VRMMORPG - Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Suri made it to Shield City, which was the starter city that Hugo was supposed to spawn in.

Not just her, but several other executives had made it as well. Seeing as how they were all gathering, they decided to meet up at a restaurant.

Of course, the only reason they were meeting up without Hugo was because they couuldn’t find him.

By the time Suri walked into the building, everyone else was already seated.

She looked around at all of them.

5 people who stood at the top of the world as the highest executives of Archive.

Garet. She had seen him before at the launch. Dressed in the armor of a knight, he was a very valiant character who could get along with anybody. Garet was also the Chief Operating Officer of Archive, responsible for making sure the company ran smoothly if deadlocks occurred between people like department heads. This meant that he was often on the phone talking with someone.

Tanya. A 34 year old yet petite girl dressed in dark clothing and equipped with various gadgets across her suit. She was one of the best enchanters in the game. As the Chief Technology Officer of Archive, she was responsible for making sure Archive’s products worked correctly while operating within different companies and corporations. She was also responsible for UI design, making her a great programmer. She applied this knowledge to enchanting, becoming the best at the technical craft.

Moses. A 52 year old man with a massive stature who was one of the first superhumans within the military. He’s often called Major, as he achieved the rank of Major General. He was only discharged because his roguish views of warfare never aligned with others, especially when he reached the Rage Step in his martial arts. It was Hugo who picked him up and made him the Chief Security Officer of Archive, the man who operated what can only be described as a private military. Nobody wants a visit from him, as his presence alone meant the downfall of several major companies. And in the game, he was no less menacing, being a powerful Sniper with a massive gun.

Aurelia. A 35 year old woman known as the Queen of Archive. Being the Chief Marketing Officer, her face appeared across the globe and was synonymous with Archive itself. Her influence came in the form of sponsorships and public persuasion, a very powerful tool where everyone was swayed by their wants. In the game though, she was a powerful Tamer, having all kinds of exotic beasts at her beck and call.

And finally, Alexander. Known as the Bank itself, he was a 55 year old man and the Chief Financial Officer of Archive. This naturally made him perhaps the most powerful man in the company, as Archive’s finances could buy out entire countries and manipulate the global economy on a whim. Still, Alexander was a shrewd yet thoughtful man who proclaims himself a philosopher. This made him become a celestial magician within the game as he seeks a deeper truth of the universe through power and study.

A Knight, an Enchanter, a Ranger, a Tamer, and a Celestial Magician.

Along with Suri who was a Magical Swordswoman, these people comprised some of the most powerful in the game. Not only that, but not all of them operated on Eve’s continent. For example, Alexander operated on the Celestial Continent, and Tanya operated on the Mechanics Continent alongside Moses who worked with a gun. They were technically the enemies of Eve and shouldn’t be in this city, but because of Hugo, they had gathered within a mere day.

Suri sat down with them. Their faces were all concerned.

“Something happened to Hugo.”

“We figured. I’ve already scouted the city and couldn’t find him anywhere.”

Moses grumbled in a deep voice.

Suri sighed.

“Well, he’s naturally curious. He probably got himself into something he shouldn’t have. But since he has nothing, we’ll need to find him and make sure he’s fine.”

“Then we should start investigating.”

“I’ve already gone to the Spawn Pools.”

Garet raised his hand.

Garet wasn’t an ordinary Knight. Having already made his way to the Megacity in the center of the Eve continent, he managed to climb his way into their order of Paladins. These knights were those who had the greatest ability to draw upon the power of the world.

Garet happened to have an amazing affinity for becoming one, and right now he was training in their lowest order. Still, even their lowest order could compare to the highest orders of knights within other cities. On this continent, there were very few places he couldn’t go.

And he had already gone to the Spawn Pools, which is where all new players came to the world for the first time.

“I went and found the man who brought Hugo into the world and asked him. He said that not long after he left the temple, he was talked to be a sketchy man. The two then walked off while talking. Oh, it was also an npc.”

“A scammer probably.”

Aurelia muttered with a frown.

There was only one kind of person who bothered with people who were just coming out of the spawn pools, and they were scammers. People who wanted to use the naive newbies who had nothing to lose for their own weird purposes, often being cannonfodder for some suicidal mission.

Npc’s primarily used newbies in order to carry out illegal operations, whether that was unethical experimentation or crime.

Everyone began to ponder, when Garet suddenly spoke again.

“I also heard something interesting.”

“Will you just spit everything out all at once?”

Suri huffed, causing Garet to smile.

“Alright, alright. This is the last of it. I just heard a rumor as I was coming to meet here. Apparently the Royal Guard Captain died. I guess there was a raid and he died defending some treasure. It took place during the recent monster raid. I have a feeling Hugo might have had something to do with that, since that was the only event that could have made someone like Hugo disappear, being a new player and all”

“Well, it's the only lead we have. Garet, you go ask about that and give us a location. We can go look personally.”

“Ok!”

With that, the group finally stood and dispersed.

……

…

As the group investigated, Hugo continued to endure the horrible torture bestowed upon him.

And he really didn’t have the best time.

“Oh no! Not the big toe! That’s my second best toe!”

“Shut up!”

“Ack!”

Hugo continued to give his best screams and react as violently as he could, not that the pain he experienced was much lesser than his reaction implied.

With a bloodied body, he continued to get tied down, cut up, and beaten. And in this realistic game, he was even affected by starvation and thirst, which was absolutely used against him.

But there was one thing that these people couldn’t take away from him.

The natives called it the ‘Phantom State’.

After around a day, Hugo decided to call it and log out.

With a thought, his vision turned black. The next thing he knew, he opened his eyes within the Artifact.

*Psh*

“Ugh!”

He grunted as he fell out of the capsule, landing on his hands and knees.

As he took deep breaths, his body adapted to the pain that no longer existed. At the same time, the Child appeared in front of him.

She was smiling.

“Have fun?”

“...No. I did not have fun. Torture was the last thing I thought I’d get out of this game.”

“As I told you, deal with the consequences of your own actions. Besides, if you want to advance your martial arts, you should be able to bear this amount of pain. Becoming a Superhuman is filled with torturous agony.”

The Child spoke plainly as Hugo slowly pulled himself to his feet.

“Whatever. Just get me some dinner.”

“Already on the table. Suri is there waiting for you as well.”

“Fine.”

Taking a deep breath, he walked into another room, finding a large dining table with plates strewn across it.

Not just Suri, but Garet and Aurelia were there.

Hugo sat across from Suri, who brightened at his appearance.

“Hey! We couldn’t find you in the game. Mind telling us what happened?”

“Yea. I’m having the time of my life.”

Hugo sighed before recounting what happened, ending with details about the torture. He also stuffed his face with food.

Suri was horrified.

“Torture?! Shit. We need to find you quick.”

“Unfortunately I have no idea where I am.”

“Still, you’ve given us valuable intel. We’ll find you quickly. You just need to get through things.”

“Mm. Oh, and I need to be back in the game in 2 hours. If I’m gone for too much time, I forfeit everything.”

“Ugh. Hey, Child! Get out here!”

Suri yelled, and suddenly, the Child appeared.

“Yes?”

“What the hell are you doing to Hugo? Can you not take it easy?”

“Sorry, no can do. If he wants to take the opportunity, then he’ll need to pay the price. Oh, he has a month before he gets killed. Better find him before then.”

“Wha…?”

With that, the Child disappeared. Suri gawked while Aurelia frowned.

“A month, huh? I guess I’ll recall my scouts and have them search the city. Brute force is better than nothing.”

“I’ll also move the city guard. They have more leads and want to capture these people. I’ll give them the intelligence and we can move faster.”

Garet concluded, thinking of ways to find Hugo as fast as possible.

Hugo thought of something before adding.

“Oh, maybe you can find the sack I used during the looting.”

“Sack? Something you touched?”

Aurelia perked up.

“Yea. I touched a cloth sack during the job, and it got dropped in the vault. If you have a bloodhound or something of the sort, maybe it could help.”

“Yes! That will definitely help. Garet, make sure to find that.”

“I will. They collected evidence. You could also use the blood of the man who almost died inside the vault. Since Hugo saw him at the dungeon, he would be an even better lead.”

“Right.”

As they started discussing, Hugo focused on stuffing his mouth with good food.

It wasn’t long though before he had to go back. Suri watched as he entered the Artifact.

“Be careful. Just know that it’ll end. And I hope to god that whatever this crystal knife is gives you a damn good reward.”

“Hopefully.”

Hugo sighed before getting submerged in the fluid.

With that, he entered the game again. Though at this point, it might as well be torture simulator.

………

……

The torture lasted for about a week.

It was only on the last day that Hugo was given good news. His executives had found some of the people who were connected to the people torturing him.

With that, they were basically on the way. So Hugo was a bit more upbeat while his body was getting cut open.

“Ah! Why do you do this? Must you choose my pinky finger over the other nine?”

“You’re the most talkative prisoner I’ve ever tortured.”

“Sorry, but after you started poking at my kidney, I’ve been having weird thoughts! I mean, do you find this fun? Or are you just a really curious doctor in training? Even though I’m getting tortured, I’d like to know if I’m in skilled hands!”

“Please be quiet.”

The man sighed before pouring a liquid on Hugo’s hand. It was a healing potion, and it sealed his skin and made everything pretty again.

With these healing potions, they could be unrestrained with their torture since there wasn’t the risk of dying. But Hugo’s torturer was having second thoughts.

While Hugo was indeed suspicious, there was nothing that indicated he had the Celestial Knife or knew where it was. While Hugo tried to seem like he was easily bearing the torture, the man inflicing the pain knew just how tormenting it actually was.

Was it worth it to spend so much time and money on this guy? He started asking himself that question, but unfortunately, he couldn’t give up until they found the knife. Even if that meant they had to torture Hugo until they found the knife in the castle, or wherever it might be.

Not that Hugo wasn’t still suspicious. The man knew that anomalies, or players, could kill themselves and ‘respawn’. They also had the ability to get rid of pain altogether. There were only some situations in which you could lock them down and force them to bear pain, but death always seemed to be their go-to.

But Hugo not only felt every drop of pain, but he refused to kill himself. This meant he was either unable to die or was refusing to do so. Either way, Hugo was hiding something about the situation.

The only thing that made the man doubt himself was the lack of evidence. No amount of surgery revealed hints of the knife which could have integrated with his body.

The man could only continue. Now it was a matter of time.

Unfortunately, after a week passed, rapid reports of disaster began to reach the hideout.

And then, they received a knock on the door.

*Rumble*

As the man placed a flat blade against Hugo’s foot, the room suddenly shook. A guard then came running.

“Sir! We’re under atta-!”
*Splat!*

Without warning, a sword suddenly pierced through the back of the man’s neck.

He collapsed limply, revealing a girl wearing silver armor enchanted with veins of fire.

Hugo lifted his head off the table, seeing the girl and the group behind her.

“Suri!”

“You?!”

The torturer was baffled, but he could easily read the situation.

He quickly drew a knife and placed it against Hugo’s neck, simultaneously ducking behind the table.

“Don’t get any closer!”

“...Jeez. Always so difficult.”

Suri sighed. At the same time, the others walked in.

Alexander, Aurelia, Tanya, Moses, and Garet who led a guard squad.

Moses narrowed his eyes at Hugo. Currently he was cut open with blood pouring from several wounds. In general, his body was a scarred mess. He had no doubt suffered very real torture.

Which was amazing, since when Moses saw Hugo in the real world, he seemed almost perfectly fine, except for a dark veil over his face. It had no doubt affected him, but not nearly as much as it would a normal person.

Moses entered the room with a huge sniper raised. The rest circled around the table, obviously not giving the man what he wanted.

“There’s nowhere to run. Back away from your hostage and you won’t instantly die.”

Alexander threatened with a deep voice. He didn’t enjoy seeing his boss held in such a pitiful state.

But the torturer didn’t back down.

“No. You want the hostage, I want to leave. Give me a teleportation array.”

“Impossible. Those things are far beyond what this situation warrants. Nobody would pay that amount just for a hostage.”

This time, it was Tanya who blurted out. She knew best how expensive teleportation arrays were.

The torturer grit his teeth.

“Then you better let me walk out of here with this hostage!”

“Unfortunately, we don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

Moses suddenly spoke with a deep voice.

Then, there was a sound.

*BOOM*

His sniper fired, and after that, everyone could see a cloud of blood rise up behind Hugo.

The knife around his neck fell, as did the body of the torturer. His head was gone.

Finally, Hugo relaxed. Suri quickly ran over and cut his binds. Alexander also brought out a few potions while Tanya threw a few gadgets on Hugo’s body. The gadgets sealed the wounds while drinking the potions kickstarted the healing process. Within a few minutes, Hugo felt amazing.

“Ah, you guys are the best. Oh, there’s something I should tell you.”

Hugo pointed to his chest.

“The Celestial Knife turned into something that’s now bound to my heart. Apparently it’s a class, but I can’t get a class before level 50. If I die before then, the knife drops and I don’t get the class.”

“Oh! So it was something good. And Celestial, it’s definitely something from the Celestial Continent.”

Alexander concluded with a thoughtful face. But the others didn’t care about that.

Aurelia. She was a mature woman and naturally caring. She handed Hugo some refreshing water while helping him up.

“How are you feeling? Do you need anything?”

“A bath and some clean clothes. And some sun. I’ve been down in this dark dungeon for a week.”

“Oh, I have a property in this city. We can all head there.”

Garet spoke up. And with that, he led everyone out.

It was only Aurelia, Suri, and Garet who could walk in the open though. As Tanya, Moses, and Alexander were from other continents, their presence would only enrage the npc’s of this place. They had to sneak out with Aurelia leading them while Garet escorted the others out past the guards.

It wasn’t long before Hugo boarded a carriage with Garet and Suri. The carriage was a flying one, and the three lifted off before flying to a property near the outer bounds of the city.

Here, the land was cheaper but more plentiful. Garet owned a mansion in a suburb fitted with gardens and everything.

They landed within the gates of the property. The others had already arrived, so everyone walked into the house.

“Bath is that way, and we’ll go and grab you some clothes. Take your time.”

“I will.”

Hugo wasn’t hesitant as dove into the huge bath of the mansion. The others let him be while he soaked.

It was Suri and Aurelia who left to go get clothes. As for the others, they kicked back in the living space, waiting for Hugo.

Though, they weren’t idle. They discussed their next steps from here on.

“So, Hugo had a Class Legacy Item. Since it's a Celestial Class, then he’ll probably need to operate within the Celestial Continent.”

“That might not be ideal.”

Alexander refuted Garet’s claim.

“That Celestial Knife is no ordinary item. I don’t know how such a valuable item ended up here, but it's beyond the pay grade of both this city’s royal knights as well as those Celestial bandits who were trying to snatch it. If he went to the Celestial continent with that class and somebody found out, it could spell trouble.”

“We don’t know what class it is right now, so we should get him to Level 50 first before making major decisions.”

Tanya spoke after Alexander. Her words earned a nod from Moses.

“She’s right. The priority right now is getting him leveled up. He’ll get the class details after that and we can find out just what kind of class it is. It sounds like a good one though. A Special one perhaps?”

“Special at the least. If it isn’t, then all this was for nothing. We’ll also need to find him a Special class if that’s the case. Boss can’t have anything less.”

“Mm. We all managed to get one. We could definitely find him one too.”

“Find me what?”

At that moment, everyone heard Hugo’s voice. They turned to see him walking out with a towel around his waist.

He casually dropped down on the couch, causing Tanya to bite her lip.

Not just the muscles anymore, but the scars left behind after healing added a rugged look to Hugo’s body. She liked it.

Even Moses nodded in approval.

“Nice battle scars.”

“Thanks. I remember how all of them were carved into my body.”

“Heh, sorry.”

Moses chuckled. Although Hugo acted casual, the torture no doubt left a mental scar as well.

But Moses would agree with the Child’s views on the matter. If Hugo sought to forge his body to a higher level of martial arts, torturous pain was only the start. Even now he had only just begun, so getting past this bump should be a matter of fact.

Moses knew very well how difficult it was to simply step into the realm of superhumans, let alone become a strong one.