Another Life In The New World

Technology is man’s finest invention of this modern age. It comforted us in our mundane lives. Also, it provided us an advanced form of entertainment. A number of games are furnished by our computers where we play up to our heart’s content. Our generation benefited from the advancements of our forefathers. I am Kezuhita Nekomura, a senior in high school. I am only a few days away until graduation when the pandemic hit. I did what most kids of my generation would do, play online games. I tried applying for jobs online, but the companies demand a graduate, which sucks. It dooms our generation today. I failed before I even started, so I just gave up and concentrated on raising my rank in Heroic Stone Legends. It is an offline and online role playing game. Sometimes it becomes frustrating to obtain the items I want the higher my level got. That was when I used cheat codes. I looked up for some sources online and met some codes that I could employ to ease up the gaming experience. Besides, no one will notice, right? I input a group of codes I discovered on some websites and started gaming. I easily obtained what I needed and leveled up faster. One day, I received a message from someone unknown. It read, “To promote better gaming experience, we suggest that you install this plug-in. Just click the link and enjoy!” The message included pictures of unique items and legendary skins. I clicked the link and installed the plug-in. I got Super Rare, Super Super Rare and Ultra Rare items and the legendary skin that I wanted. Suddenly, my screen showed static and my face became pale. I turned off everything and started my computer again. When my computer came to life, a notice beamed from my screen, “Congratulations, you have earned a ticket to some exclusive content. Please click ‘continue’ and you will receive your prize.” “Isn’t my antivirus working?” I closed the pop-up message, but it was insistent. It kept on popping up every time I close one of them. In annoyance, I pressed the continue button. The message finally died out, and I hurriedly ran my antivirus, but the software encountered nothing. That is strange. Is my license expired already? But I just downloaded the trial version yesterday. I gave up and closed the antivirus. I continued on with my game. I opened my account and checked my character to make sure the prizes I received earlier were still there. I tested out the unique items and skin, and it was remarkable. I turned to wipe out my enemies in one blow and I got my magic powers to maximum. In the midst of my game, a black square dot appeared at the center of the screen. It gradually expanded until my whole screen got covered. I guessed the game crashed and the daily update was commencing. A few moments passed, nothing showed up on my screen. I tried to turn off my computer, but the home button was missing. I pulled out the power supply, but my CPU was still on. What is going on with my computer? I decided to call an expert, but the line was dead. I paced around the room, screaming at everything. Then, my computer blinked like crazy until another message popped up on my monitor. It read, “I GOT YOU” and then it vanished. A small square dot suddenly reappeared in the center. I could finally see my game, so I breathed sighs of relief. I browsed my screen—my hero was still standing there but the black square expanded a little, suddenly a hand came out from it. I backed away, but it grabbed my shirt. I called out for my mom, but I heard no answer. I realized that they all went out shopping. I struggled, but the force was stronger. The dot closed, and my monitor became black again. I slid down a static tunnel and covered my ears. It sounded like shrill screams of people around me. I closed my eyes and wished for the sounds to stop. Moments later, all became silent. I opened my eyes, and I realized that I was inside my game. How is this even possible? I could have sworn that I was in my room playing my favorite game a while ago. The place had greenery all around, and paths of stone led the way to my foes. Some fortresses stood before me. I touched the surrounding structures, then punched the fortress, and I cried in pain. I plucked the grass to see if it was real— it was! Whoever made this place is a master for details. I tried to walk out of the boundary, but some invisible force pushed me back. I glanced at what I was wearing. I did not feel the weight of it and of my heavy two-handed sword. I tried smashing the fortress, but it repelled me. I slashed the boundary, but nothing happened. I threw my weapon away and just sat there. Sometime later, I heard a woman’s voice, “Welcome heroes to the summoning area! You have thirty seconds before the enemies spawn from their base.” “What is going on here?” I shouted at the voice, but there was no answer. I came back to the summoning area and tried to talk to the merchant. He was not talking either. Suddenly, a blonde figure wearing ceremonial clothing from ancient times arrived. He stared at me with incredulous eyes, then he scanned his clothes and weapon. I jumped upon seeing his abyssal gaze. “Hey, can you hear me? Can you talk?” I cautiously asked at the deathly figure. “I can hear you loud and clear, KeitaKeith,” he sternly replied. “Hey VampireSlays, do you have any idea how you got here?” “Beats me, I was just enjoying my food then here I am. I was going to ask you the same thing.” “I just got sucked in here just like you.” Then, a girl with red ponytails holding a missile launcher appeared next to me. Her eyes widened as she swung her weapon around, “Whoa. Where am I?”  “Welcome aboard my friend,” I greeted her. “Who are you and what is going on?” She slowly backed away from us. “We are as clueless as you are,” Vampire replied. “I was just doing my business when I left my game open, then I got transported here. By the way, I rarely use this character. All she does is throw explosives. Boring…” GirlyGhorl said. A sudden flash of light came next to her. It revealed a small raccoon with bombs in hand. It appears that he is not himself, yet. I nudged him awake. He rubbed his eyes, then peered at us. “This is a pleasant dream. Let me at them!” His face cracked a smile. “Hold your bombs there, brother. You are not dreaming, you are really inside the game,” I said to him. “Really? Keith, your character sounds weird. You should not be saying that,” RockCoonCoon replied. “Kun, it really is me. It is me, your buddy,” I shook his tiny body. “You are making me dizzy. Settle down, boy,” he slapped my arm, “Have you bought your first items yet?” “Huh?” We were all confused. “Dude, buy your items now. The enemies are coming. I hope you have equipped the proper runes,” he said as he approached the merchant. “Yeah, I had them auto-equipped,” I followed him. I bought Poseidon’s Shield and Necromancer’s Second Chance. Respectively, my base defense increases by fifteen percent and I get to revive twenty-five percent of my life upon death. I bought some potions with my remaining rocks, hoping to last longer in the battlefield. Vampire bought Kiss of Death and Blood Sucker. His base attack increases by eight percent and it grants him life steal every ten seconds. He ran on ahead of us to guard the middle lane. It granted a temporary boost in speed after he left the base. Ponytails used her rocks for Artemis’ Blessing and Thor’s Thunder. Her accuracy increased by ten percent, and her base agility got boosted as well. She fled for the top lane and waited for her enemies. Kun grabbed some Ninja’s Foresight and Achille’s High Heel. The items gave him a slight increase in range and five percent increase in critical hit. He reached for the bottom lane with a smirk on his face. He almost tripped on the path. I shook my head and sighed. I hid among the towering grass in between the lanes. While I was at it, I attacked some monsters for stone. Mutated maggots and enlarged spiders swarmed the area. I swung my blade at them as I changed lanes. “Your enemies are charging. Defend your base, champions,” a woman’s voice reminded us. “An enemy is dead. Double kill, Triple kill, Quadruple kill… The enemy has killed a teammate,” the words paced quickly above our heads. “Crap, who was that?” I ran towards the affected lane. I saw Kun felled by an enemy with low health. I chased the lizard with axes while using my flash ability. I was suddenly in front of him, then I threw him a critical blow on the head. I rushed back to Kun’s side. He was still lying flat on the ground. “Don’t die on me, man. We still have a lot of plans for the future together,” I squeezed his hand. “Get away from me, dude. Besides, I will respawn in a few seconds. That is the rule, remember?” He slapped my hand. “Right, sorry man,” I stepped away. “Okay, man. Thank you for killing that bastard,” he disappeared into the light as he respawned back to base. I retired to base as soon as I picked up enough rocks to buy better items. When I ran back, I saw that Kun was defending the bottom lane where the first tower got destroyed. I hurried to the merchant to buy Gungnir’s Echo and Celeste’s Wisdom. They both gave me five percent attack increase for every enemy takedown and three percent magic defense every time I use my special skill. I noticed that my level increased and used my skill point to activate my first skill, Freya’s Punishment. A single strike to the head might trigger a critical hit. I left the base and fled back to the tall grasses. I attacked some minions along the course to grind some experience. Later on, Girly ran towards my direction. A witch sorceress was chasing her, and one blow might mean the end for Girly. I hid behind a tall grass near the water. Girly saw me and led the enemy there. I used my skill and the witch split into two. I figured that one of them was an illusion. I attacked the one on the right and she disappeared because she was dealing damage while the other was not. I have slain the enemy and stole her rocks. I returned to base to upgrade my items. Girly beat me to the base and moved back to the top lane. This time, she was pushing it. “Your team has destroyed the enemy’s first tower. Each teammate receives Bonus Rocks,” a woman’s voice announced. I realized that I was at level five already, so I distributed my skill points equally. My special skill was not available until I have reached level ten. For now, I focused on killing the wyvern. I prepared my potions just in case and went on ahead. After defeating it, it provided us a slight boost in all our stats. I called on my teammates to defeat the legendary sea snake for additional stat bonus. We were barely damaging it, but we still pushed through until we had its head. We all came back to base to spend all the bonus rocks we received from defeating the monster. Suddenly, the whole place flickered and darkened and heard something open from above.