 11 and it probably wasn't quests that got him that EXP.
Sam looked up from coping her notes into her notebook, which she had gotten out of her own inventory when no one else was looking, when Saito asked her when she was getting off work. She glanced over at the clock on the wall noting that it was around five o'clock. As she was turning back to look back at Saito she caught her manager somewhat glaring at her while pointing to his wrist. Internally she groaned. 'I was so interested in learning more I forgot that I was at work.'
"Well my shift ends at six, so in about an hour. Speaking of which I should really be getting back to work before my manager yells at me. " She stated as she handed Saito back his notebook and stood up. "If you don't mind waiting I can talk with you more after that. Now if you'll excuse me." With that said she walked back over to the register where a customer was already waiting.
Bzzt! Bzzt! As usual, the persistent buzz of an alarm clock told Yuriko that it was morning. She yawned and slapped at it a few times until the noise stopped. Ugh...okay, why's my alarm on? Today's my day off... Then it clicked: it was her turn to make breakfast. The sound of water running in the bathroom told her that her roommate was already up, so she headed straight for the kitchen. By the time she heard footsteps behind her, there was coffee brewing and eggs cooking. "Morning, Yuri," the other girl called.
"Morning, Kim!" Yuri turned around as she spoke...and nearly dropped her mug on the floor in shock. Wh-wha...what is that?! Over her friend's head were letters - no, words - that inexplicably followed her around. The brunette put down her drink and rubbed her eyes before looking again. Is this some kinda dream where I think I'm awake? Am I seeing things? Why would I even hallucinate something like that? The other girl kept walking, so Yuri was free to stare and gape at what she saw. Then the scent of burning reached her nose. "Oh no!" Forgotten, the eggs had started to scorch around the edges, and she threw her confusion aside to save breakfast from her moment of distraction.
Left alone in their apartment about an hour later, the first thing she did was dash to the bathroom to check something. "Aaaaaah, I have it too!" she yelped. In the small mirror over the sink, her wide-eyed reflection pointed back at her - or rather, at the words that floated over her head.
<The Gamer> Yuriko Shimizu Lv 1
It took a moment for her calm down and examine it more closely, to compare what she had seen before and what seemed to be attached to herself. "Huh...?" she murmured aloud. "First name, last name - we both had that. But what's this gamer thing? Kim's was different. And what's L.V. supposed to mean?" Wherever she went, the words went. That and 'Lv 1' reminded her of...of... "No way...!" The only thing she could compare it to was an RPG character, but that didn't make any sense! Did it? Nah, it can't! People aren't game characters. She shook her head and looked away from the mirror; maybe washing up would clear her head.
Though it helped, by the time she was dressed, her curiosity had won over disbelief. This is weird, but I don't think it's a dream... It didn't take long to pull up the main info site and database for her favorite online game. While not identical, the info over her head really was similar to the usual character info shown there, so maybe there were other game-like things too? With an overview of the game's HUD open on screen, she started to name each one aloud. "Let's see. Character, inventory--eep!" The moment she said the second word, something popped up in front of her. A-an inventory window? Is this for real? And are those my clothes?! While still very surreal, it almost made sense if she assumed she was a game character and not just seeing things. It was under that assumption that she continued experimenting.
Before long, she had discovered a number of new things:
The 'character' window responded to 'status' instead.
She had both skills and talents recorded in their own windows.
The inventory window would change based on what she was wearing or holding.
There was an options screen, which she decided to leave alone until she understood how default settings worked.
Her friends list was sorrowfully empty. (She was tempted to send someone a request, but there was no telling what that would do...)
It was possible to make parties; she just couldn't at the moment, probably because she was alone and her friends list was empty.
All of those things were interesting, but only one had gotten her full attention. "This is the best thing ever! Why haven't I always had this?" Gleeful laughter filled the apartment as Yukiko removed another tool from a drawer. When she pressed it against the hovering inventory window, it vanished from her hand. A moment later a small image of the same object appeared in one of the inventory slots. "I'll never lose another measuring spoon again, or have to run across the room to get it! Just -- whoosh!" There was an actual whoosh as she pulled out a spatula from the mysterious storage space. "And it's right in my hand!" Though it appeared that space was limited, it would still be useful in situations where she needed more than she could reasonably carry at once. "Ooooh, can I put bigger things in here too?" That was something she'd have to experiment with later!
She continued trying new things through the day, attempting to understand more about the inventory especially. After a trip to the bathroom to add their unopened first aid kit to her inventory, she decided to take a break for lunch. "Hmm...this lettuce is looking a little wilted, I'm going to have to go buy mo--huhwha?!" Right between her face and the head of leafy greens she had been viewing, more windows had popped up.
A Skill has been created through a Special Action. The ability to learn more info on anything, Observe, has been created.
Observe (Active) (Lv 1: 0/100 EXP): You can see data on the target, higher levels letting you see more data. To Level Up: Use the Skill, Obtain unique info on unique targets, make 'Natural' Observations without using the skill.
"A skill?" She carefully picked up the dropped lettuce and took a closer look at the words displayed. "Sounds like a scanning or analyze skill..." The windows vanished after she poked them, so she went back to what she was doing...though not for long. What else could her new skill do? I can just say it, right? Like with the window names? She picked up a tomato and muttered, "Observe!" in its general direction. A window appeared in response that not only displayed an image and short description of the tomato, but a 'quality' note as well. Her eyes widened as this sank in. Wait...this means...I can go to the store, use this, and know right away if something is really good, no matter what the seller tells me!
"Aha...ahahahaha! Yes, this is perfect!" For a split second, the world glittered with promise; with this skill and her inventory, shopping would never be the same again! Then she realized how she was thinking and facepalmed. I get this kind of ability, and my first thought is about going shopping? Some game character I would be! It really was a useful ability, though, and she couldn't help but use Observe on more things, just because she could. Some of the quality assessments made her wince a bit - was their couch really that bad? - but most of it wasn't much different than what she expected. What would be interesting was to see what would appear with items she didn't know alrea-- -Ping!-
In front of her, a window had appeared again. "Observe's Level has gone up by 1," she read aloud. "Nice! I wonder what other skills do that..." Then there was a second ding, and another set of words showed up before her.
Incredible thinking and deduction have made you smarter, +1 to Int.
At the end of the day, she took some quick notes on what she had learned - just as a reminder later. It was late when she logged off and put aside her laptop, having spent the time after dinner searching the internet for more clues. She had come up empty - and to be honest, all the puzzling over things was making her brain hurt, forget about the fact that it should all be impossible to start with. It was time to sleep. "Ngh...I didn't find any info on 'The Gamer', or where this came from...or if this is even real." But then, she might wake up the next morning and everything would be normal again...
Day 2
Nope. It's real.The words were still there the next morning. This is weird...really, really weird. Everywhere she looked, there were people, and every one of them had their names and classes (she guessed) over their heads, but nobody seemed to know but her! Students, professors, parents, children...it was the same with all of them. The odd view also made her wonder about her own mysterious sky-label. This is a pretty busy street, so where are all the other gamers? Still asleep?Come to think of it...why am I 'The Gamer' when I'm not even a pro gamer? I don't get it. All she could do was hope that things became clearer in time.
At work, she did her best not to think about any of it. That was made easier by the cafe remaining busy most of the morning; it wasn't until the end of her shift that she stopped to really look at the game tags that floated by. Before long, her shift ended, and she started getting ready to leave. Just as she stepped toward the sign-out area, a coworker tapped her on the shoulder. "Yuriko, the manager wants to talk to you." "Huh? What for?" The apron-wearing guy shrugged and walked off. With little other choice, she headed into the office where the person in question waited. Some might have been nervous, and she was a bit, but most of what she felt was interest. "Hello, Mr. Jacobs! You wanted to see me?" The man nodded and gestured for her to come in.
The girl who walked out of that office a bit later was far more perky than the one that entered. She was so happy, in fact, that she skipped down the sidewalk after leaving the building. It didn't matter that a few people looked at her funny. Today had been amazing! "A raise, a raise!" she sang as she bounced along, "I got a raaaaise! And a big paycheck! I'm gonna be so good after rent! Wheee!" Yuriko twirled around a lamp post for good measure and giggled. Hard work really does pay off! Her arms swung with each step she took; she was headed towards a park, to meet her friends now that she was free. The idea of hanging out with friends for the rest of the afternoon would have put her in a good mood even without the great news, actually, so nothing could dampen her spirits! She was still curious about what was going on, but decided to relax and enjoy a one-of-a-kind day.
During her walk back to the bus stop, something on the ground caught her eye - an object that was half-on and half-off the path, just barely visible in the growing dusk. She went closer and crouched to pick it up. "A book?" Since it was near a school, it wasn't like finding a lost book was that odd, but the fact that she couldn't make sense of the title made her wonder what it was. Nobody was around, so... "Observe."
A book that holds knowledge of something of it. Unfortunately it isn't in a language you can read, but if you could get it translated then you could learn a Skill from this book.
"Is this a...?" A smile slowly spread across her face. "Ooh, cool!" She knew about skill books from various RPGs. If the user read the book, they'd instantly learn the skill recorded inside. In some games, there were special skills that could only be learned through skill books, earned by doing quests or just finding them out in the world. So if I read this, I'll be able to do more stuff! Sure, she hadn't stopped thinking that this was weird...but that didn't make it less fun. Oh, but wait...Observe said it's not a language I know. Darn. I wonder what language it is? The middle of the sidewalk wasn't the best place to try and look through it, so she placed it in her inventory and headed to the bus.
The rest of the day was normal, though it took her a while to wind down from her good mood. That gave her time to pull out the book again. A second look didn't make it any clearer, unfortunately. Maybe I can take a picture of some of the text and find somebody online who knows what it says? Hmm, I'll do that tomorrow; my phone camera's probably not the best for this kinda thing. While she was in her inventory, she decided to take out all the clutter she put in there while experimenting. Yuri had just finished when she heard a short ping. "Again?" A new window arrived with a short message.
Your day was quite lucky and from it you are generally luckier. +1 Luck.
She blinked at that. Then Yuri grinned and dismissed the window. "I get luck from being lucky? Heehee, this day really was good!" Once her inventory was closed and the mess of the clean-out was put away, she headed for bed. She had to work the morning shift again...her afternoon and evening were pretty open, though, so it might be a good time to go for a walk. She might find something interesting or fun again!
Day 3
If not for the words that followed everyone around, she could almost think that nothing had changed. People spoke the same, moved the same, said the same things to one another. No one else found themselves peeking over people's heads to see what the empty air said about them, but Yuriko couldn't help but look. She also found it hard not to greet customers by name, simply because the names were right there in front of her face. If they had been regulars, that would be one thing, but it was completely understandable that "How do you know my name?" was the first reaction when she spoke like that to a total stranger. Her attempts to drop hints with her coworkers fell flat too; either they could see what she saw but were trying to hide it, or they really didn't see anything. The latter was much easier to believe, since she had been the same not long ago. Part of her was frustrated - here she was with this strange trait that she couldn't talk to anybody about! - while another was starting to wonder how it was all possible to begin with. She was willing to believe it was real, but that didn't tell her anything about what was going on!
Yuri was on her break later that morning, checking out various sites on her phone, when... -Ping!- "Yeek!" She jumped and dropped her phone on the break room floor. Wha-what is it this time? I wasn't doing anything! After scooping up the phone, she looked at the window that had materialized. This one didn't hold skill or item info; it was a message, but longer than the others, with an option attached.
"...a quest was created?" the girl echoed. She remembered seeing the quest window, even poking at it to see if there was some hidden quest inside that would explain things, but this was the first thing she had seen about it. She shifted in her chair and read it closely.
Others Like Me
Issued By: A Passing Thought
Sometimes in the world there exist multiples of the same thing. There could possibly be more of those with <The Gamer> above their heads, or in this case more of those who are <Gamers>. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but perhaps going to investigate could be very beneficial. Its not like there is much else to do at this point anyway.
Reward: 5 EXP, Possibly more information on <The Gamer>
Failure: Not finding out more about <The Gamer>
Click.
"Ah!" I pushed yes without thinking about it! Of course she would've pushed it no matter what; how could she have said no to that? Knowing other people who knew about this would be great, and she wanted to know more about it anyway...but still, she had really expected herself to take a second to consider before saying yes! "Oh well, it's fine! I wanna try it anyway!" Where to start investigating, though? She hadn't seen anyone with the same sign over their heads. Maybe there was something online since the last time she looked? This time, she tried entering the term the same way she saw it in the quest's text. Don't capitals matter sometimes in games? I'm not sure...
To her surprise, this time a result did show up. It was on a message board she visited sometimes, but in a section she had never really checked before. What she found was better than expected! Finally, an end to the barren blankness of her Friends window, and a chance to talk to someone about this! She wanted in, right now, right this secon-- Her phone chose that moment to buzz in her hand - and she knew exactly why."Nooooo, why nooow?!" Her break was over in just a few minutes; the alarm was set to warn her so she could get back in time. B-but...but! Friend requests! a little voice in her head whined. No...I just got a raise yesterday, I can't start being late now, not even for this. With a sigh, she pocketed the device and headed back out.
Later, she tapped one of her coworkers on the arm. "I'll be right back, okay?" The lunch rush had died down, and it felt safe to take a breather at last. She would be off soon, so she didn't get another break today...but she just couldn't wait until then. She wanted to make that request! "Sure, but hurry back!" She nodded her understanding and walked to the bathrooms. Even if someone was in there, she could cover up the sound of her commands with flushing, probably.
Hidden within a stall, she took her phone out and went back to the message board. Okay, okay, where is it, where...ah-ha, there you are! The instructions were simple enough now that she was actually reading them. "Friend List," she said in a whisper. The requested window appeared. It seemed like all that was needed was for her to say what she wanted; loud or quiet didn't matter. "Add friend." Once the request was completed, she found herself looking at the screen hopefully. Will I get an answer right away? Do I have to say yes after? Can I send a message before the request is done?
Aware that she didn't have a lot of time, and that she very well might burst if she couldn't say something to somebody now that she knew there were somebodies out there to say them to, Yuriko went back to the message board instead. In the existing thread she wrote a quick message: Hello! I have the quest too. I was thinking that it would be good to have a place where everyone that knows things about 'The Gamer' could share info. If everyone works together, then we all learn more and can help each other!
With that done, she scurried back out and returned to work, hoping there wasn't a suspicious delay. Now she just had to wait...with her curiosity gnawing away at the back of her head...during one of the slower periods at her job. If I'm not crazy now, this'll do the trick for sure! she thought with a sigh.
Saito sat there, playing on his PFP for a while he was waiting for Sam to get off of work. After all he had some things to show not only her, but Oz when he got here as well. That was when suddenly he noticed a window. Another Friend Request? Well now there were four 'The Gamers'. He checked the forum post. Sure enough there was another post there and it didn't seem like a troll. No this person talked about the quest and everything. Not only that, but the friend Request window in front of him was no reason to doubt that this was indeed a fourth Gamer. Naturally he pressed 'Accept'.
A window would appear in front of Yuriko after that, the window reading as following.
Saito Tatsumi has accepted your Friend Request.
After that he typed a message, playing it off by typing it slowly as if he was using the touch screen on his PFP. After typing his message out he mumbled 'send', sending the message to Yuriko. It was the same one he sent to Oz. Right after he sent it in front of Yuriko another window would appear, reading as follows. It looked more like a Private Message rather than an alert.
From: Saito Tatsumi
Come to the following address: There is an address listed here
After that Saito would type another message slowly, sending this one to Sam this time as she went through her shift. The message, when Sam would receive it as a window appearing in front of her, read as thus.
From: Saito Tatsumi
I just got a Friend Request from another Gamer. It appears that there are four of us now.
Oz bounced off from his bed and landed perfectly on his feet, "I guess I best be off then." He put on his shoes, then walked back into his place to look at himself in the mirror. It took him a few minutes to get his hat to sit the way he wanted it to. It looked pretty much the same every time, but it just felt a bit off, so in the end, he used his inventory to place his hat on, which for one reason or another, put it on just right. He felt his phone vibrate, but chose to ignore it. This was a bit more important at the moment.
After his hat Dilemma, Oz got himself to the bookstore as quickly as he could, without putting in a lot of effort. As excited as he was, he found that running only works for the first 2 minutes, after that, he just goes slower than walking, he eventually realized that he would be the one to save his friends from the bear if they had to run away. Sure enough though, he did make it to the bookstore before it would close. Swinging open the door with a big smile on his face, he looked around the place. He knew that he was being stared at, this wasn't exactly the place that such a colourful and loud person like him normally went to. Last time he saw this many books was when he got kicked out of this school's library after all.
He spotted a boy with a PFP, with the title of Gamer, and the same name as the one who sent him the friend request and all! "Score!" His smile reached from ear to ear, as he helped himself to sitting down with Saito, "Hiya! Names Ozwald, but you can call me Oz!" He bolted his hand out to shake Saito's from across the table.
Well this was certainly the pleasant surprise. Suddenly into the store came Oz, the one who created the forum post, who made a beeline to go sit at Saito's table. When Oz came in Saito didn't turn around because he didn't need to. Those on the minimap on the Friends List appeared as green dots, so when he heard the bell jingle for someone coming in all he had to do was turn it on and look to see a green dot heading straight for his table to know that Oz was coming, which was a pretty useful thing.
He sat down and put down his PFP, smiling at the man who seemed quite enthusiastic and socially outgoing. A bit of the opposite of Saito who didn't know how to talk to people, but certainly didn't mind trying. As one who was cooped up for most of his life he wanted to make friends. So when Oz offered his hand for a handshake Saito returned the favor, gently shaking the man's hand. "And mine is Saito, its nice to meet you". They already knew each other's names, as they were above each others' heads, but an introduction was still nice anyway.
Saito then slid his notebook, which he didn't put back into his inventory after Sam gave it back to him, over to Oz, giving the man a small smile as he was pretty much telling him to read the contents of the notebook, which contained alot of knowledge about the Gamer power.
Anything in Italics is not actually written in there
This power is amazing. It has given me not only my legs back, but also my life as well. I haven't seen Onee-chan (older sister. Remember this is technically Japan) this happy in a long time. Thus I have decided to dedicate as much of my time as I can spare to finding out more about this 'Gamer' Power and will record all of my findings in here. Apparently sleeping in a bed with this power can heal all wounds, illnesses, and just general pain and fatigue in a single night. Its thanks to this function that my legs recovered when I had already thought that they never would. This is why I want to find out more about this strange power.
There are writings, eraser marks, and just general show that these pages here have been edited alot.
Everything with this power is activated by Voice Commands. Including the HUD. These are the various windows that I have discovered.
Stats: It seems to give a numerical measurement of our natural abilities, just like the Stat Scores of a game character. It appears that as I level up I get 4 Stat Points per level and as I put points into various stats my natural abilities actually improve according to the increases I made. Its thanks to this that I can actually fulfill my dream now. Not only leveling, but I have discovered that by practicing or working hard in various ways in different activities can actually improve our Scores. I my Int increased while studying really hard for the Gekkoukan High entrance exams.
I have now reached Level 10 and at Levels 11 and 10 I got 5 Stat Points. I wonder if the amount increases at every 10th Level.
Talents: This seems to contain measurements of basic 'skills' or Talents in this case. It seems that they can only be increased once per level, but Skills and just hard practice and work can increase them as well. They seem to go up more easily than Stats do. You get 3 Points per level.
Skills: These appear to be special abilities and powers that either grant passive characteristics or let you do cool moves or powers like Game Characters can. There are two kinds, Active and Passive. Passive are always active, but to use an Active Skill you have to say the name of the skill. They seem to be obtained through performing special actions that could translate into game character skills. There are also basic instructions on how to level them up. Some seem to level up faster than others. This System has Skill Books as well apparently.
Inventory: An actual game inventory. That is awesome. Items can be placed in the slots just by pushing them into the window and things can be equipped as well, changing whatever you are holding or wearing instantly. Also an equipped Item or Weapon that goes in your hands can actually be summoned at will if you ever need to use it. I thought that was cool. The annoying thing is though that if you want to change what is equipped you have to open up your inventory and do it manually. Food also seems to stay fresh and drinks cold in there as well. Healing Items, which right now is food since I don't know how to make or get Health Potions, discovered to have immediate affects.
Friends: We have a friends list. Apparently it can also be used to message anyone as well. Also apparently Friends appear as green dots on the minimap rather than white. It automatically has my sister on it, but I wonder if I could register other people as well.
Quests: We can get quests as well. Judging from the few quests I have gotten I have learned that Quests are only given when a task requires both time and effort to accomplish. Simple fetch tasks or other simple, easy tasks are not translated into game character quests.
Options: This one surprised me. It has Gameplay, Audio, and Video Options. I don't really want to mess with Audio and Video, but I did discover that Gameplay actually has an option for Auto Dungeon Entry. I currently have it turned off so I don't accidentally enter every Mirror Zone I come across. Thanks to that it now alerts me when I come across one.
Minimap: An actual minimap. Can be moved by my touch and it has a zoom in and out button. Enemies appear as Red dots, regular people appear as white, and friends appear as green dots.
Party: Apparently its possible to create parties as well by saying 'Create Party'. I wonder how that would work with normal people, would they be able to get EXP as well?
I wonder if there are any other functions out there.
These next pages, as this seems to take up several, seem to contain detailed information on each of Saito's current Skills including how he obtained them. (Your character can now know what Skills Saito has on his CS if she reads this section and their current levels, but not how much EXP they have).
ID Create: Learned when that Messenger of Gaia taught me how to make a Mirror Zone.
ID Escape: Learned when that Messenger of Gaia taught me how to escape from a Mirror Zone.
Mana Bolt: Obtained while learning how to create a Mirror Zone.
Observe: Learned when trying to figure out how to fight the first Imp I encountered when I accidentally first entered a Mirror Zone.
Free Running: Learned after alot of practice doing Free Running after I raised my Dex and Acrobatics more.
Staff Mastery: Learned the first time I wielded my sister's old Fiberglass Bo-Staff from the time she used to practice martial arts for a little while to learned self defense. I guess that is why she is Level 2.
Physical Endurance: Learned after I got hit by an Imp's claws but managed to stay standing.
Swift Strike: Not really aware how I got this one. It just happened.
Mana Ball: Learned when I tried to see what happened if instead of firing a Mana Bolt I held it cupped between both palms and then add another Mana Bolt to it.
Hand Bomb: Learned when I slammed an enemy with Mana Ball rather than throwing it at the enemy and managed to dodge the small explosion after affect.
Moving Attack Expertise: Learned after performing a few running and jumping attacks.
Tumbling Attack Expertise: Learned when I tumbled behind an Imp one time and then struck it as I was coming out of my cartwheel using my staff.
First Aid: Learned from a book on First Aid I found in my house. Discovered that this system has Skill Books apparently.
Critical Strike: learned after getting my first Critical Strike.
Crafting: I started off with this one. Guess its cause I made alot of things during my large amounts of spare time.
This section here only takes up a single page, but it contains some strange info.
Mirror Zone: A strange zone where all the people vanish, electric lights go out, and signs appear as if they are reflected in a Mirror. According to the Messenger of Gaia, Gaia makes these zones for people with powers for using of powers since anything that happens in here doesn't affect the real world.
Messenger of Gaia: A mysterious man with the class Messenger of Gaia. I have no idea who he is, but his level was ??? so he might be really powerful.
Gaia: The Will of the World, of the very planet we live on. The Living Earth Theory is correct apparently according to that Messenger of Gaia. He didn't tell me much else.
Interference Law: Apparently if you use your powers to affect normal people and the real world Gaia will eliminate you, which is unavoidable since that is the planet itself trying to kill you. It could be through lightning strikes, random trucks, or other such 'natural' happenings.
Power Users?: The Messenger of Gaia mentioned that my power was unique, something that he had never seen before. This could mean that there are other people with special powers out there like magic for instance.
Yuriko jerked in surprise. Eeep! She barely managed not to make a sound; hopefully if anyone had noticed, they'd assume she just stifled a sneeze or something. Her gaze dropped to the blue-tinted window that floated nearby. I'm so not used to these yet... Her mood improved the second she saw what the words said. Yes! Friend request accepted!! Sure, the chances of rejection had probably been low, but the news made her happy. She had just managed to make the window vanish - hiding the motion as part of grabbing a pen - when another appeared. She noticed that it was different from previous ones because it had a 'from' this time. Come to this address...wait, we're meeting? When? Now?! Her gaze flickered around the room in search of a clock. Of course, there weren't any that she could see from within the employee stations, because there never had been. Yuri had forgotten all about that in her excitement. I want to go! But I have to finish my shift...it's gotta be over soon, right? It was tempting, very very tempting, to focus on the million and five questions that wanted to spill out of her head. Or to spend the time wondering how to send a return PM. But she managed to turn that energy towards working properly instead.
As soon as her replacement had taken over, she signed out, rushed to get her things, and looked at that address. I've been over there before, but not to that store...okay! I'll just put it in my phone! She pulled out the device and opened the mapping app, only to pause a second. Wait, doesn't this thing have an auto-map, like a game one? That might be easier than carrying my phone around... After several minutes, she finally whispered, "Umm...was it toggle minimap?" In response a small image appeared before her eyes. "Whew! Took long enough!" The combination of the map and the address should be enough for her to find her way there. Good thing, because she really didn't want to waste any more time! The idea of Saito deciding to leave before she got there was just too much for her inquisitive side to bear.
It didn't take long to get to the bookstore; though it wasn't that close to her job, it wasn't far out of the way either. She stepped through the doors and then to one side, giving others room to move while scanning the area. I really should have stopped and asked what to look for. It's not like I can tell who I'm looking for by---oh, duh! I just look for the name! One self-directed eye roll later, she found it. Saito Tatsumi...whoa, he's level 11?! Oh, there's somebody else too, awesome! Yuri's eyes sparkled in delight as she walked over to the pair. "Hi!" The chipper voice was accompanied by a warm smile. It was like they were old friends meeting again instead of total strangers. "Mind if I sit here? My name's Yuriko." Her smile crept towards an amused grin. "Buuuut I think you might've guessed that, huh?" She gave a small nod towards the space just over their heads and added, "It's great to meet you!" Even though Saito was the one who invited her, it seemed right to include Oz in all of that, since she really had been hoping to meet other Gamers.
Not too much longer after Oz had shown up and had begun his conversation with Saito as well as reading the notebook (ill leave it up to you, Ominal, if you have him read it), another Gamer showed up. There were now four of them in total in that store. When she came to sit down, Saito offered a smile back to her in return. "Its nice to meet you as well." Saito was polite. Even if he didn't know how to talk to others he certainly did try to do so in the best manner that he could. He wasn't raised by his sister to be a total jerk after all.
"Feel free to read the notebook" Saito gestured to the notebook he had passed to Oz "After he is done with it. It contains everything I know about our power and about our... unique situation." He would wait for both of them to get a chance to read the notebook, if they both wanted to read it of course. If they both didn't want to read it then Saito would take it back. Otherwise by the time they would both get a chance to peruse its contents it would be about 6 PM, the time that Sam gets off of her shift.
First he sent Sam a quick PM as silently as he could as to not attract attention from other patrons. It read as thus, once it was sent.
From: Saito Tatsumi
Meet us outside of the shop. There are some things I need to show everyone.
After that Saito stood up, gently taking the notebook back once the two were done with it and tucking it under his arm. "Shall we go then?" He would head outside, expecting the others to follow him out of the store. Once outside he would first wait for Sam to join them, smiling at the small group once everyone was together.
"It seems that there are four of us in total. Seems like a good party size. Follow me, there is something I want to show you all."
Neo-Tokyo was divided into four districts. The Entertainment District. Home to most entertainment businesses like clubs, malls (the main one being Septemberes) and was pretty much like Akihabara in a sense only it was more for all forms of entertainment rather than just otakus. The Port Island District was a combination of educational, residential, and businesses from just simple grocery stores or other small businesses to a few residential areas and the schools, Gekkoukan and Neo-Tokyo U being two of the more prominent ones. The Business District was pretty much mostly shops and stores. Residential here and there with a few schools, but was mostly larger companies, stores, restaurants, and other forms of businesses.
Then finally there was the Residential District. This was where the bulk of the residence areas were with more grocery stores, restaurants, and other small shops mixed in. This district had a few places of entertainment like movie theaters or arcades, but those were rather small and people attended them for convenience rather than quality (since one usually went to the Entertainment District (also nicknamed Neo Akiba) for such things). The main thing there was the many residential areas, a couple of schools, and the grocery stores and restaurants. Of course these districts actually all had official names, but people usually referred to them by these nicknames.
Of course there was also the industrial district as well, the 'fifth district', but people usually didn't talk about it since it was a little further from the city and full of industry.
Saito was taking them to the outer parts of the business district and soon enough they reached their destination, an old warehouse with another old warehouse next to it. There were several in this area packed together, probably used for storage, but they all seemed abandoned. The door that Saito took them to seemed to be locked shut, but Saito seemed to have a way in. "This is the place." After that he looked up and to the side, one of the windows having been broken open. It looked to be about fifteen feet up. There was alot of junk around the area as well. Tires, old boxes, planks of wood. One could probably make a ladder or a platform high enough to get in through the window by boosting someone up, but Saito seemed to have different plans.
About eight feet up there was a board that looked like it was nailed to the side of the warehouse with the broken window that Saito seemed to be trying to get into its side door. Suddenly he began to set a few things up, just a couple of 'steps' that would go up about five feet made from junk. A confident look appeared on his face as with a small gesture he told the rest to stand back, moving to the other side of these 'steps' as he seemed prepared to do something.
Suddenly Saito ran up the steps with grace and agility. Well more like jumped up the three individual steps with the last step being five feet up, the second being three, and the first being one. After that he took one more leap up to the board and hung off of that, quickly pulling himself up onto it. This was where things got tricky as the instant he pulled himself up he seemed to use that board as a step. Using that board, and his momentum still from pulling himself up, he actually ran up the wall just a couple of steps, something that was highly possible for the incredibly athletic. He managed to grab on to the edge of the window right when it was in his reach, but didn't stop there.
Instead of pulling himself in like normal he kicked off the wall and pushed himself upward with his hands, seeming to sort of 'jump' in instead of pull himself in, Saito now disappearing into the warehouse building. A few moments after that the door suddenly clicked opened, Saito opening it and giving them a small smile, breathing a small bit heavily as that was always a little invigorating each time he did that. "Sorry about that. I had to unlock the door. Please, come in."
If they all entered or just took a look inside they would see a large, abandoned warehouse. Junk and crates were scattered here and there and light was pouring in from the windows, which were all mostly broken. Luckily it was still somewhat bright this time of day. Saito went over to the much larger front doors, which they probably hauled the big stuff in and out of, and opened them, letting in alot more light as he waited for the others to take in their new surroundings first and ask any questions they may have.
Sam had been stacking new books onto shelves near the back of the store when she received a message from Saito. After reading it she chuckled lightly. 'Hasn't even been an hour since I meet another Gamer for the first time and now their popping up like daisies. I wonder how many more of us there are or if it's just us four.' She shook her head. Now was not the time to ponder such things. If she did she would end up standing there for at least an hour contemplating the probability of such occurrences, thus causing her to be unable to do her job which would then result in her getting yelled at.
Wanting to let Saito know she had received and read the message she pulled up her PM window and wrote a quick one herself, which read:
From: Sam Bannings
Thanks for letting me know.
It had been nearly five minutes since she had sent her own message when she heard a loud voice, loud by bookstore standards that is, from the front of the shop. She peered out from the shelf she stood behind and looked to see who had spoken. Her answer came in the form of a tall man with light blue and green hair that sat down in front of Saito. While that was enough to make him stand out to her what really stood out was what was above his head: <The Gamer> LV 1 Oz Neid. 'He must be one of the other Gamers that contacted Saito earlier.'
She was about to go back to her work when someone walked through the door with an increasingly familiar tag above their head: <The Gamer> LV1 Yuriko Shimizu. 'And there is Gamer number 4.' Sam thought as she watched the brown haired, blue eyed Gamer approach the other two at the front of the shop. 'Is my place of working becoming the Gamer hangout now?' She joked to herself seeing as how all of the Gamers, the ones that she is aware of that is, had gathered here. She watched the small group for a little while longer before she went back to staking books.
Awhile later, after she had finally gotten back to work, she received another message from Saito.
From: Saito Tatsumi
Meet us outside of the shop. There are some things I need to show everyone.
Sam looked over at the clock at the wall and noticed that it was six o'clock. Not wanting to make the others wait to long, despite the fact that she figured the other two didn't even know she was there as neither had looking in her general direction the entire time, she quickly made her way to the back room where she retrieved her school bag, which she then put directly into her inventory, and sweatshirt. She quickly threw on her sweatshirt and pulled the hood up over her head, which covered nearly the entire top portion of her face and leaving only everything bellow her nose visible, and made her way to the front of the store where she meet up with everyone else.
Sam followed Saito as he lead them to an old warehouse in the outer region of the business district. She watched silently as he attempted to open the door only to find it locked and then went on to set something up using the junk that was around. She then watched as he made his way into a broken window. Not even a minute later she heard a click and the previously locked door was opened from the inside revealing Saito.
With the door now open Sam made her way into the warehouse. If the warehouse look abandoned from the outside it look just as abandoned on the inside. Crates of various sizes could be found stacked around the area and junk was scattered around the floor. 'Well this place is interesting to say the least.' She quipped to herself before turning to Saito. "Any particular reason you brought us out here to an abandoned warehouse?"
While waiting for her turn, Yuriko decided to strike up a conversation with the notebook's owner. There wasn't anything better to do - and not in the sense of having nothing else to do, either. She felt that getting to know these people was one of the best possible uses of her time. Maybe they could help each other. Maybe they'd even become friends! Besides, it was start slow, or start asking all of her questions all at once...so she began with a small one. "Hey, what should I call you?" Her tone was polite, yet curiosity was written all over her face. "Do you like 'Tatsumi' more, or 'Saito'?"
That was just the tip of the iceberg, and neither of the boys was exempt from her friendly barrage of 'getting to know you' questions. If anything went unanswered, or she was asked to cut it out, she would do so right away...but she really, really hoped they'd talk to her in return. I guess I could just play it safe, stick to questions about what's happening with us...but that's so impersonal! And we might learn something useful, I'm sure they won't mind that, anyway... Aware that they had just met, Yuri did her best to stick to simple things that wouldn't seem too personal or nosy. In return, she gladly answered questions about herself - if she hadn't already offered the info in the process of making conversation, which was quite likely. It's not like she had anything to hide.
When a chance presented itself, she looked toward Oz and asked, "Can I add you as a friend too?" She decided to take a look inside of the notebook after finding out. Most of what she found was additional useful information on things she had stumbled across, but the part about skills was all new, as was the information on the world. "Mirror World? Living planet theory?" she murmured, giving the pages a puzzled look. "That sounds like something from..." She trailed off, searched for a better word, but really couldn't think of something that avoided the pun. "Er, well, from a game. Right? Like the one where the hero goes through a mirror and turns into a bunny at first."Wait, that can't happen, can it?! It didn't seem like it from what was written in the book, but two days ago she would have said that storing her stuff in thin air was unlikely too...
Later, as they headed outside, she glanced at her phone. It was a little after 6; still plenty of time left in the day by her standards. "So, where are we headed?"I wonder what this is all abo--oh, hey! She just happened to glance towards someone that had walked out of the store, only to notice a familiar phrase over that person's head. There was someone else like us here the whole time! How'd I miss that? The surprise was a welcome one, and she introduced herself to Sam without missing a beat. It was a bit disappointing that she couldn't really see the other girl's face, but Yuri shrugged that off; Sam probably had a reason for it, even if it was just personal preference. That was no reason not to be friendly. She soon included the other girl in her attempts to keep a conversation going among the group, and asked for a friend request with a cheery smile.
That persisted until they left the familiar streets of the Entertainment District. As they continued, she needed to read street signs and look around more in order to keep her bearings. Her eyes often flicked back to the patch of air occupied by her minimap. Umm, okay, so on the map we just passed that block...ugh, this thing needs a map marker system! There was a hopeful note in her voice as she murmured, "Set marker?" Maybe something would happen if she just tried it. It'd be nice if it did; the Business District wasn't a place she needed to visit often, and she really didn't want to end up lost among a bunch of empty warehouses.
Even with that concern on her mind, her features showed surprise, then admiration, at Saito's trick to enter the building. Whoa! That was like something from a movie! If she had felt a bit more comfortable with her surroundings she might have clapped in appreciation when he opened the door. She tried to peek around him to see what was inside, but there wasn't much she could see - just a lot of empty space, occasionally a box or crate. Okaaaay...this is getting kinda weird. What are we doing out here? It felt like she should have wondered about that a while ago, but now, the only way to find out was to go inside. She was checking out the place when Sam asked the most obvious question. Yuri still had another to add: "And what is this place, anyway? We don't need this kind of room just for talking..." She kept her tone light, almost joking, but her unease had crept into her features a little.
"Saito is just fine Shimizu-san." Saito preferred if they could address each other more informally. It would make things less awkward or tension filled in his opinion if they all started off as friends rather than acquaintances. Of course he would address the others formally unless they told him to otherwise. After all it was a bit rude to talk to someone with familiarity in Japaerica (Japan) without either their consent or knowing them that well. Of course then he heard her questions about the Living World Theory and the Mirror Zone. Important questions indeed, but ones that Saito wasn't too comfortable discussing inside of a bookstore with all of these other people around.
"We can discuss those things later."
And later did indeed come. Once everyone had gotten into the abandoned warehouse, a few of them asking questions about why they were here, Saito walked over to a box and began pulling things from thin air. Of course it was actually him taking stuff out of his inventory, but to others it would be like if the stuff just magically appeared since they couldn't see each others' windows. On a nearby large crate he set three wooden baseball bats, a bokken, a wooden Bo-Staff, and a bow and 10 arrows that looks more like one for practice rather than a real one. They all looked like they were in brand new condition and that's because they were.
"A sport's equipment store was just throwing these broken pieces away, so instead I asked if I could have them. I fixed them up with my Craft Skill. Go ahead, choose one." They all did indeed look like they were brand new despite the fact that they were broken before according to Saito. While they picked Saito decided to explain a few questions.
"I don't know all of the details, but according to the Messenger of Gaia" who Saito had mentioned in the notebook, so he assumed they all knew what he was talking about, "using our powers to affect the real world is against the Interference Law and can get us killed. Mirror Zones are special zones created by Gaia where we can use special powers all we want and it won't affect the real world at all. Apparently all power users, including us, possess the capability to create them."
"Apparently for us though creating a Mirror Zone gives us a Skill called ID Create and there are different kinds of Mirror Zones or IDs, which stand for Instant Dungeon. The types I can currently create spawn different forms of monsters, which I don't really know what they are. All I know is though that if we fight we gain EXP and can level up, just like in a game. Which is why I brought everyone to this place."
After his somewhat more awkwardly explained explanation, as again Saito didn't really know how to talk to other people especially in long winded speeches, Saito waited for them to ask questions, and choose their weapons if they were going to choose any.
