Fantasia Et Gloria: THE WICKED PLAYER (ENGLISH)

1 - ZERA

Year 2033

ZELPHIRA Meneses fell on the sidewalk as the girls behind shoved her intentionally. The girls were giggling as if they were so proud of what they had done.

“What do you want?” She wanted to say it aloud with authority and conviction but what she heard was her tiny, frightened voice.

“Oh, that’s what you get for not paying for our lunch,” one of her bullies said. Her name was Krisel Lopez, her classmate since grade school that had been bullying her since then.

She struggled to get up. But a force fell on her leg, so she fell again to the ground. They kicked her as if she was a stray dog.

“I told you I don’t have extra money,” she said. She winced as she felt the scrape on her knees and the pain from their kick when she fell.

“Said the rich girl with a mayor father.”

“Didn’t your dad steal money from people?” said the other girl from her class whose name she forgot.

“You can’t fool us saying you don’t have any,” another girl said.

As a daughter, she should be defending her father from that allegation. But she herself didn’t know how to. She knew her parents were not good. Even their parenting was bad enough. Having their misdeeds attached to her, disgusted her the most. And the people were always attaching her parents’ ‘not-so-good’ impression on her.

“Nonetheless, I don’t have money to spend on you,” she insisted.

“Yes, you do. Grab her bag,” Krisel ordered her three bully underlings.

One of them snatched her backpack.

“Hey, give that back!”

Zelphira tried to stand up but one of the girls grabbed her shoulders and pulled her down. Her behind slammed into the ground. Another girl restrained her arms.

They laughed while she strove to free herself.

“What have we got here?” One of the underlings yanked the zipper of her bag open. Her notebooks were strewn in the ground together with her pens, books and other things. They spotted her wallet and picked it up.

“Are these papers for you?” Krisel took out a five thousand bill from her wallet and used it like a fan. “You lying b*tch.”

“Don’t take that. That’s my allowance.” She struggled again from the girls who were restraining her but those two were stronger than her.

“This isn’t yours now.” Krisel threw the empty wallet on her face.

“We’re just taking the money your father took from the people,” the other one smirked.

“Oh, this is also for lying to us.”

Krisel slapped her hard on her cheek. That was the other girls’ cue to scratch, kick, punch her and pull her hair.

She couldn’t do anything… again. She just protected herself with her weak arms, which weren’t enough to defend her.

When they were satisfied, they left laughing.

She didn’t know why there were people preying others like that. Who liked to rob others, hurt others, do bad... without feeling remorse.

She fought the urge to cry. She was strong enough not to cry for these undeserving bullies. She swallowed her tears and took a deep breath. Her body and her face hurt again. She could also taste blood on her mouth.

She gathered her things and stuffed them back on her backpack. She stood up and left.

The senior high school’s backyard was empty. All the students went home already. She was just in school this late because her group was in charge of cleaning duties. She was about to head home when Krisel and her gang blocked her and forced her to come with them.

This was not the first time they did this to her. They often robbed her of her money or made her pay for something they bought from stores. They were always extorting money from her. When she protested, they always hurt her.

She once reported this to their guidance counselor and it was resolved accordingly. Krisel and his gang received a warning for bullying. But after that, the bullying worsened. She was afraid that if she reported this again, this ‘worse’ bullying would go up to ‘worst’. She didn’t know how far these bullies could go. One thing she knew of— they would never stop.

When she got home, her parents were nowhere to be seen, as usual. The maids were busy doing their jobs and they were not paying attention to her much, or rather, not showing their concern for her. They were all scared of her mother.

Her mother, Letizia Meneses, was a beauty queen trainer. She was always scolding their maids when she saw them in the living room or in any part of the house when they were not needed. Letizia also didn’t want the maid to talk to Zelphira or her father. Especially to her father who was known to be a womanizer. Letizia was jealous even of the maids.

Zelphira didn’t know where her father was at this time. Mayor Michael Meneses was always going home late and a lot of times he was not returning home.

She went straight to her room, dropped her bag somewhere and looked at herself in the mirror of her dresser. She was covered with bruises. Her face had red marks on her cheeks, her arms had cuts from the nails that clawed her and her knees were bruised. Her uniform was covered with dust.

She sighed. Everytime her mother saw her bruises and scars, she would freak out. She would end up scolding her and grounding her instead of knowing where it came from and apprehend the culprit. While her father was always out. And even if he was present, he would not glance at her as if she did not exist and just continued doing what he was doing.

All the time, she wondered if her parents really cared for her. Did they even know that she, Zelphira Meneses, was their child?

Heh.

Maybe not.

She winced at the small smirk from her own sarcastic thoughts.

The world sucks.

She went into her bathroom to clean up and get the first aid kit.

When she finished tending on her wounds, she picked up the virtual headset on her bedside table and plugged it in the VR console. The virtual headset looked like an upgraded 3D glasses. It was needed for her to play the virtual reality role playing game or VRRPG entitled, Fantasia Et Gloria.

Unlike the other VRRPG that used equipment other than the headset, the new technology of Fantasia Et Gloria only requires the virtual headset and console. Through the help of these equipment, the player’s consciousness would be taken to the virtual world. The player was then unconscious in the real world while their mind was experiencing a whole different reality... the world of magic... of fantasy and glory.

She put the headset on as she lay on her bed. She reached for the button on the side of the headset and pressed it, turning the gear on.

A woman’s voice with a nice accent sounded in her ears.

“The game is set. Please respond 'start'.”

She didn’t think twice to reply. “Start.”

Her consciousness started to fade away. She closed her eyes and let the virtual world pulled her into it.

The darkness disappeared and a white background filled the empty space. A “Log In” billboard was written on it. It asked the player the username and the password. Her needed information to log in was already written on it.

“Log in,” she commanded.

“Player logged in. Welcome back! You are being transported in the game. Please stay calm,” the woman’s cheerful voice directed.

The white background disappeared like confetti being blown away in the wind. A dark place was replaced with the pixel confettis rising upwards. The headphone’s voice had gone silent.

When the light filled her eyes again, she was already in the quadrangle in the heart of a busy small town: the Initium Town. The chattering voices of other players were audible in her ears. The soft wind blowing in town was touching her avatar’s skin. It was comforting.

She looked at her hands. She smiled. No fresh bruises and aching on her body. She couldn’t even feel the headset in her head. She just felt light and strong. She felt great.

The teleportation platform, she was standing on, was made of stone. Its floor and curved four pillars were drawn with glowing runes. The runes in the top portion of the four pillars signified the classifications of the players in the game—the Knight, Fairy, White Mage and Black Mage. While the rune on the stoned floor signified transportation.

She looked around the quadrangle and saw players in groups, chatting with each other happily. The players, the surroundings and the sky were so peaceful and cheery.

This was her true world. The world where she was free to do whatever she wanted. To spend the teenager’s adventurous hormones inside her. To feel alive more than ever. No one to criticize her or bully her. She could be her alter ego, Zera, the strong White Mage with long silvery blond hair and green eyes. Who finished the dungeons alone and spoke with authority and certainty. Who didn’t cower in fear and hid her true self whenever someone or something agitated her. Her true self in her true world.

Zera was playing Fantasia Et Gloria in the past six months. It was only a short period compared to others that have been in the game since it was released one and a half years ago. But she levelled up pretty quickly because she spent most of her time in the game.

The only thing binding her from the real world was her schooling. She couldn’t avoid it, or her parents would also ground her from playing FEG.

She shrugged off the thought of the real world. In this world, she didn’t allow the hideous reality interfere with everything she wanted to do or think.

“Time for another adventure.” She took out her warp stone and commanded it. “Warp to Flumen Town.”

The gray crystal-like stone glowed in blue. Its light spread through her entire avatar body. In a blink of an eye, it teleported her into a town that was built in the center of a wide river. The Flumen Town.

Players that reach a certain town could warp their way there. While players who hadn’t yet reached that certain town have to fight monsters to secure their warp save point.

Zera walked out of the teleportation platform to the town. She passed through a bridge and some shops, such as Weapons Shop, Items Shop and Armour Shop. They were run by NPCs or the non-player characters, an in-game character which hosts the game and sometimes gives tasks that were rewarded by special items.

She entered the inn. She talked to the NPC behind the counter by touching the word “Talk”, that was made from yellow light, in front of the NPC. Her index finger felt slightly warm as the “Talk” word turned red and vanished . The NPC moved.

“Welcome to Flumen Inn! My name is Hana,” the NPC in French bun cheerfully said. “Would you like to rent a room or learn about tasks?”

By renting a room, the player could rest for a while to recover their mana points, or MP, and health points, or HP. She didn’t need a rest this time.

“Learn about tasks,” she answered.

“The task for the day was given by the Inn and the Items Shop. For the task of the Inn, the Inn is requesting for ten Grypho’s feather. Do you accept the task?”

A small glowing, almost transparent, blue holographic window popped in front of her. It read,

Flumen Inn Task:

10 Grypho Feather

Do you accept the task?

Yes No

“Yes” and “No” commands were in separate rectangular small boxes below the task. She touched the “Yes” button.

“The task is saved in your Task Directory. Grypho’s feather can be obtained from the monster “Grypho” that lives in the Flumen Cave. Come back if you completed the requested items! Good luck!” the NPC said and returned to her unmoving, waiting state.

Zera got out of the Inn and turned back to the Items shop. She talked to the old male NPC in there and also accepted the task. The old man requested for some Gharial’s hide that could be obtained from Laevis Gharial, a monster that also lives in Flumen Cave. While she was there, she also bought some HP Potions and Ether, a mana restoring potion, before she headed out to the said cave.

She needed experience points or XP to level up her skills and character so she could proceed to the next town and dungeon. She tried going there in her current level but the monsters on the way were too strong and she couldn’t pass through them.

A player could get experience faster by completing tasks and fighting higher level monsters and demons, especially demons because they gave more XP and special items. Though, they were the most difficult to defeat. Also, demons only lurked in their lairs inside caves and dungeons.

Halfway to the cave, a pack of Canis Lupus appeared for ambush. Their level, name and HP/MP meter were shown in their name tags on the top of their heads. As their name implied, they were wolves. Pack of large grey wolves snarling and baring their teeth on her.

She smirked. These things didn’t know who they were messing with. She drew the white staff from her back.

One wolf jumped on her. She hit it aside with her staff. She backed away to have a safe distance. Then she raised her staff to the air.

“Soporo!” she chanted.

A white glow appeared in the pearl-like gem of her staff. A lullaby filled the air, affecting the monsters in range who could hear it. Soporo was a white spell that produced an enchanting tone that was meant to calm the enemy to the point of drowsiness. Weak opponents could even fall asleep. Four wolves out of six fell asleep to the ground. The other two were weakened with drowsiness.

This was the White Mage’s power—to affect the enemy’s physical, mental and emotional condition.

To finish them, she beat them with her staff that inflicted enough physical damage to kill them. She could use another spell but it will lessen her MP or mana points. With a cave as her destination, she had to spend her resources wisely.

The defeated monsters vanished like pixels bursting in the air. The holographic window appeared in front of her.

Congratulations!

Zera defeated 6 Canis Lupus. You have obtained the following:

3000 XP

1000 Silver

3 Wolf Fang

2 Wolf’s Hide

6 Wolf’s Meat

Accept Discard

She accepted it. Wolf fangs and hide could be used in creating weapons and armour. The meat could be sold in cafes and restaurants or exchanged for food to replenish HP and MP.

Another window popped in front of her again. It was the shape of an envelope indicating a message had arrived. She opened it. It wasn’t the normal blue coloured letter. Instead, it was a green letter that—she knew—came from the Game Master or also called the Game Management. Her temple crinkled as she opened it. Then a smile cracked on her face after she read its contents.

Congratulations!

Zera levels up to level 50. You unlocked the Character Upgrade. You are now allowed to choose your secondary classification. Please go to your character data window to upgrade your class.

She tapped the back of her wrist to call on her Character Window and followed the instructions.

The said Character Upgrade was unlocked. She tapped on it.

Primary Classification : White Mage

Secondary Classification : —

Upgraded Classification : —

Welcome! You are now allowed to choose your secondary classification. The primary and secondary classifications will merge into one upgraded classification and level up all your statistics. It will let you use two attributes or powers depending on the classification you’ve chosen. Please choose your secondary classification wisely as you will not be able to change it until you’re level 100!

The four classifications of the players were written below as the selection for secondary classification: the Knight, Fairy, White Mage and Black Mage. The upgraded classifications from choosing one of those four were also written there.

She looked at the ‘Knight’. It said that she would become a “White Knight” when she chose it as a secondary classification.

For the ‘Fairy’, she would be termed as “White Elf”.

If she chose ‘White Mage’ again, she would become a “White Wizard”.

And for ‘Black Mage’, “Red Mage” would be her new class.

Zera thought for a while and finally chose her second classification. It was her second choice when she signed up in the game.

With a smile on her face, she pressed the button with ‘Fairy’ written in it.