Story 3: Chapter 1: Soul Art Online (Patreon)

Story 3: Soul Art Online (not to be confused with Sword Art Online)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 1: Soul Art Online

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- ??? -

"Adding x and y will give us the answer to our main problem. Does anyone have any questions?"

This is so boring.

I mechanically noted down the problem. My mind was in its own world though.

The teacher tried to make the lesson interesting but… much more than the first time but doing basic high school algebra again when I already have my masters… could only be so interesting.

Then again living life again was… pretty boring.

Normally the thoughts of what was called isekai, was very popular among the weebs of my time. I would know, I was one of them after all.

But the truth is often very underwhelming.

Living as a newborn child was a punishment on its own. Not being able to communicate is very and I mean very annoying.

And unlike what all those BS novels and fics showed, these days have a very great effect on a person's mind. Effects that would need a long ass therapy to recover from.

I for one became uninterested in common things that children of my age enjoy. It was annoying at first to have to pretend to care until I got tired of pretending and gave up trying.

I mean just how much can someone pretend to be happy to be taken out to the park or play with three year olds.

Being an oddball is not appreciated in society however. A sociopath, even less.

I'm not a sociopath however. I just have my emotions a bit dulled. I still feel happy and sad. I still enjoy things, but not as much as I did before.

I guess I need more stimulation, preferably something to get my adrenaline pumping.

This class however is not that.

"Can you please give the answer to this question, Mr. Strauss?" I heard the teacher. 

"20." I replied, taking one look at the board.

The teacher gave a sigh.

This teacher was new. Others had already given up asking me questions.

The only reason I’m not thrown out of the class is because of my grades. I have the top scores in every subject the school teaches. Not because I'm a genius or anything but simply because these are childish things.

I’m able to learn things faster than most but that could be because of my experience.

Now some may question that if I'm this advanced and bored, why don't I seek for early promotions. The answer would be simple.

My parents.

They think it is better for me to learn to get along with kids my age.

I cannot explain my situation to them and I know that they genuinely care so I too bite the bullet and go on with it.

The class ended. The last class for today.

I walked towards my home.

My parents have a flourishing business of their own. It keeps them busy but they never skipped any of their duties due to this. In fact they have been the best parents I could ask for.

Well except the school part.

It was just this. A boring routine everyday.

This however was going to change soon.

I opened my room's door and saw the solution to my difficulties.

The Nerve Gear.

Now the first thing that comes to mind when saying the words Nerve Gear to a reincarnated person like me is - Sword Art Online, a series I only watched so that I could watch the abridged version.

The whole debacle of getting trapped in the game was a big red sign but I did all the research about the game and the nerve gear. Apparently the security and safety details were taken as the first priority(as it should be). So no brain frying attachments, the device can just be detached and once the power is turned out, the player wakes up simply.

Anything that went over someone's head was thoroughly checked. Even a simple helmet had to go through several checks, let alone something like this Nerve Gear.

Also, the maker of this was not Akihiko Kayaba. How that guy had pulled something like that went to say a lot about both him and the government of the country.

Oh, by the way, the name of the Game is 'Soul Art Online'.

The game has a fantasy land where the total land area to be explored is forty times more than the entire earth. They went all out on the game. A total of thirty five million Nerve Gears were sold all over the world for the 'Grand Opening' of the game.

The game itself was said to have a function which allowed the players to communicate without a language barrier. It did something with the brainwaves to convert the language perfectly and people could talk in any language and the listeners will perceive it in their own language. As for the contents of the game, it's all a surprise.

The Beta Testers were all insiders and none of them revealed anything outside.The rumours came up a few times but they were removed swiftly. 

It is estimated that the game will have around twenty million players for its grand opening. An event will be held at the opening and that was about everything we knew.

- Scene Change -

I set the Nerve Gear up near my bed. The equipment was quite easy to set up.

My parents had actually been happy that I was actually excited about something and didn't mind the Nerve Gear either.

It was quarter to eight and the game opened at eight am sharp but the players could take some time for their character creation. Fifteen minutes should be enough for that I guess.

I switched the Nerve Gear on and blackness surrounded me.

I opened my eyes in a white space.

A window appeared in front of me asking to enter the name of my character.

My full name is Arthur Strauss. I thought of a name that made me chuckle a bit.

Arthas.

Arthur Strauss.

Then came the character design. And they did go all out on this one.

The sheer range of character designs available in the game was amazing.

There was even an option for changing the gender, although it was permanent so I stayed away from it.

I chose a character of my size. I didn’t know how the motor functions would be affected by the change in body size. Rather not take any risks.

As for the looks, I myself looked pretty fine. I inherited the good looks of my parents. The blue hair from my mother and the golden eyes of my father. This was the only fact that told me that we were in a different world until I was old enough to know more about the outside world. The hair colours of people in the world are straight out of anime.

The Game was advertised to have over eight hundred classes but they would need to be unlocked. It reminded me somewhat of the Final Fantasy Games I had played in my previous life. The first job class was the same for everyone, A Villager.

We can unlock other classes as we progress in the game.

Then finally when it was the time to start the game. The countdown reached zero and a message appeared in front me.

A man in black hooded cloak spoke the words in an ancient sounding tone.

Welcome to the world of Arcana. Here the wildest of your dreams will come true. You will face your wildest imaginations and if you prevail, achieve the greatest of rewards.

This world will challenge the furthest extent of your whole being. Adapt and grow stronger. After all, ‘Human beings are strong because we can change ourselves.’

Do you wish to put yourself on the line - mind, body, heart and soul to explore the ends of this world?

[Yes][No]

I clicked yes and the world around me flashed, sending me to my starting point.

- Scene Change -

The Redwick Village is the starting point that I was sent to.

The game has over 50,000 starting villages for the players. The location is chosen at random. The player can level up to a certain level and teleport to any of the locations after completing certain quests.

It was not quite user friendly, especially for those who wanted to form guilds with the members of their previous games and family members but it did teach people to become self-reliant. The game developers said that it was to stop the initial bullying phase or at least delay it a bit. Some guilds can capture certain starting points and become a nuisance for the players at the start of the game, monopolising the resources. This will prevent that from happening at the very start of the game.

Well, that’s what they said. There were short term rumours that the creator of the game was crazy. I mean sure, I believe that. Geniuses are crazy and it will take something far more than a normal genius to make this game. I mean look at this beauty.

The first thing I did after entering the Game was check if the Game had a Logout button.

It did.

I made a trip from my room to make sure as well.

This was thankfully not like Sword Art Online.

I could smell the fragrance of the fresh countryside air.

The Sky looked amazing and we could see different masses of land floating in extremely distant skies.

The touch and feel of everything was as original as it could be. It was fucking perfect.

The game’s event was going to start when the total participants reached 20 million. Until then we were free to do as we liked.

The Class System was basically, all Classes were divided into Tiers.

The Villager was a Tier 1 class.

It had 10 levels.

The Max Level of each Class was equal to 10*(It’s Tier).

For example a Tier Eight Class would have a max level of 80.

The Class Window was divided into ten slots, one corresponding for each Tier. The Player can Unlock any Class but they can only keep one Class active in each Tier and they will get the Stats and Skills corresponding to the active Classes. The Equipment will correspond to the Class in the Highest Active Tier active to the player.

This allowed the players to play and explore each class in the Game if they could unlock them and were willing to level them, that is, as well as enjoy completely different playstyles if they were willing to work for it. The Game Developers had worked a lot and it showed. 

I saw that some players had started appearing around me and I stepped into the village to get the quests and probably get some way to unlock stuff.

Early game progress is very important.

I noticed a shop sign on the street and entered the shop that looked like a general store.

It was manned by an old woman, dressed in a mediaeval European villager dress.

“Welcome to Martha’s Store, child. What do you want today? A piece of bread, mabe some ointment or a new set of shirts?”

“Hello. My name is Arthas. I'm new to this place and was wondering if there was a place where I could find some new work. I do need some money to pay for things?”

“Oh dear me. A newbie in the Village. Well, welcome to Redwick, Laddie. Work you say? Hmm, let me see. I wouldn’t mind getting some blue moon grass from the nearby grasslands. It grows just outside the village although they are a bit hard to spot. This is what it looks like. I would like to have twenty of these but I can take more if you get them.”

Quest received:

Martha’s List.

Martha needs the Blue Moon Grass to make her healing salves. Find her enough to complete her requirements.

Objective: Blue Moon Grass(0/20)

Reward: 100 Exp. +5 Exp for each extra piece you collect, 1G for each piece of Blue Moon Grass.

Accept: Yes/No,

She showed me the picture of the herb and I got the message that the quest has been received.

I look in my inventory. I have one hundred gold.

“Are there any dangers in the area? If so, where can I find a weapon?”

“No no. There aren’t any dangers in the area. The dangerous things only come out at night if you go near the forest. At best some rabbits and such. As for the weapon part, you can look at the Blacksmith shop two alleys down the street. Braham makes very good weapons. Was a Knight once, that old man. Too bad he encountered a dire wolf. Survived with just a leg, that one.”

“Thanks granny. I will get those Blue Moon Grasses for you but before leaving can I see some of your wares?”

I left the shop with some bread, ropes and an ointment and quickly hurried to the blacksmith’s shop.

The man himself wasn’t present at the counter and a younger assistant was present who looked like he would faint at any instant. After some talk, I found out that the guy had been working hard to save something for his sister’s birthday present. I bought a Knife from him for 20 gold and two basic traps for another twenty and left towards my first quest.

He did give me a quest to find something for his sister if I could.

The village was starting to get crowded as new players were popping in every instant.

I raced towards the corner of the village. The basic Health and Stamina Bars showing on the top left corner of my screen. A Villager was the lowest of the job classes and thus the stamina on this Class is shit.

I reached the outskirts of the town pretty quickly. It was a rather open field with some trees and bushes here and there.

I even saw a rabbit or two around the bushes. The bushes themselves had several berries and such. I don’t know the respawn time on these things so it will be better to get my hands on as many resources as I can.

I quickly set up the traps near the area I had seen the rabbits appearing and got down to picking up every fruit I could get my hands on.

The Blue Moon Grass that Martha said to look for were rare and hard to find but there was one thing in common among them and that was that each of them was in the shade of other plants or rocks.

In about another hour, the other players started coming out to this area but by that time, I had emptied the bushes and netted several rabbits. There were plenty of rabbit holes near the area.

I wonder what their respawn times were.

I had however collected more than twice the amount of the grass needed for Quest along with several other herbs that I didn’t know anything about. It was in front of me so I picked them.

The logged in players were also starting to reach the required mark.

I went to the old shopkeeper lady and completed the quest, getting 1G for each piece of Blue Moon grass for a total of forty, recovering the amount I had spent. The fruits were bought by her too. I completed the quest from the quest menu to receive the rewards.

+200 Exp, +40 G.

Level Up!

Villager Lvl: 2(100/200)

+1 STR, +1 END, +1 DEX.

T1 Class: Forager Unlocked.

On her recommendation, I went ahead to the Butcher’s shop who could buy the rabbit's meat while the blacksmith or the tailor could make stuff with the rabbit pelt.

I sold half the meat while keeping half for myself.

It was at this time, the counter reached the 20 million mark.

The Sky turned black and on the screen, the same man who had appeared in the welcome menu appeared in the sky.

Welcome everyone to ‘Soul Art Online’. I'm the creator of this game. You all can call me the Game Master.

 With our introductions done, let's start with the main part of Soul Art Online's Story.

This world of Arcana will be your home for years to come. I dare say that, except for the extra Game parts, it is a real world of its own.

I have given everyone the same starting point, the same potential and the same opportunities to rise to the top of the world. You can be anything, an Angel or a Devil, a Hero or a Villain in this world, however, be sure to face the consequences of your actions. I might not punish you, but the world itself is not so forgiving.

Every action has a consequence. Some might be good, some bad.

Okay then, have fun till you complete the game.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot to tell you all with mysterious philosophical BS, you guys are stuck in the game till you complete this. If you die in the game, you die in real life.

Remember that part about the souls and all in the welcome screen? That was all real.

You all quite literally signed off your souls to me.

As for the other facts, those are surprises you all can discover for yourselves.

The words were treated like a joke by the people surrounding me but I felt a pit forming in my stomach.

I quickly checked the menu and sure enough, the Log out Button was gone.

There was still hope in my mind because the device can just be turned off and it will be switched off after the battery runs out. This could be an elaborate prank as well.

Oh, in case you are thinking about anyone breaking you out after the battery runs out, don't bother. The device doesn't run on electricity but magic. For those who don't know, magic exists, so do all the mythological creatures that you may have heard about. It started the moment we started this event in-game. The time inside this world flows twenty times faster than the outside so a year outside is twenty years inside this world. Complete the game quickly and you might be back for Christmas. Good Luck. Have fun.

Oh, I left a gift for you all for this event. He snapped his fingers.

I felt my body change slightly. Looking at the window pane, I discovered that the slight changes I had made to my character's looks were reversed. I looked just like myself.

I looked as the sky turned back to its original colour as the Game Master's image faded.

This was very similar to what hazy bits of memories I had from the previous life. Things are going to turn chaotic very soon. Did I feel a panic attack coming?

Maybe. For once I felt thankful to my dulled emotions.

I quickly rushed towards an Inn and booked a room to get myself some privacy. I’d rather not be around when people started panicking. It is like a flu that spreads from one person to another.

I occupied the bed and took deep breaths. To calm myself down. It was for the first time in years that I felt my heart beat that fast outside of exercises. On one hand I was worried about being stuck in here for who knows how long and on the other, a very small part of me was really wishing for that to be the case.

I tried to meditate for a few minutes, to calm myself and think properly. Losing the ability to think properly would be a sure shot way to die.

I mean sure there is a high chance that this might be a prank but I don’t think that anyone and I mean anyone would do such a thing on the first day of a worldwide game launch. This type of move was basically PR suicide for any company.

This means that people will go crazy after they recover from their initial panic. Such fear will make them take irrational decisions and be prone to violence.

First things first, get a headstart from the first village. Games can have first kill bonuses and stuff for people who kill a boss for the first time and so.

I made a short term plan to take advantage of things I can while others are dealing with the situation while trying to remember all the things the Game Master had said.

This world is as real as the real world.

So stop thinking of this as a Game and start viewing this as a real world where people have a special type of power.

I brought out a piece of paper and made some notes of the things that I remembered to check out for in the next hour.

- Scene Change -

A week has passed since the opening of this game. I'm not sure if I should even call this a game anymore.

Any and all hopes of this being shut down were starting to die down.

And the most ridiculous thing about this was that I was not really bothered by any of this. I mean a bit but considering people who had shut themselves inside the inn or their makeshift homes, I might as well be enjoying my life here. The panic phase had started differently for everyone. Fifteen minutes after the announcement, some people had started to become uneasy. An hour later they had started panicking and shouting profanities. Around two hours later, Things had started to become crazy as people had started attacking the npc’s while some others huddled and started crying.

I had taken that time to collect all the quests I could at a single time and left to the outskirts of the village to complete them.

I needed a T2 Class job to get ahead and a T3 to stay safe. This was however easier said than done.

The rabbit pelts were used to make a scarf which was offered to the Blacksmith’s apprentice, getting me a thanks from him and a recommendation to the Hunter of the village because I could hunt well apparently.

The Hunter was the boy’s uncle.

I also got to meet the Blacksmith who gave me several quests which were basically to mine for ores, collect the fangs of the Sharp Fanged Wolves, the tusks of the Black Nosed Boars and such.

These quests were however currently outside my range because any one of those animals could make a chow out of me.

I paid a visit to the village Hunter who was another old man, Gunter.

The letter gave me the chance to become an apprentice hunter. My first test to become an Apprentice Hunter was to hunt 20 Rabbits and a boar.

Now, the first part was easy.

It just needed time.

The second one was hard. I had gained two levels after the Blacksmith’s quest and another one of Martha’s quests but a level 4 Villager alone would still die if facing a boar.

The trap to hunt a boar was expensive and by expensive I mean really expensive.

I had gotten a few tools from the Blacksmith. An axe, a shovel, a pickaxe for mining as well as several pieces of rope.

It took me hours to dig a hole and disguise it somewhat. Some chilli powder was collected from the General Stores and made into makeshift bombs after mixing it with water.

The next part was waiting on a tree for the boar. I spotted one after an hour or so and threw stones at it, bringing it towards me and then I threw the chilli water on its eyes. The beast cried out in pain as it thrashed around finally dropping into the hole.

I attacked it with the pickaxe, putting a hole through its head.

The Kill netted me one hundred and twenty experience points pushing me near level 5.

The old hunter took the quest loot and made me his formal apprentice and gave me a badge which signified the title.

Apprentice Hunter’s Insignia

+1 STR, +1 DEX

I got the notification at the same moment.

T2 Class: Apprentice Hunter Unlocked.

By then the people had gone full on mad and started attacking the villagers. The Villagers were much stronger and everyone who did such a thing was put in the Village Chief’s prison.

Almost half of the players were thrown in prison.

Their sentence will be for the next two weeks. This had instantly calmed down the rest of the players who retreated into whatever holes they could find for themselves.

I on the other hand went ahead and started my training with Gunter. It was basically him teaching me three new skills.

Track, Set Trap and Skinning.

All he did was send me out to hunt boars after that. Thankfully the new skills were very efficient in taking down those things and I filled the outskirts of the entire forest with the traps.

In the next two days I maxed up my Villager Class which finally gave me the option to change into the Apprentice Hunter Class.

Congratulations on being the first one from your Village to advance to a 2nd Tier Class.

Title Gained

One Among a Hundred

+10% increased Exp Gain.

Keep doing your best, Player.

The Game had such things?

This changed everything completely.

50,000 Villages meant that at least 50,000 players will get this title. What’s next?

First in a town, first in a prefecture, first in a country?

Hunting Boars was not giving as much experience any more. In fact the Exp Gain was halved after I changed to a T2 Class, a single boar started giving me 60 Exp.

The Apprentice Hunter Class gave +2 STR, +2 END and +3 DEX Per Level.

The Class itself gave the user a Basic Weapons Skills.

I took the opportunity to skin all the boars and sell the meat to the Village Butcher while the Skin was used to make a new set of armour for myself.

The money was used to procure enough materials for the long hunt that I was planning to go on. I bought everything that I thought was important. Books on the local flora and fauna, basics of weapon maintenance and two sets of swords, spears and a Bow with two quivers of arrows. Water pouches and food that can be stored for long journeys and plenty of medicine, both some basic antidotes and healing salves and a pair of goggles to protect my eyes. Martha gave me some more collection quests as I was now an Apprentice Hunter.

In about a day or two, the ones who are in depression will have to force themselves to move and crowd the usual hunting ground where I hunt. I wasn’t planning to hang around there anyway but it still would be inconvenient for levelling up.

I plan to pick up the pace and level up till I max this Class.

- Scene Change -

Two weeks had passed. By now all of the prisoners had been released. The rest of the people had accepted that they were trapped in this world more or less. I wonder if they realise that not even a day has passed on the outside world if what the Game Master told us was true? Although from what I could gauge out, no one was believing that part maybe because of their anger?

I had rampaged inside the forest this past week. The animals inside were all T2 with the occasional rare T3 mixed in which would have been extremely dangerous if I had been hunting the normal way.

Creating a suitable location for the hunt took a majority of my first day but after it was done, it was a slaughter. The wolves had a very sharp sense of hearing and smell and cooperated really well in small teams. But once that was taken out, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. It wasn’t as if I was always having an easy time. The T3 Bear that had come out of nowhere had almost uprooted the tree which I was hiding on. It was only thanks to the chilli bomb to its face that it left the tree and I could find an opportunity to make a shot.

It took a dozen arrows to take down that thing but it was worth it. 500 Exp and a ton of loot including a rare one.

I was finally able to max out the Apprentice Hunter Class.

I had gathered a buttload of stuff in the last week that needed to be sold and things that I needed to restock and buy.

The Apprentice Hunter Class gave some very useful skills. Keen eyes, Aim Leg, Disable, etc.

I could see the players moving around although in a mechanical way to do the basic job to feed themselves. My previous hunting ground was now full of people with a few dozen trying to hunt a rabbit when it came out. A simple Observe showed that they were all Villagers. In fact the highest level I had seen among the players was a level 6 Villager who was leading a party to hunt boars.

I did draw some eyes towards myself because I was coming out of the forest but no one tried to pick any fights with me.

The Game had a pretty nifty feature. You can hide your level and Class from other players but some players with special skills can see through it. My Apprentice Hunter Class did give me such a skill. After all, which decent hunter wouldn’t have a skill to assess their opponent?

I went straight towards Gunter’s Hut to see what needed to be done to get the Hunter Class. He was a Hunter so it was only natural that he would know what I needed to do to become one.

There were a couple of people talking to the man outside.

I remembered the quest to become an Apprentice. 20 Rabbits and a Boar. With the increased number of people, it would take a lot of time to complete that quest.

I didn’t say anything but waited for them to disperse and then went to the man.

“Arthas. Is that you brat? You disappeared for a while. I thought that the forest claimed you too but thank the Spirits that you’re still fine.”

“I went on a hunting trip.”

“And it was successful from what I can see. You’ve grown up a lot.”

“Thank you teacher. I wanted to know what I needed to do to become a Hunter. Is there another test that I need to take perhaps?” I asked as the man laughed.

“Already wanting to become a Hunter, eh? It’s not that easy to become one, ya know. Took me a year. You think you are ready for that? You need to hunt an Iron Back Bear. You can’t receive any help from others. The Badge you have will record it and only then can you qualify for the exam.”

I gave the man my badge and he raised an eyebrow before letting out a gasp.

“Sunova….you brat! How did you get that one?”

“Got lucky. Anyways, I can take the Hunter’s Exam now, right?”

“Well yeah. I can hardly imagine any reason you couldn’t. To get a Hunter’s Badge, you need to hunt a Mutated Animal in the forest. They are far stronger than the normal ones and can also use Magic sometimes. Be careful. Those things are the lords of the forest around this area. They will not be easy to hunt.”

Quest Received

Hunt or be Hunted.

Objective: Hunt a mutated animal in the forest.

Reward: Hunter’s Badge, T3 Class: Hunter Unlocked.

Mutated animals.

“What are these mutated animals?” I asked, trying to get a general idea.

“They are animals that have somehow evolved into something of a variation of their species. It can be for various reasons. Maybe they ate something that gave them power, maybe they were blessed by a spirit, maybe it just became strong enough or maybe it was cursed by someone. The main point is, they become far stronger than the normal ones of their kind. They are generally the lord of the areas they live in. Very hard to kill. They do however drop the best of drops and sometimes even magic cores that can be used to imbue items with elemental powers.  Those things sell for a pretty decent amount of gold I tell ya.”

“Are there any mutated animals in the forest?” I asked.

“There sure are. Hunted one myself to pass the exam in my youth.” he said, his eyes gaining a reminiscing look.

“Really! Where? Which area can I find them in? I haven’t spotted a mutated animal even after an entire week inside the forest.”

“That would be me helping ya, kid. Sorry but, no can do.”

I let out a sigh.

Obviously it won’t be so easy.

I will ask around a bit and see if I can find anything.

It will be a difficult prey to hunt.

If I don’t find anything, I will head out towards the next village.

With these thoughts in mind, I headed towards the Butcher's Shop to sell off the meat that I had gathered in this week.

The wolf Pelts and the rest of the parts will go to the Blacksmith’s Shop.

The Blacksmith’s shop was empty. Considering the price of things here and the fact that even hunting a rabbit was a challenge with the number of players crowding the hunting ground, it wasn’t a surprise.

“Mr. Arthas, you’re back. I thought you had left for the next village.” the assistant asked me as I entered the shop.

“I was just out for a long hunt. I need to complete some tasks and commision some new armour. I’ll provide the materials, you can add anything if you need on top of that. Think you can do that?”

“New armour? I’ll need to see the materials.”

“Sure.” I brought out the materials I had collected over the week.

Scores of animal pelts, claws, fangs, even large bones were lined up in front of the now stunned guy.

“I want four sets of armour, the best you can make out of them. Four Swords, four quivers of arrows, four long spears and two bows. The rest I would like to submit for the quests I had gotten from Mr. Braham.”

My quests were of a repeatable nature and I could complete them multiple times with the amount of items I had with me.

He selected the best of the items he could and returned the rest to me.

The best thing about the game was that I could keep the quest completed but receive the rewards when I wanted. This meant I could keep completed quests and keep the stored exp in them and just max out a Class the moment I gain them, provided I had enough exp in the quests.

The armour and weapons would take a day to make. I did get some information about the mutated animals. There were eight of them all around the forest. Each had an area of their own. Some even had subordinates, like the Mutated Wolf was the leader of its own pack, so it was out. The bear was alone but it was stronger than the first two.

There was a snake but I didn’t want anything to do with it. I was not going to try and see if the basic antidote worked on its poison or not. The tiger was out as well.

That left the Bison, Gorilla, Boar and Jaguar.

Gorillas can climb trees and so can Jaguars.

So finally between the Boar and the Bison.

Need to find more information.

I headed towards Martha’s shop to complete the last bits of the collection quests.

This shop was more crowded than others. It is probably because this place also sold bread and the basic necessities of the people. Currently the cheapest way to survive in the place. A piece of bread was 1G each. This could keep them filled up for a day. I waited for my turn which came soon.

“Is that you, Arthas?”

“Yes, Granny. I came here with the quests you had given me and to restock on some items.”

I realised that some people were looking at me but I had better things to do. At this point time was of essence and I was not gonna waste my time.

I laid out the products and completed the collection quests and quickly restocked on the items before taking some more quests and leaving.

- Scene Change -

Asking around the entire village, earned me some more quests and some information. The Bison was a part of a herd while the Boar was alone. That last bit of information decided what I was going to hunt next.

I still had to wait for a day to get the weapons and armour though.

I had noticed some people trying to keep a watch on me since I completed the quests at Martha’s. Around three people were taking turns to run into me inside every shop I tried going or speaking to every person I was speaking to. If they thought they were doing a good job of hiding, they were dead wrong.

I still didn’t feel safe staying inside the village so I left towards the outskirts.

And so here I was, in a small hole like cave near the outskirts of the village. At times like this, people are more dangerous than any bosses or wild animals I might encounter.

My train of thought was broken by the sounds of a fight nearby. The sound seemed to be from a boar.

I snuck around quietly and saw the scene. A woman who looked to be in her twenties was on a large rock, throwing pouches at a group of young piglets. She had light brown hair and purple or violet eyes, the night light was making it difficult to see properly. The piglets were getting a ‘Dizzy’ status so it must have been something in those pouches. Too bad she attracted the boar too and the big guy was just shrugging it off. She was stuck on the top of the rock although she did manage to make some hits on the group with her spear before it broke leaving her stranded on the top of the rock.

I waited to see what she did or if someone would arrive near the place or if it was a trap but even after waiting for fifteen minutes straight there were no signs of anyone showing up.

I slowly crawled out of my place and took up a position on a nearby rock. The angle was good so I took my aim and the first shot was made towards the Boar, Aim Leg.

The arrow tip gained a green colour as the arrow tore through the air striking the leg of the boar. It was a normal level 7 Boar. Not much it could have done against me.

The girl looked in the direction of the arrow and saw me but by then I had taken another shot directly taking the head of the piglet that was Level 5.

I noticed a pattern. At level 6, the Piglets evolved into a Level 1 Boar. So it was probably on the verge of evolution. I’d rather it get taken down now.

The Boar looked in my direction but the leg injury made it nigh impossible for it to do anything. Just for a safety measure, I took down another Piglet before climbing down and bringing out a sword.

The Boar tried to charge but fell down. I threw a spare piece of spear near the girl. “Take a kill.”

This boar would have given me only 30 Exp which was a waste compared to the 120 it would give the girl.

The piglets were easy for me to take down.

The girl stared for a moment before taking the spear and piercing the eye of the Boar in a straight strike.

That’s when I noticed the level of the girl, Level 9 Villager.

That’s the highest level apart from me in this Village.

The leftover piglets were soon taken care of by the two of us.

I took the ones I killed leaving the rest to her and she in turn returned the spear to me when she was done.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“I didn’t save your life. At best you would have been stuck there till morning and at worst for a whole day. They would have left to hunt or other Players would have found you either way.”

She looked stunned for a second while I started to skin the piglets before letting out a giggle.

“Oh, that does sound right. In that case, allow me to thank you for helping me out.”

“You’re welcome.”

I checked her name.

Veena.

“Can I ask what those things that you were throwing at the Piglets were?” That’s the main reason why I intervened even though she wasn’t in any real danger.

“Those were some herbal mixtures. I can mix some herbs to create mixtures with some effects. They are not very strong but enough to distract the animals, making it easier for me to take a strike. I mainly sell the mixtures and some healing salves to others.” she replied as she started walking away towards the village.

My sleep was ruined either way and it looked like it was going to be morning in an hour.

“But still hunting this late at night?” I asked her, curious.

“Mornings are when I work for Madam Martha as her Gardener and it is not really suitable for levelling up. People are getting restless nowadays and with the violent ones released, people are a bit tense in the mornings. Stealing kills and then fighting is common in the mornings. Nights are still the time when they don’t come outside, fearing for their lives. I simply take advantage of this.”

As odd as it sounded, it was also weirdly reasonable.

We walked together and I asked her about the Skill to mix herbs. It was apparently a Gardner Skill. The Gardener Class gave her Exp for the plants she grew but those were only applicable for when she had that class active. She was apparently a Level 5 Gardner. The T2 for that one will be an Apprentice Herbalist and T3 a Herbalist. This here was a straight out production Class Gamer. It’s always good to be friends with such people. After all, potions were more or less the staple of all Gamers.

We could see the gates of the village ahead of us.

It was then that it happened.

Some people came out from behind the rocks near the Village’s entrance. Around ten of them. I recognized three of them being the ones who were following me during the day.

I was wearing a cloak and my armour was covered under my normal shirt and cloak. I had opened my inventory and had the sword on my fingertips.

“Hello there. I'm Harmund. You need to pay the toll to enter the village.” The highest level among the group came forward. He was level 9 while the rest were all level 5 and above.

Really? Save a girl and get surrounded by a group of thugs.

Could it get any more cliché?

I narrowed my eyes.

“Don’t look so upset. It’s an initiative we have taken to collect money to help the players who have difficulty in surviving. We can take anything, Gold, Weapons, food anything. Anything you can donate. The more the better.” He continued with a patronising smile.

“And why haven’t I heard of such a thing? I'm pretty sure if people were doing such a thing, we surely would have known about it.” My new acquaintance questioned.

“We have just started this today. It still hasn’t spread yet.” He replied unbothered.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything to contribute.” I tried to step around them but they blocked the road.

“Now, now, don’t be in such a hurry. We are just doing this for the good of the players in need. Surely you can contribute something.” He grabbed my shoulder.

“I have nothing to contribute. If you are so keen on helping them, do it yourself.” I shrugged his hands off.

“You are being very selfish now, Mister.” The others surrounding us brought out their weapons.

“If you want to help the people, call for everyone in the Village and announce such things. We cannot trust just anyone to carry out such things. Everyone needs to decide it first.” Veena tried to mediate.

“Are you calling us liars, lady? Can’t you see the ten of us? Don’t we look like players in need?” A gruff looking man, level 8, I noticed walked up to her, trying to intimidate her. I noticed that she didn’t even blink an eye. Instead, I saw her eyes harden a bit.

I let out a sigh. “Why don’t you all drop the act already? I haven’t slept properly and am very annoyed. I could use some stress relief.”

There is a level difference of twenty one between me and their highest level. My stats should be around 4 times more than their strongest member.

“So be it then.” He brought out his sword and pointed it directly towards me. “Bring out the quest rewards you got from completing some high level quests for the old shopkeeper. No use lying. And since you‘re being such an uncooperative brat, bring out your gold and equipment too.” he poked the sword towards me.

“And the girl can pay for herself. I think I know what I want from her.” the gruff one grinned looking at her.

I looked at her and her eyes were cold. It was a bit frightening how cold her eyes were. She looked at me and her eyes moved and it was as if a signal between the two of us.

The next second, I brought out my sword from my inventory and slashed the man who was holding me at sword point, taking off his arm. Before anything could happen, I threw chilli bombs towards the suddenly frozen group while my sword arm moved, thrusting the sword through the man’s head.

From the corner of my eyes I saw the actions of the sole female in the scene. She grabbed the hand of the man who was going to touch her face, twist it around and, bringing out a dagger from her inventory, repeatedly stabbed the man in the eyes and skull. The man might only have been one level short of her but that was a genuine martial arts move and the guy barely got any time to react. His face was already covered with the same powder she had thrown on the piglets.

I rushed towards the non affected people on my side and slashed them through. The adrenaline was probably working for me if that was even a thing inside the game.

She picked up the spear of her first victim and dashed towards the two on her side who defended themselves rather clumsily.

The entire group of ten assaulters were taken care of in less than two minutes. I took down seven of them and she killed the remaining three.

Their shouts were snuffed out in moments so I didn't see anyone coming out to check on them.

The dead bodies however didn't disappear immediately and after I had killed everyone, I faced the reality of the situation.

Dulled emotions or not, when the adrenaline faded away, I collapsed onto my knees as the realisation dawned on me. My breaths were becoming shorter and I had the urge to throw up when I recalled the feeling of slashing through them with my sword.

- Venelana Gremory -

She watched as the boy tried to catch his breath and sighed to herself. He looked barely eighteen and a normal boy except for his slightly dulled emotions.

A devil, even a normal one is more attuned to sins and wouldn't have such a reaction, but a human would.

On top of that, he seems to believe that he is actually taking the lives of the people just now.

This 'game' was turning out to be more than she had expected.

When her daughter had been excited about the game and even her son had called it a marvel of science, she had been attracted. It didn't take much convincing to get her to order one for herself. The life of long lived beings were often hounded by that thing called boredom. She had been extremely bored with the only relief being her grandson and the times her daughter returned back home from school.

The household work could only occupy her thoughts so much and Zeoticus was always busy with the house business or his private harem. She didn't fault him for it. Time changed the way people thought. She still loved her husband and knew that he loved her just as much. It was just that she needed something new to excite her once more and thus she came upon this game.

It seems now that this was a bit more than she had expected.

She wouldn't lie and say she wasn’t worried about her daughter and the others who had started this game too. There is also the fact that more than two weeks have passed and there was no change, showing that the outside world was finding it hard to release them so easily. The Game Master had talked about the soul contract and that had further dulled any hopes of rescue.

As a Devil, she knew what such contracts could do.

She had spent around a week gathering all the information she could about these games. It allowed her to think of a plan for the near future. Her combat experience was helping her despite not possessing any of her original power.

The meeting with the boy had been a coincidence, though she already knew who he was because of the information from Martha. A player who had raced ahead of all others to become a T2 Class holder. She talked to him wanting to know about the tips he could offer to increase the speed of her levelling too while he seemed to be more interested in her skills and job as a Gardener than her body that she had seen many others eying. A welcome change in things that made the little conversation quite pleasant for her too.

It just had to be ruined by those uncouth idiots.

She knew this group. They had been arrested on the first day after causing trouble in the village.

They had been released a week later and had immediately formed a group to hunt together. They had driven several players away from safer hunting grounds as well as stole kills from many others but were left unchecked due to the actions not being illegal in the game. They had harassed several female players and were confronted by several other players but only the Village was a safe zone and whatever happened outside it was fair game. They had picked out several of those confronters and three of them didn't return after a day.

This had basically given them a boost in confidence. They had eyed her several times but her work as a gardener and her night time hunting times kept their timetables from overlapping, keeping her safe.

This time it seems that she got caught as collateral.

All things aside, she had to accept that the fight did get her blood running.

Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for her new acquaintance.

She walked towards the boy. He looked at her, eyes wary and she slowly stopped.

He spoke up, "The Village, safe zone." And got up with unsteady steps, walking towards the village gates.

She watched the back of the boy and got slightly more respect for him.

His ability to accept his situation and act on it had impressed her. They hadn't needed more than a single eye contact to know each other's intentions before the attack.

She liked the decisiveness of the boy. Had it been a normal situation, she would have even considered trying to recruit him into her peerage.

His words made things clear.

He didn't trust her, not completely. But he didn't want to be enemies either. He didn't reject her support but pushed his fears and catatonia forcibly behind to wait for a place where he could afford to take her support. She nodded to herself and followed him. Maybe he could be good enough to stick to and wouldn't weigh her down? Just maybe. 

- The Game Master -

He watched the screen as the people were beginning to calm down and accept their situation now.

Human minds are very adaptive.

Now his last act in this world will finally begin. His last gift to the world that had given him all he had right now.

He took a sip of his finest wine, one he had himself made around 800 years ago for this very moment in a Golden Chalice that was the start of it all. The Sephiroth Graal.

Being reincarnated into a fictional world had been out of a dream for him. The only drawback was the timeline he was reincarnated in. A Thousand and five hundred years before anything that he knew happened. When he realised what exactly the world was, he had panicked and locked himself in to become stronger. Or it might have been, had that motherfucking dragon who had almost toasted his village when fighting with his eternal rival/secret love appeared. He had only survived thanks to his Sacred Gear, using the leftover energy of those two beasts to turn himself into a dragon. The Sephiroth Graal was such a fucking cheat.

This had however attracted the attention of another insane being and his oldest lover who helped him hide and see what he did, just out of curiosity.

The world however moved on just as it was supposed to. Apparently the God of the Bible had noticed the absence of the Graal and secretly made a second one. This one after all didn’t contain some special spirit or anything and just the knowledge of the God of the Bible about the Principles of Life and the Soul, which let the user peek into the Knowledge of the Dead.

He took all this time to train and become stronger. Learn all this world had to teach. Apparently his cheat was the ability to nullify the side effects of the Gear because he could control the thing perfectly from the moment he awakened it. It was like an instinctive knowledge. And when you are not being corrupted by the voices of the dead, they have a lot to talk about.

Sure, there were times when he wanted to go out and wreck the world, maybe get some waifus but his tastes had changed. Having the Dragon of Dreams as your partner tends to raise the bar a tad bit high for future lovers. He was not interested in weaker waifus. Only the stronger ones attracted his attention now and thus, even after a thousand and five hundred years later, he could only find three lovers in total who could satisfy his skewed and ridiculous standards.

The Dream, the Infinity and the Sea of Creation.

When the children of Tiamat, the Mother Goddess had cut her into pieces, they used the ribs to make the Vaults of Heaven and Earth, the eye became the source of River Tigris and the blood was used to bless the land with fertility… but one part still remained and was recovered by someone else.

The God of the Bible had sealed the last part of the Dragon Goddess Tiamat the ’Womb of Creation’ into the Annihilation Maker, making it able to create monsters at will.

Great Red had collected the leftover energies of the deceased Mother Goddess, shaping it into a hatchling who grew into the current Dragon King, Tiamat. What he on the other hand did was use his Sephiroth Graal, to revive the original Goddess for himself. 

And finally when it was time for the so called show to start, he was beyond powerful. Even his oldest lover was twice as strong as she was supposed to be and he was stronger than all of his lovers combined.

He had removed the only weakness against himself, Samael and made himself and his lovers immune to its blood and curse. If he wanted to capture the world right now, he was sure there wasn’t any force in the world that could stop the four of them.

And yet… and yet, he was done with it. He had already got everything the world could give him. He now wanted to see other worlds. If this one existed, then there was a high chance that others did as well. Creating the portal hadn’t been hard either considering the people behind the creation, but before he left, he wanted the world to remember his name.

He had gotten everything from this world, so it was only fair to give it something equal in return. The Law of Equivalent Exchange.

Until now, no one even knew of his existence.

He had made it as such, erasing his name from any minds that might have known him and keeping his existence a secret.

But, it didn’t sit right with him to just leave the world without so much as leaving his name on it. And thus came this plan.

Soul Art Online.

He in his long life had always seen Humans whine against the Supernaturals, claiming how different the world would have been if they had been in charge. Foolish idiots.

That said, he was once a human himself. So he decided to humour them. In fact he decided to humour anyone who decided to play his ‘game’

The Sephiroth Graal could change almost anything. It did change him from the leftover energy of the Heavenly Dragons into what he was now. It gave him access to the nigh infinite knowledge of the dead, their experience… their strengths.

So he decided to let the entire world have a taste of this.

He made a Game for them which will test the very limits of their sanity and if they win, he will give them a reward for it… to take their powers from the game into the real world.

Every action has a consequence.

He was in fact quite delighted to see many of the ‘main cast’ entering the game. He had specifically made sure that they got interested in the game.

He missed some but he still got some unexpected ones.

Oh the amount of fun he was going to have in this wonderful game.

But before that, he needed to make sure that no idiots tried to destroy his hard work.

“Is the communication device ready, Red?”

“All set.”

“Good.”

He pressed the magic circle in front of him and huge screens made up of mist appeared throughout the territories of the Supernatural World.

“Hello everyone.” The entire Supernatural World heard his voice. “I'm the one called ‘The Game Master’. Nice to meet you all.” He took a few seconds of pause as the crowds in all the world quieted down. “I'm the creator of ‘Soul Art Online’, you know that wonderful piece of art that’s been on hype in the entire human world. And as someone who has worked for centuries for that, I would not appreciate it, if anyone and I mean anyone tries to ruin the game or harm the players. They signed a soul bound contract with me. If they are forcibly taken out, they will die. If someone does that, I will kill them. Are we clear up to this point?”

He paused as he watched the faces of some of the leaders who had their relatives locked inside the game.

“I sincerely hope that you will take my warning seriously. I have worked very hard to create this game and if anyone tries to mess this up, I will make their entire life a living nightmare. Worst part is that I might even go into a fit of rage and decide to do something even more. Believe me, Angry Me is scary. Even I, myself, am scared of Angry Me. So don’t make me angry, alright. Have fun~.”

Oh, he loved the sound of people raising an uproar.

__________________________________________________________________________

Beta Reader: LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)

Author's Note:

This is a new Snippet. I know many want a continuation of the Farmer Gamer story and I will continue that one but this thread was made for me to present my ideas.

I will write a total of five to six snippets and then post a further two chapters for the snippets that receive the most likes. for every two new chapters to each of my main stories.

This story was a new take on what would happen if a reincarnator really went bonkers on the world and made something from all his previous life knowledge.

Yes, the Game Master made everything with his previous life knowledge so expect a lot of anime references and back stories. As for what they are… . That's a secret.

The MC of the story is a normal guy or as normal as a reincarnator can be. His emotions have dulled due to the stress of going through the newborn phase(which according to me, things should be). His memories are hazy about his previous life but he will remember things as his stats increase and boosts his mind and body in the future.

You will see more in the next chapter of the Snippet but I think this should be a very unique take on a world like DxD. I don't know if anything like this has been done before.

I will try to bring in some characters from the crossover elements like Sword Art Online and even Better Sword Art Online cough cough Log Horizon.(I don't regret my words). 

Anyways tell me how you liked it or if you have any suggestions. I'm not an expert of writing MMO based fics and am looking forward to this as a writing experience.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.