Game Over

STAGE TEN >> The Healer and the Assassin

This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this story are all products of the author's imagination used in fictitious manner. Any resemblance to an actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

■□■□■□■□■□■

-The katar is a unique form of Indian dagger, in which the grip is perpendicular to the blade.

■□■□■□■□■□■

[TW: This part contains content that some might find disturbing, reader's discretion is advised]

As someone who does podcasts centered around new generations and trends, Omura Masami couldn't believe that there will come a time that he would talk about a virtual reality game, praising it as some new-level shit.

"Your reviews have fallen off," said his editor one day. "Since when did you become a gaming nerd all of a sudden?"

Masami wasn't at all too concerned about those things, and it was wrong for others to assume that he loathes technology and social media just because he blatantly expressed his concern that teenagers were too fixated on it. Although he thinks social media not only promotes the decline in mental health for many teens, and that also has become an easy outlet for online aggression and cyberbullying, further impacting people emotionally, it also has its advantage.

Connectivity was among the most significant benefits of social media. This game, "Incarnate" brought the game and social media to new heights, linking strangers and giving them a new identity. Even the NPC seemed alive that he sometimes forget that this was only a virtual game.

At first, Masami admits, that he was only in for curiosity's sake and so that he could feature it in his podcast and argue about the pros and cons of virtual reality games with his cohorts. Yet, he ended up fawning over the game, getting addicted, and playing it constantly with his friends.

There was a reason why he had chosen to be a healer in the team and that was because he didn't want to be directly involved in combat as much as possible. Well, that was before when he wasn't taking all of these seriously. But he was fascinated by the Blood Princess, and how visually beautiful she was, and when she smiled at the triumph of slaughtering fiends ten times her size...

In this game, Masami couldn't believe that Blood Princess was none other than his best friend Hirano Yuki, and he was suddenly awestruck, inspired, and was pulled into this world, enchanted by the mere thought that he could be someone else other than his usual himself.

Masami wondered if this was what Yuki felt all along whenever he entered a virtual reality game. But even an expert like Yuki admitted that this was the first time he played something as fascinating and as entertaining as "Incarnate".

Unlike Hikaru, Masami was determined to learn the mechanics of the game despite being slow at the beginning. However, just like Hikaru and Aoi, this was the first time he was doing a quest on his own, and without anyone's assistance, specifically Yuki.

Among the four of them, it was very obvious that Yuki was the expert. Yuki's knowledge of the game was on par with Mori Akihiro and anyone in the gaming company he works with. It was only natural for Masami and the rest to rely too much on him.

But now, it was time for him to spread his wings and explore on his own.

The mission he got sounded straightforward. To find a book in connection to a cult named "The Ancient Creed". To trigger this quest, he must ride the train to Level 3 of the Enigma Forest and unlock a new city called Brilliant Province where he was expected to speak to the librarian named Zlog of the beast-clan. Since this was a new city, he won't be able to use the warp portal unless he unlocks it first.