"Full Immersion Gaming Adventures, or FIG Adventures, to us in the gaming community, is the world's first game that allows its players to dive into another world using the latest technology, developed by Rin Nakemaru, Founder of Murakami Games. And, for the last ten months, we all have been anxiously waiting for the release of the exclusive Beta test. And now, I'm glad to announce that our wait is finally over. Billions of people around the world are waiting in lines to be one of the first twenty-three thousand to get their hands on the holo-bands, the FIG interface. Those who are lucky enough to get one will be able to participate in the Exclusive Beta test, while others have to wait an entire month, giving them a massive advantage over the unfortunate ones. Talk about the opportunity of a lifetime. And there's even news abo-
"Excuse me, Sir, there's a person here with some papers that need your signature." A person, over the intercom, said.
"Alright, Send them in." A 19-year-old boy said as he cuts down the television.
The doors opened, and a girl, the same age, walked into the room. She wore a purple suit, which fit her body perfectly as if she was trying to seduce somebody.
"Mr. Nakemaru, I need your signatures on these few documents," she said as she walked closer to the boy's desk. Then, she held a tablet in front of him.
"Okay," he said as he grabbed the tablet.
After skimming the contents of the documents, he signed each one using his thumbprint. While doing this, he noticed the girl was looking at him strangely. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was the first time he was confused.
"Here you go. Is this the last of them." He said as he held out the tablet.
"Yeah, this was the last of the documents, and we are finally ready to launch the FIG." The girl said excitedly. Then, the boy slightly laughed at the girl. She noticed and immediately got embarrassed.
"I'll be on my way." She rushed out the door. Then, she turned around a turn a deep breath, to relieve the nervousness in her heart. "I can't believe I just spoke to him. Rin Nakemaru, the boy genius of our time." She thought to herself.
"Don't try it. Rin won't be interested in girls like you." His secretary said to her.
"Oh, what kind of girl am I?" She asked.
"The gold-digging kind. And I won't let you anywhere near him." The secretary answered.
"Oh, and who are you supposed to be? His mother?"
"No, his friend!"
"Oh, an unrequited love interest. It must be tough for you. So close, but so far. I pity you."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not into dudes, but I do care for Rin's well-being." The secretary said as she got up and walked into his office.
"Well, isn't that sweet? You care for his well-being. Trust me; you're not the only one." She said.
In his office, Rin and his secretary are preparing their holo-bands, the FIG interfaces.
"You need to be more careful around her." She said.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"Exactly, what I said. Be careful. There's something not right about that girl." She said.
"You sure you're not jealous, Avery," Rin said, teasingly.
His secretary blushed. "Shut up! You and that girl think exactly the same. I'm not jealous! I mean, I did love you, still do, but you're not worth the trouble that comes with jealousy."
Her words cut through his teasing like wet paper, slightly hurting his ego.
"Hey, cheer up. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant I like what we got now."
"Yeah, me too," Rin said.
Their holobands beeped at the same time and began to shine brighter and brighter. Then, they were teleported to a dark, empty space.
"Welcome to the Full Immersion Game. The only game that transports you into another world. I'm your guide, Sarron. If you would, can you tell me your name?" A cat-eared woman said as she appeared out of thin air.
"Rin Nakemaru,"
"Rin Nakemaru. Searching the Murakami Games servers for players named Rin Nakemaru."
Unlike most MMO gaming companies, Murakami games use a special servers that connects its player through all their games, allowing them to play as a single character, allowing them to transfer stats and skills between games. However, unlike their other games, FIG also transfers items and cash, but with some restrictions. The players can only use transferred items after reaching a certain level.
"Rin Nakemaru, the Alpha of Destruction. Race; God/Devil hybrid. Level; 1000. However, this game doesn't use the usual leveling system. Instead, it uses a new concept of leveling called Potential. Based on the player's decisions and experiences in FIG, the player can get stronger. Now transferring stats and skills from previous games. Please stand by."
"Alright, it seems like everything is working perfectly," Rin said.
Suddenly, he felt a massive surge of power and a headache. This was confirmation that his skills and stats were successfully transferred.
"Transfer complete. You now have your former strength and skills. Sadly, most of your skills and passive abilities are locked due to your low potential level. Luckily, you can raise your potential level by fighting and learning in this world. Do you have any questions about the FIG system?"
"Well, let's see if the question system works." Rin thought to himself. "How do I use the interface system(menu)?"
"The interface system can be accessed through your holo-watch. Just, tap the face of the holo-watch, and a large menu should appear in front of your eyes. To move the interface, slide up, down, left, or right on the menu. Do you have any other questions?"
"Looks like it works well. Good, I don't have to worry about this part at least." he thought. "No, I don't. I'm ready to enter." Rin said, excitedly.
"Alright, Rin, step this way, and you'll be transported to the world."
Rin stepped closer to the cat-eared girl and was instantly transported to a plain, full of low-level monsters. Almost immediately, he charged into the monsters. He punched one of the monsters and launched into an unknown pack of goblins, which directed their attentions to Rin. They charged at him with their short swords in their hands. Unfortunately, Rin was outnumbered by both the monsters, and the goblins. Most people would've run for their lives, but that didn't stop Rin from trying to fight. After an hour, he tapped his watch and looked at his stats.
"Name: Rin Nakemaru, Race: God/Devil Hybrid, Potential Level: 9000, Skills: Element Manipulation lvl.3, Demonic Eyes lvl. 10, Flight lvl.1, Transmutation lvl.2, Dragonic Breathe lvl. 4, Universal Translator lvl. 3, hand-to-hand combat lvl. 3, swordsmanship lvl. 5, Alchemy lvl. 4, Throwing lvl. 3,"
"Wow, my potential level rose so much just by fighting a few monsters. Wonder how Avery is doing?" He thought to himself.
Meanwhile, in another part of FIG world, Avery is sitting on top of a pile of NPC (Non-Player Character) soldiers, checking her status. Then, the girl, who Avery was suspicious of, walked up to her. However, before she could say anything, Avery appeared behind her.
"What do you want from me?" Avery asked.
The girl stood there, paralyzed by fear, wondering how Avery moved so quickly.
"Well?" Avery said.
"Uh... I wanted to ask you to be friends, despite being rivals for Rin's affection."
"Friends, huh. Sure, I don't mind adding you, but I don't trust you."
"Why?"
"Because I know who you work for, and why you did it. And I promise you I won't let that happen to Rin, Freya." Avery said while sneering at the girl.
"Alright," she said, nervously.
Avery reached out her hand, and Freya grabbed it. This is the process of friending other players in the MMO games made by Murakami Games. Then, a screen appeared in front of their eyes.
"You are now friends. You now have access to each others' location and the call function. You can use the call to each other even if you're on different continents." It read.
"Continents?" Freya asked.
"Yeah, this world is extremely large and full of NPCs of different shapes and sizes. Continents are the FIG interface's way of saying kingdoms." Avery explained.
"Really, how many continents are in this world?"
"If I remember correctly, Rin created ten continents, but the NPCs created thousands of kingdoms."
"What do you mean?"
"How about you find out for yourself if you want to know?" Avery said. Then, she and Freya began to glow and was suddenly teleported to a city.
"What the heck?" Avery thought to herself.
Then, the sky turned black as a screen appeared. On the screen, Black figures were sitting at a round table.
"Attention! Attention! It has come to our attention that our boss, Rin Nakemaru, has a plan to murder the exclusive beta players. Unfortunately, he has locked us out of the FIG interface, so we can't fix the murder bug. And, to make things worse, he has locked all of you inside the game. Luckily, there's some good news. We have written a program that prevents players from dying by NPCs and monsters' attacks. And, we also gave you a position on your maps. This position is the murder program you will need to destroy to stop this horrible tragedy for gamers everywhere."
The screen suddenly disappears. And immediately, All of the players started to panic and scream except for ten players. They were furious. One of these players was Avery. She turned towards Freya, but she managed to sneak off. Unfortunately for her, Avery had a skill that allowed her to teleport to anybody she wants. However, this skill can only be used once per day, due to her low level. So, she didn't want to waste it on tracking Freya. Instead, she wanted to find Rin as soon as possible before he was found.
"Shadow Movement," She said, before being engulfed by her shadow.
Meanwhile, Rin is sitting on top of a lion's corpse twice his size and eating some berries that were dropped by a few goblins. Then, suddenly, two black figures appeared out of the ground. One was Avery while the other one was a little girl, around the age of thirteen.
"What is the meaning of this, Bro?" she said.
Rin looked at her with a confused look. Then, she leaped at him in an attempt to attack him. However, Avery got in between them.
"Sasha, please calm down. None of this is Rin's fault. It's the people he trusts that are the blame." Avery said.
"Uhh, what are you two talking about?" Rin asked.
Avery and Sasha explained the message they received in the city. Immediately, Rin was overwhelmed with rage.
"Those...Those... Those... Idiotic, Insecure, Small d- Arrrgh. Just wait until I get back to the real world. I'm going to fire them so hard that they'll need surgery to have my shoe removed from kicking them out the door. Then, I'm going to have to fix my company's rep after this one. Thanks a lot, you self-centered bastards." he rambled.
"Uh, Avery, Is he going to be okay?" Sasha asked, concernedly.
"Don't worry, I'll stop him before he gets too bad," she replied, with a smile.
Then, they heard a booming sound coming from Rin. They looked back at saw the head of the lion corpse, he was sitting on, was gone. Sasha looked at Avery with a condescending look.
"Okay, you're right. I'll go try to calm him down," she said as she walked to Rin.
As she got closer to him, she felt his intimidating, crushing pressure. It was a burning sensation like when she was trying to fly to the sun in a previous game. The air was thin, and she could barely breathe as the temperature rose and burned her severely. However, this time she was completely fine. Then, she slapped Rin.
"What the heck, Avery?" Rin said as he held his face.
"Good, you're back to normal. Now, what are we going to about the glitch?" She said.
"There's nothing I can do from this side. I'll have to be able to access the true admin account to enter a new program. Plus, if the murder program is in the holobands itself, we'll have to simultaneously upload a program that will remove the murder program. Wait! There is another way. I secretly put a secure terminal at my home base. But, it can only be accessed by becoming fifty percent of my true potential."
"So, in terms of levels, it's around level fifty," Avery said.
"I wouldn't know. The interface is designed to analyze the player's body, mind, and spirit to generate a unique Exp meter to make each player unique. What your potential is may differ from mine."
"So, what is your potential level, bro?" Sasha asked.
"Nine thousand five hundred out of seventy trillion," Rin said.
"What! Seventy trillion! How about you, Avery?" Sasha said.
"Sixty-eight trillion, and I think I unlocked the same amount of potential as him. Why? What's your?" Avery said.
"Uh, two hundred billion and five hundred million, but I only have unlocked one thousand of it." She said, with a disappointed tone.
"Don't feel bad. That's pretty high for someone your age. Besides, your age is a big contribution to your Exp meter. So, when you get to our age, you'll probably be around our potential." Avery said.
"Yeah, okay. So, what's first?"
"First thing to do is find a place to stay, or we'll be staying in a... That's it!"
Rin clapped his hands together and slammed them on the ground. However, nothing happened.
"Huh, guess level two Transmutation and level four Alchemy doesn't make something so advanced," he said.
Then, the ground beneath them shakes and crumbles, revealing a large airship.
"Rin, What did you do?" Sasha asked, shocked.
"I made a temporary flying base, so we could have a place to stay while we're here. But, I didn't expect it to work so well."
Suddenly, Rin heard an alarm and he looked at his Holo watch. A screen appeared.
"You have received the titles; Alchemist and Father of Transmutation. You can now use advanced Alchemy and Transmutation." it read.
"Is everything okay, Rin?" Avery asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I just received two titles. Nothing to worry about. Anyway, let's get inside before we get too high up." Rin replied.
"Alright, right behind you," Avery said.
Rin walked away, and Avery was about to follow. However, Sasha stopped her and asked if she noticed the cursor above Rin's head. Avery looked at Rin's cursor and the words "Murder Program" appeared above it. Instantly, Avery got angry and charged at Rin.
"What the heck, Avery?"
"Shut up, and hold still," she said as her hand glowed. Then, an item appeared in her hand. This was an item that transferred from one of the previous games she had. It's called the eraser. It allowed the user to erase any title or status condition that was inflicted by sealing it in the item itself. So, she thought it could work on the murder program. Luckily, she was successful at removing it from Rin and sealing it. However, they couldn't destroy the item.
"What did you do?" Rin asked.
"I just saved you from being targeted by every player in the beta test…
"Yeah, but now that means that we can't leave since we can't destroy the murder program," Sasha said.
"I don't think they were planning on letting anybody out. They would've had to deal with other major problems than just my death if somebody succeed in killing me. The company itself would lose a lot more money than any government contract they set up to buy my reality dive tech. Which, will bring attention to my empire's board of directors. And, with me gone, Avery will be the next person to sit at the head of the table, and we both know how she can be when she gets too much power," Rin said.
Instantly, Avery smacked Rin in the back of the head. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a very calm and collected person." She said as she walked into the ship. Rin and Sasha followed while laughing.
Walking through the halls of the airship, Sasha and Avery noticed something strange about the design. It was too low-tech for Rin. Rin would have made it like a spaceship, with the most advanced technology that would excite any Sci-fi nerd.
"I know what you're thinking. And, there's nothing wrong with me. Right now, the ship is in sleep mode to blend in with the world time period. All I have to do is wake it up from the ship's main terminal, which is where we're going to now." Rin said,
After a few minutes, Rin, Avery, and Sasha walked into a large room filled with computers.
"Welcome to the Command Center of the legendary group, ShadowBorne," Rin said.
"Wow, you really were serious when you said you were going to rebuild our base after the last one was destroyed," Avery said.
"Yep, and but I was hoping that everyone would be here for it."
"Wait, you mean to tell me that you and my brother are a part of the most OP gaming group in the World!" Sasha said.
"You didn't know that. I thought he would have told you by now." Avery said while looking at Rin.
"Of course, I didn't tell her. She would've told the whole world about it if I did. She can't hold a secret to save her life." Rin said.
"I wouldn't have told. I would've used it to blackmail you to get into the ShadowBorne. Everybody who plays your games wants to be a part of the group that conquers the hardest raids. Now I see why they clear it."
"Really? What do you mean?" Avery asked.
"I mean look at who they're playing with, the actual creator of the games. Kinda unfair when you think about it." Sasha explain.
Rin and Avery laughed.
"Sasha, I don't think you understand what makes ShadowBorne so great. First of all, The ShadowBorne is the alternate name for Rin's empirical board. Secondly, in every Murakami game, there's a secret protocol in its code called the ShadowBorne Protocol. This ensures that the ShadowBorne' gaming difficulty is set at the hardest difficulty by default, which redirects the regular sever manager to an AI-based Manger. This AI manager designs the game as we progress through the game. And, some of those missions be extremely difficult." Avery explained.
"Like the time, Avery and I had to fight off millions of monsters and robots from destroying a city while Draven and the others evacuate the Players and NPCs. I think that was the second VRMMO game I created."
"Oh, I remember that day. That was the day you confessed your love for me the first time. Awe man, you had some horrible timing."
"Okay, how about the time you confessed back when I was about to fight that giant monster in SavageLands X. Talk about horrible timing. I couldn't focus at all during that fight." Rin said, annoyed by Avery's comment.
Suddenly, Sasha begins to laugh as Rin and Avery continue to reminisce and try to one-up each other's mistakes. "Okay, I get it now. ShadowBorne aren't great because of the raids and dungeons they conquer. They're great because of the relationship and trust you have in each other both in and outside of the game. You're like a second family."
"Careful, Sasha. You sound a little jealous," Rin said as he put his arm on her shoulder.
"Do you have to ruin the moment?" Sasha said as she pushed away.